1535. Albert Pio, prince of Carpi, was buried with extraordinary pomp in
the church of the Cordeliers at Paris. He had been deprived of his
principality by the duke of Ferrara, became an author, and finally a
fanatic. Entering one day into one of the churches at Madrid, he
presented holy water to a lady who had a very thin hand ornamented by a
most beautiful and valuable ring. He exclaimed in a loud voice as she
reached the water, “Madam, I admire the ring more than the hand.” The
lady instantly exclaimed with reference to the cordon with which he was
decorated, “And for my part, I admire the halter more than I do the
ass.” He was buried in the habit of a Cordelier, and Erasmus made a
satire upon the circumstance, entitled the “Seraphic Interment.”
1772. The counts Struensee, the Danish prime minister, and Brandt, the
favourite of the king of Denmark, were executed opposite the eastern
gate of Copenhagen. Their alleged crime was an intrigue with the queen
of Denmark, the princess Carolina Matilda of England, sister to king
George III., on whose entreaty she was removed from confinement in the
castle of Cronenburg to Zell in the electorate of Hanover, where she
died about three years afterwards.
* * * * *