TRAGIC RELICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 236, 5 October 1935, Page 10

TRAGIC RELICS.

QUEEN’S TIARA. REVOLUTION. AND DEATH. CURIOS ON EXHIBITION. When in the year 1793 Queen Alalie Antoinette, one of the most tragic figures in history, lay closely guarded in the Temple awaiting ,her execution at the hands of the Revolutionaries, she cut up her floral embroidered silk underskirt mid divided it as a remembrance amongst her attendant ladies. To-day.a small piece of that underskirt is.set in a frame in the Loan Exhibition of Antiques —a note of beauty in a tiagic undertone of history. It is the property of Airs. W. J. Napier, of Auckland, and a treasured heirloom of her family. Its intimacy with so famous a lady, the. fact that it was worn by her in the flight from the Tuillcries, and at the time of her arrest; the. hours of suffering, of humiliation, and of fear in which it accompanied her —all have given to it something of their fragrance, so that in the floral embroidery, probably the work of some court lady in the gay days that preceded tho French Revolution, there lies now a whole chapter of history and a lifetime of emotion. Lord Galway’s Miniature. But that is not the only relic of that great lady that is present in Auckland. Also in the exhibition is a beautiful tiara of figured orimilu, set with amethysts, which was the property of Marie Antoinette. This is the property of Captain G. Humphreys-Davies and at the time when he purchased it it was accompanied by a paper setting out its history. That unfortunately has been lost.

There is, too, a miniature in the collection of the Governor-General, Lord Galway, which depicts the Queen as seen by Poser at the height of her beauty,’ while a younger representation is given in a Sevres tea-set, the property of 'Dr. C. AL Rout. This exhibit is one of the features of the show. Alade in the eighteenth century it is of 24 pieces, each bearing a miniature of one of the court beauties of the time of louis XVI. of France.

Tho Princess Elizabeth, to whom the Queen addressed her “Testament” before going to the guillotine, and the Queen, herself, aro grouped with Aladame Du Barry, deadly enemy of Alario in the early days of her reign, Aladames Roland, La Pompadour, Alontessor, Parabere, the Princess Victoire, sister of Louis, and others equally famous, tragic and beautiful. Tragedies of History. Tho tragedies of history gather equally with the beauties on either side as one walks through the exhibition. There are Alary, Queen of Scots, and Rizzio, the love story of whom has enriched many pages of history in its tragedy and despair. There is the letter of Horatio Nelson, famous Admiral of England, but one of the most sorrowful figures of England’s history. There is the genealogical tree of Oliver Cromwell, made in manuscript in the year 17S0, bringing its memories of those turbulent years and of the later fate of Cromwell, whose body, after his death, was disinterred and dismembered, so that at this day the resting place of his head alone is known. And there is, too, the pardon of Edmund Prcdcaux, granted by .James 11, alter the Alonmouth Rebellion; a pardon won from ill-lamed Judge Jeffries at it cost of £15,000. The exhibition has attracted such wide public attention that it has been decided to extend it until Wednesday night next, closing each evening at 9.30 p.m. A further series of lectures will give added interest to these evenings. This evening Air. W. P. Hodgkins will talk on “Pewter,” beginning at 8 o’clock. At 5 p.m. on Monday various experts will talk on the value of antiques and the detection of frauds; and at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday Captain G. HumphreysDavies will lecture on the chemistry and mechanics of porcelain.