The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1879-09-14
FAMOUS MAUSOLEUMS.

London Globe
The royal tomb at the Esourial, near
Madrid, is perhaps the most impressive
foreign mausocum that continues to receive
shrincd and coilined kings and queens. II
was commenced by Philip II, advanced by
| Philip III, and completed by Philip Nv in
| l65l. Here IL accommodation for twcntysix
dead kings and queens Of Spain in twenty
six inches, cach furnished with its black mar
BILE sarcophagus, the kings lying on the right
side of the great altar, the queens on the
| left, and each urn distinguished with the
name of its royal occupant. With the ex-
| ccpton of Philip V and Ferdinand vi, all
the monarchs of Spain are buried here since
| its foundation, and foremost among them the
| tomb of Charles V commands the visitors
attention. 1t was opened by the rcvolu
tionary Junta in 1869, and the great En-
pcror's remains were found to he in excellent
preservation. The acquisition of Rome by
the Italian Crown in 1870 turned the Pam
theon, so graphically described by "Childc
Harold " as
'simpc. erect, severe auserc, sublime
| Shrine of al saints and temple of all gods'--
to the more mundane purposes of n royal
mausolcum. Here, where Raphael lies com
mcnded TO posterity by the culogy of Cardi-
| nal Bembo, was laid away two years ago
King Victor Emanuel and henccforward the
house of Savoy-to whom in the past many
n gildcd monument is raised in what is now
quiet, provincial Turin--as masters of the
imperial city, will leave their bones under
its famous dome. But If the Romans have
| their Pantheon, the Florentincs have their
Santa Crocc; and, though as n temple it can
bear no comparison with the great simple
church which the Romans love to honor, it
contains "ashes which make it holier." Did
it contain " the mighty dust " of Dante,
| Petrarch, and loccaccio, II would certainly he
the greatest of all foreign Westminster Alb
beys, hut even without the remains of the
| ilustrious three, il is second to none in
bringing under one roof representatives of
art and poetry. philosophy and science.
''lIcrc reposc
| Angclo's, Alicri's bones, AMI his
| The starry Calico with his woes:
Here Machiavc's earth returned to whence II rose.
Alferi's beautiful tomb and monument
were erected by his friend and admirer, the
Countess Albany. Machiaveli died in 1897
but the monument in Santa Croce was not
erected till 1887. Tho long delay may be
considered, perhaps, to be in part atoned for
by the ilattering inscription, I" Tanto nomini
nullum par culogium.'
In the Church of st. Michael, at Moscow,
repose the remains of the Russian sover-
eigns, with very few exceptions, from the
time Moscow became an imperial residence
| up to the close of the seventeenth century,
when the Cars migrated TO st. Petersburg
and made their resting place there. From
Ivan Vassilcvtch | TO the the last Ivan, the
colleague of Peter the Great in the Czardom,
we have here an almost perfect collection of
the dead Cars. Each tomb has but n small
silver plate hearing the name of the deceased
sovereign and the era of his death, but taken
together these simple sarcophag preach to
a N, nf l,n hiStnrv nf
old Mnscovy and the rise and progress n bar
barous Asiatic power achieved at the hands
of its capable tyrants. Beginning i'm order
first with that able Gear, the first Ivan, the
founder of Russian greatness, who assembled
the throne of Moscow in 14G2, we are re-
minded that, terocious. tyrant though he was,
he taught his people trade and commerce
with foreign nations, introduced gunpowdei
and casting cannon, and induced civilized
Europe to send linn ambassadors and SO rec
Ogni2e his title and his throne. BY his side
lie Vassli Vassiievitch the Blind-so- called
OH account of his eyes having been put out
} and Ivan Vassilievitch ii, son of Ivan the
! Great. In n neighboring chapel repose the
remains of the most restless of all Russian ty-
rants, Ivan w, or the Terrible" rs he was
more fifty known to his unfortunate subjects.
He it was who put ont the eyes Of the archi-
tect of the Holy Trinity of Moscow lest he
should build as perfect structure for any
other monarch. He murdered, also, his own
son in fit of brutal passion, an when he
! passed away in n paroxysm of fury, in 1884
boyarl and peasant felt and equal relief
} His murdered son lies beside him, an in the
same chapel is tl.e tomb of his successor
Fcodor, the last of the direct house of Rurik
The sOvereigns of the house of Romanolf are
inferred in the body of the church. First
} comes Michael Feodorovitch, II prudent and
! moderate monarch. whose election to the
throne in 1913 ppt an end to long scene OF
! civil bloodsled, and restored tranquility to
the country. His sons ashcs-AlcXis Mi.
chaclievitcl--are next to his; he who who
revised the code of laws of Ivan III, and com.
mcnced reforms after the Western pattern
He, the father of Peter the Great, died in
1876, and opposite TO his tomb are those o
, Feodor and Ivan, the child who for short
time reigned in company with Peter, lay
sovereign. The other soveregns of the house
of Romanoil, beginning with Peter the Great
are to be found in st. Petersburg, with tn,
single exception of Peter II, who changed
his residence to Moscow, and was carried of
/ by smallpox in 1870.
For an Engisman the Church of Roskidc
near Copenhagen, Possesses n singular and
exceptional interest. Here lies Harold VI
King of Denmark, England, and Norway, )
who died in the year $50 A. d., and who
according to the inscription on his grave
, stone, 'meruit scandere celsa poll" ii,
was surnamed " Blaatand," was the son o
Gommo iii, or "old," and his name occur,
, frequently in the Saxon chronicers ms one o
! the invaders of England in the tenth century
He established his authority over the king
dom of the East Angles and Northumbia, ant
l was the father of line of kings, OF whom
Sweyn l, his son, was well and terrbl,
Ii.
while Canute, his grandson, very Justly
Q called the Great" who united in his per
: son the crowns of England and Denmark
1 was undoubtedly one of the most powerful
princes of his time. The line of this Harold
was extinct with llardicannte, the last SOY
4 ercign who wore the double crown. In thi,
interesting mausoleum reposes also Sweyn II
I the great king of the "Middle Race" VIII,
Y assembled the throne l042 A. ID. A Latin in
8 scrption on his tomb calls him, like Harold
I vi, "King of Denmark. England, and Nor
way" and though during his reign EdwarC
t the Conlessor had undispnted sway over Tia,
= Saxon realm, when he died and the Norman
put in their claim, this hardy Norseman sen
. a fleet 10 intercept 81 the conqueror."
# Here, too, il the tomb with life. size ellgy
. in aabaster of the famous Margaret, thu
n Semiramis of the North, 4" or "the King il
Ii petticoats," as she has been variously
@ styled by an admilinG people She wa
:. born in 1853, the daughter of Waldemar Ill
= who said of her that nature had INTENDED
her for man. and erred in making her
+ woman. She was chosen Queen in 1885
G the first instance, IL is said, Of n woman hay
g ing been elected sovereign by the suiiragei
:, OF u people-and an inscription on her toni
It announces that the monument was rase6
Il at the expense OF Eric of Pommerania, il
It memory of princess whom posterity woulc
= never sufficiently honor as she deserves
In 1897 she united Norway, Sweden, anc
Z Denmark under her crown. All the soy
ereigns of the house of Oldenburg are in
o tered in Roskihle Church, save John Chris
y tian ii and Frederick /. Christian /, tn,
founder of the line, lies in small chape
a without any inscription to his memory
n Here, too, may be noticed the chiyari'
b Christian w, one of the heroes of modern
: Danish history, and alternate Frederick'
I | n,l ih.;a Ena nj, liz