THE QUEEN AND THE POPE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1790, 15 March 1888, Page 3

THE QUEEN AND THE POPE

A PRETTY KETTLE OF FISH.

The London correspondent of the "Duuodla Star" writes :— The Queen'e Jubilee present to the Pope been has the cauße of much heart burning at Court. Her MBJusty'a firßt notion was to proaont tho rare and curious ' Mez*rln Bible ' from the library at Windsor to His Holiness. There aro four Mazarln Bibles m exfstonoe, and the one at Windaor ia incomparably the finest copy. Naturally the librarian was horrified st the idea of It being given away. He remonstrated, however, quite fruitlessly. The Queen said Bhe had already mentioned her Intended present to the Pope, and oould not draw back' Upon this, the librarian appealed to the Cabinet (or rather to Lord Salisbury), who at once vetoed the gift on the ground that the Bible was Drown property, and not the Queen's at ell. Her Majesty, m a temper, thereupon sent off " a gold vaae and ewer," to at least the gifts were described m the papers. These had barely gone before a lettter came from the Yatloan thanking the Queen effusively for her magnificent present (the Bible), which tho writer said eeemed almost too regal a gift under the olrcuniBtanccs, being valued, Hia Eollueaa underttood, at £10,000. The vase and ewer, upou arrival at Rome, were found to be Bllvcr-gllt, and worth perhaps £150. The Pope'a major domo naturally cama to the conclusion that the Qaeen had been swindled and thought it right to state to the puke of Norfolk that the ornaments were not (as described) gold. His Grace also imagined a mistake had been made, and communicated with Blr Henry Ponsonby on tho sahjaot. What the Queen said haa not boen made public ; but the allvor-gllt articles were replaced by qpa- [ meuts m the p;en,qjae n.eial,