THE HEAD OF CARDINAL RICHELIEU.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1462, 21 August 1883, Page 2

THE HEAD OF CARDINAL RICHELIEU.

Cardinal Richelieu was buried in the vaults of the Sorbonno. At the •Revolution the Sorbonne'was for fivo days. The magnificent lou'm of Richelieu was savsd : with; difficulty by the intervention of Lenoir. But a certain M, Cheval contrived to possess himßoH: of. the embalmed face:'' of l ßiohelieu,' which seems-to haye;- ; been severed from ; the back part' of the'"' ; head.; : For a while he boasted of his relic, but a time came when he was afraid it might compromise him, I,and he; begged ah abbe named 'Arroez to relievft him of it; The abbe carried it with him into Brittany, and gave it to his brpthor\Avhd, finding that'the skin whioh covered the-face was likely to decay, had.it varnished; with a yellow ■varnish.used'in'bird' stuffiing.. : So it •..-.• remained until'about sixteekyeaw'ago, ;| ?■ when one day a man arrived .'at; the' Tuileries ; witb, a.casket under Iris arm,'".,; yhiefche' presented to Napoleon IIL, j ; .who found tha;t it contained the niaskv ■* of the:great Cardinal. Finally, after so ;i - many vicissitudes, it was restored .'Jo.'/, • its 'place in the mausoleunijOf the Sov- ':" bonne. Before this, however,^drAw- . ing was made from it. which' is repro- ' .':• •''•' ; '' duced ift|hß .Gaiette; lookß,;jjut.still strangely falling oyer;*''>■' compressed lips, a'nd ; the' shaggy; eye*: ? i' brows over empty eye-sockets, and'the, ; .,, Roman nose still givilig an "imposing ', characierV v thyface.^.:.