Add MS 33793

" COLLECTION de Portraits et Médaillons de cheveux de Louis XVI., de la partie de sa famille renfermée avec lui dans la Tour du Temple, et des Princes de son auguste race réunis dans le moment en Angleterre," consisting of pen-and-ink portraits, elaborately designed and executed by [Alexandre César Anibal Firmin], Marquis de Sy, together with looks of hair of the following persons:-Louis XVI., f. 9;-Marie Antoinette, f. ll;-Louis XVII., f. 13;- Elisabeth Philippe Marie Helène [Madame Elisabeth], dau. of Louis XVI., f. 15;-Marie Thérèse Charlotte, Duchesse d'Angoulême, dau. of Louis XVI., f. 17;-Louis XVIII., f.23;-

Marie Josephine Louise de Savoie, wife of Louis XVIII., f. 25;-

Charles Philippe [Charles X. in 1824], f. 27;-Louis Antoine, Due d'Angoulême, f. 29 ;-Charles Ferdinand, Due de Berry, f. 31 ; -Louis Joseph, Prince de Condé, f. 34;-Louis Joseph, Due de Bourbon, f. 36;-Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon, Due d'Enghien, f. 38;-and Henri Essex Edgeworth, Abbé de Firmont, Confessor to Louis XVI., f. 39 b. The last portrait is followed by " Relation faite par Mr. l'Abbé Edgeworth, sur les derniers momens du Roi," which account was printed in Memoirs of the Abbé Edgeworth, by C. S. Edgeworth, London, 1815, an engraving from the portrait in this MS. forming the frontispiece. At f. 18 b is a copy of the will of Louis XVI., 25 Dec. 1792 ; and at ff. 50-60 are ',Notices sur les Portraits et épigraphes contenus dans cet ouvrage." From the introductory remarks of the Marquis de Sy (f. 2), in which he also explains the meanings of the various allegorical designs, it appears that the idea of the work was conceived by [Armand Louis] Due de Serent, one of the French exiles who accompanied Louis XVIII. to England, and that the Marquis de Sy, another French exile, was commissioned by him to carry out his designs. The volume was destined as a gift to [George Grenville] Marquis of Buckingham, in recognition of his kindness to Louis XVIII. during his residence, at Hartwell, near Aylesbury, and to the French Princes and Nobles who shared his exile. The Marquis of Buckingham, however, died in February 1813, apparently before the work was completed, and the MS. eventually wag; presented to the British Museum in 1814. The Duc de Serent's introductory epistle is given at f. 5b, and bears his signature. Some notes in his handwriting also appear at the beginning of the volume. Paper; ff. 60. Bound in purple morocco, with gilt tooling in the centre the royal arms of France enclosed in a circle of fleurs-de-lis, the inner covers lined with brown watered silk ornamented with fleurs-de-lis and the Marquis of Buckingham's crest, a garb, with coronet. The binding is the work of - Hering, acting under the direction of [François Philibert Bertrand Nompar] Comte de Caumont; 1813. Atlas Quarto. Presented in 1814 by the Duc de Serent.