Narrative and Miscellaneous PapersDe Quincey, Thomas
General
Narrative and Miscellaneous Papers
De Quincey, Thomas
English essays; English fiction
Upon the style and mode of his funeral, Kant had expressed his wishes in
earlier years in a separate memorandum. He there desired that it should
take place early in the morning, with as little noise and disturbance
as possible, and attended only by a few of his most intimate friends.
Happening to meet with this memorandum, whilst I was engaged at his
request in arranging his papers, I very frankly gave him my opinion,
that such an injunction would lay me, as the executor of his will, under
great embarrassments; for that circumstances might very probably arise
under which it would be next to impossible to carry it into effect. Upon
this Kant tore the paper, and left the whole to my own discretion. The
fact was, I foresaw that the students of the University would never
allow themselves to be robbed of this occasion for expressing their
veneration by a public funeral. The event showed that I was right; for
a funeral such as Kant's, one so solemn and so magnificent, the city of
Königsberg has never witnessed before or since. The public journals, and
separate accounts in pamphlets, etc., have given so minute an account of
its details, that I shall here notice only the heads of the ceremony.
On the 28th of February, at two o'clock in the afternoon, all the
dignitaries of church and state, not only those resident in Königsberg,
but from the remotest parts of Prussia, assembled in the church of the
Castle. Hence they were escorted by the whole body of the University,
splendidly dressed for the occasion, and by many military officers of
rank, with whom Kant had always been a great favorite, to the house
of the deceased Professor; from which the corpse was carried by
torch-light, the bells of every church in Königsberg tolling, to the
Cathedral which was lit up by innumerable wax-lights. A never-ending
train of many thousand persons followed it on foot. In the Cathedral,
after the usual burial rites, accompanied with every possible expression
of national veneration to the deceased, there was a grand musical
service, most admirably performed, at the close of which Kant's mortal
remains were lowered into the academic vault, where he now rests among
the ancient patriarchs of the University. PEACE BE TO HIS DUST, AND
EVERLASTING HONOR!
END OF VOLUME II
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