The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 558, July 21, 1832 — John Shaqi
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 558, July 21, 1832Various
History
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 558, July 21, 1832
Various
Popular literature -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
"But when they entered into it (the chapel), which they had been so well
acquainted with, they found it so altered and transformed, all
inscriptions and those landmarks pulled down, by which all men knew
every particular place in that church, and such a dismal mutation over
the whole that they knew not where they where; nor was there one old
officer that had belonged to it, or knew where our Princes had used to
be interred. At last there was a fellow of the town who undertook to
tell them the place where, he said, 'there was a vault in which King
Harry the Eighth and Queen Jane Seymour were interred.' As near that
place as could conveniently be they caused the grave to be made.
There the King's body was laid, without any words, or other ceremonies,
than the tears and sighs of the few beholders. Upon the coffin was a
plate of silver fixed, with these words only, '_King Charles_, 1648.'
When the coffin was put in, the black velvet pall that had covered it
was thrown over it, and then the earth thrown in; which the governor
staid to see perfectly done, and then took the keys of the church.
"Owing to the privacy of this interment, doubts were at the time current
as to its having actually taken place. It was asserted that the King's
body was buried in the sand at Whitehall; and Aubrey states a report,
that the coffin carried to Windsor was filled with rubbish and
brick-bats. These doubts were entirely removed by the opening of the
coffin (which was found where Clarendon described it,) in the presence
of George the Fourth, then Prince Regent, in April, 1813--of which Sir
Henry Halford has published an interesting narrative. On removing the
black pall which Herbert described, a plain leaden coffin was found,
with the inscription 'King Charles, 1648.' Within this was a wooden
coffin, much decayed, and the body carefully wrapped in cerecloth, into
the folds of which an unctuous matter mixed with resin had been melted,
to exclude the external air. The skin was dark and discoloured--the
pointed beard perfect--the shape of the face was a long oval--many of
the teeth remained--the hair was thick at the back of the head, and in
appearance nearly black--that of the beard was of a redder brown. The
head was severed from the body. The fourth cervical vertebra was found
to be cut through transversely, leaving the surfaces of the divided
portions perfectly smooth and even;--'an appearance,' says Sir H.
Halford, 'which could have been produced only by a heavy blow inflicted
with a very sharp instrument, and which furnished the last proof wanting
to identify King Charles I.'"
(The volume is embellished with a Portrait of the King, and Outline
Prints of the Trial and Execution.)
* * * * *
NOTES OF A READER.
* * * * *
ATLAS OF THE BIBLE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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