(_Continued from_ p. 514.)
In a previous communication, fighting under the shield of a great
authority, I attempted to prove that the effigies of the mediæval tombs
presented the semblance of death--death in grandeur, mortality as the
populace were accustomed to behold it, paraded in sad procession through
the streets, and dignified in their temples. The character of the costume
bears additional testimony to their supposed origin, and strongly warrants
this conclusion. It is highly improbable that the statuaries of that age
would clothe the expiring ecclesiastic in his sacerdotal robes, case the
dying warrior in complete steel, and deck out other languishing mortals in
their richest apparel, placing a lion or a dog, and such like crests or
emblems, beneath their feet. They were far too matter-of-fact to treat a
death-bed scene so poetically. The corpse however, when laid in state,
_was_ arrayed in the official or the worthiest dress, and these heraldic
appurtenances _did_ occupy that situation. Thus in 1852 were the veritable
remains of Prince Paul of Wurtemburg, in full regimentals and decorated
with honours, publicly exhibited in the Chapelle Ardente at Paris
(_Illustrated London News_, vol. xx. p. 316.). Unimaginative critics
exclaim loudly against the anomaly of a lifeless body, or a dying
Christian, being thus dressed in finery, or covered with cumbrous armour;
and such would have been the case in former days had not the people been so
familiarised with this solemn spectacle. In an illumination in Froissart we
have the funeral of Richard II., where the body is placed upon a simple car
attired in regal robes, a crown being on the head, and the arms crossed. We
are informed that "the body of the effigies of Oliver Cromwell lay upon a
bed of state covered with a large pall of black velvet, and that at the
feet of the effigies stood his crest, according to the custom of ancient
monuments." The chronicler might, perhaps, have said with more propriety
"in accordance with tradition;" cause and effect, original and copy, being
here reversed.
"In a magnificent manner (he proceeds) the effigies was carried to the
east end of Westminster Abbey, and placed in a noble structure, which
was raised on purpose to receive it. It remained some time exposed to
public view, the corpse having been some days before interred in Henry
VII.'s Chapel."
In the account of the funeral obsequies of General Monk, Duke of Albemarle,
in 1670, the writer says:
"Wren has acquitted himself so well, that the hearse, now that the
effigy has been placed upon it, and surrounded by the banners and
bannerols, is a striking and conspicuous object in the old abbey. It is
supported by four great pillars, and rises in the centre in the shape
of a dome."
It is here also worthy of note, that Horncastle Church affords a curious
example of the principle of a double representation--one in life, and the
other in death; before alluded to in the Italian monuments, and in that of
Aylmer de Valence. On a mural brass (1519), Sir Lionel Dymock kneels in the
act of prayer; and on another plate covering the grave below, the body is
delineated wrapt in a shroud--beyond all controversy dead.
Mr. Markland, in his useful work, mentions "the steel-clad sires, and
mothers mild _reposing_ on their marble tombs;" and borrows from another
archæologist an admirable description of the chapel of Edward the
Confessor, who declares that "a more august spectacle can hardly be
conceived, so many renowned sovereigns _sleeping_ round the shrine of an
older sovereign, the holiest of his line." It can only be the sleep of
death, and this the sentiment conveyed: "These all died in faith." The
subjects of this disquisition are not lounging in disrespectful
supplication, nor wrapt in sleep enjoying pious dreams, nor stretched on a
bed of mortal sickness: but the soul, having winged its way from sin and
suffering, has left its tenement with the beams of hope yet lingering on
the face, and the holy hands still refusing to relax their final effort.
Impossible as this may seem to calculating minds, it is nevertheless one of
the commonest of the authorised and customary modes designed to signify the
faith, penitence, and peace attendant on a happy end.