ALTHOUGH tradition has not informed us whether our first parents made
any marked change in their scanty garments on the death of their near
relatives, it is certain that the fashion of wearing mourning and the
institution of funereal ceremonies and rites are of the most remote
antiquity. Herodotus tells us that the Egyptians over 3,000 years
ago selected yellow as the colour which denoted that a kinsman was
lately deceased. They, moreover, shaved their eyebrows when a relative
died; but the death of a dog or a cat, regarded as divinities by this
curious people, was a matter of much greater importance to them, for
then they not only shaved their eyebrows, but every hair on their
bodies was plucked out; and doubtless this explains the reason why so
many elaborate wigs are to be seen in the various museums devoted to
Egyptian antiquities. It would require a volume to give an idea of
the singular funereal ceremonials of this people, with whom death was
regarded, so to speak, as a "speciality;" for their religion was mainly
devoted to the _cultus_ of the departed, and consequently innumerable
monumental tombs still exist all over Egypt, the majority of which are
full of mummies, whose painted cases are most artistic.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--_An Egyptian Lady preparing to go into Mourning
for the death of her pet Cat._--From a picture by J. R. WEGUELIN.]
The cat was worshipped as a divinity by the Egyptians. Magnificent
tombs were erected in its honour, sacrifices and devotions were offered
to it; and, as has already been said, it was customary for the
people of the house to shave their heads and eyebrows whenever Pussy
departed the family circle. Possibly it was their exalted position in
Egypt which eventually led to cats being considered the "familiars"
of witches in the Middle Ages, and even in our own time, for belief
in witchcraft is not extinct. The kindly Egyptians made mummies of
their cats and dogs, and it is presumable that, since Egypt is a corn
growing, and hence a rat and mouse producing country, both dogs and
cats, as killers of these vermin, were regarded with extreme veneration
on account of their exterminating qualities. Their mummies are often
both curious and comical, for the poor beast's quaint figure and face
are frequently preserved with an indescribably grim realism, after the
lapse of many ages.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--_Egyptian Maiden presenting Incense to the
new-made Mummy of a Cat._]
The funeral processions of the Egyptians were magnificent; for with the
principal members of the family of the deceased, if he chanced to be
of royal or patrician rank, walked in stately file numerous priests,
priestesses, and officials wearing mourning robes, and, together with
professional mourners, filling the air with horrible howls and cries.
Their descendants still produce these strident and dismal lamentations
on similar occasions.
THE Egyptian Pyramids, which were included among the seven wonders of
the world, are seventy in number, and are masses of stone or brick,
with square bases and triangular sides. Although various opinions have
prevailed as to their use, as that they were erected for astronomical
purposes, for resisting the encroachment of the sand of the desert, for
granaries, reservoirs, or sepulchres, the last-mentioned hypothesis has
been proved to be correct, in recent times, by the excavations of Vyse,
who expended nearly £10,000 in investigating their object. They were
the tombs of monarchs of Egypt who flourished from the Fourth to the
Twelfth Dynasty, none having been constructed later than that time; the
subsequent kings being buried at Abydos, Thebes, and other places, in
tombs of a very different character.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--_The Pyramids and Great Sphinx._--From a
pen-and-ink sketch by HORACE VERNET.]
The first, or Great Pyramid, was the sepulchre of the Cheops of
Herodotus, the Chembes, or Chemmis, of Diodorus, and the Suphis of
Manetho and Eratosthenes. Its height was 480 feet 9 inches, and its
base 764 feet square. In other words, it was higher than St. Paul's
Cathedral, and built on an area the size of Lincoln's Inn Fields. It
has been, however, much spoiled, and stripped of its exterior blocks
for the building of Cairo. The original sepulchral chamber, called
the Subterranean Apartment, 46 feet by 27 feet, and 11 feet 6 inches
high, has been hewn in the solid rock, and was reached by the original
passage of 320 feet long, which descended to it by an entrance at
the foot of the pyramid. A second chamber, with a triangular roof,
17 feet by 18 feet 9 inches, and 20 feet 3 inches high, was entered
by a passage rising to an inclination of 26° 18', terminating in a
horizontal passage. It is called the Queen's Chamber, and occupies a
position nearly in the centre of the pyramid. The monument--probably
owing to the long life attained by the monarch--still progressing,
a third chamber, called the King's, was finally constructed, by
prolonging the ascending passage of the Queen's Chamber for 150 feet
farther into the very centre of the pyramid, and, after a short
horizontal passage, making a room 17 feet 1 inch by 34 feet 3 inches,
and 19 feet 1 inch high. The changes which took place in this pyramid
gave rise to various traditions, even in the days of Herodotus, Cheops
being reported to lie buried in a chamber surrounded by the waters of
the Nile. It took a long time for its construction--100,000 men being
employed on it probably for above half a century, the duration of the
reign of Cheops. The operations in this pyramid by General Vyse gave
rise to the discovery of marks scrawled in red ochre in a kind of
cursive hieroglyph, on the blocks brought from the quarries of Tourah.
These contained the name and titles of Khufu (the hieroglyphic form of
Cheops); numerals and directions for the position of materials, etc.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--_Mummies of Cats and Dogs._--British Museum and
Museum of the Louvre.]
The second Pyramid was built by Suphis II., or Kephren, who reigned
66 years, according to Manethro, and who appears to have attained a
great age. It has two sepulchral chambers, and must have been broken
into by the Calif Alaziz Othman Ben-Yousouf, A.D. 1196. Subsequently
it was opened by Belzoni. The masonry is inferior to that of the first
Pyramid, but it was anciently cased below with red granite.
The third Pyramid, built by Menkara, who reigned 63 years, is much
smaller than the other two, and has also two sepulchral chambers, both
in the solid rock. The lower chamber, which held a sarcophagus of
rectangular shape of whinstone, had a pointed roof, cut like an arch
inside; but the cedar coffin, in shape of a mummy, had been removed
to the upper or large apartment, and its contents there rifled.
Amongst the debris of the coffin and in the chambers were found the
legs and part of the trunk of a body with linen wrapper, supposed by
some to belong to the monarch, but by others to an Arab, on account
of the anchylosed right knee. This body and fragments of the coffin
were brought to the British Museum; but the stone sarcophagus was
unfortunately lost off Carthagena, by the sinking of the vessel in
which it was being transported to England.
There are six other Pyramids of inferior size and interest at Gizeh;
one at Abou Rouash, which is ruined, but of large dimensions; another
at Zowyet El Arrian, still more ruined; another at Reegah, a spot in
the vicinity of Abooseer, also much dilapidated, and built for the
monarch User-en-Ra, by some supposed to be Busiris. There are five
of these monuments at Abooseer, one with a name supposed to be that
of a monarch of the Third Dynasty; and another with that of the king
Sahura. A group of eleven Pyramids remains at Sakkara, and five other
Pyramids are at Dashour, the northernmost of which, built of brick, is
supposed to be that of the king Asychis of Herodotus, and has a name of
a king apparently about the Twelfth Dynasty. Others are at Meydoon and
Illahoon, Biahmo and Medinat El Fyoum, apparently the sepulchres of the
last kings of the Twelfth Dynasty.
In Nubia, the ancient Æthiopia, are several Pyramids, the tombs of the
monarchs of Meroë and of some of the Ethiopian conquerors of Egypt.
They are taller in proportion to their base than the Egyptian Pyramids,
and generally have a sepulchral hall, or propylon, with sculptures,
which faces the east. The principal groups of these Pyramids are at
Bege Rauie, or Begromi, 17° N. lat., in one of which, gold rings and
other objects of late art, resembling that of the Ptolemaic period,
were found.
The numerous Pyramids of Mexico are of vast size and importance, but
their purpose is not yet fully ascertained. Completely covered as they
are with dense vegetation, filled with venomous reptiles, they are
difficult to investigate, but they were evidently much the same in
shape and structure as the Egyptian, and their entrances were richly
sculptured.
The art of preserving the body after death by embalming was invented
by the Egyptians, whose prepared bodies are known by the name of
mummies. This art seems to have derived its origin from the idea that
the preservation of the body was necessary for the return of the
soul to the human form after it had completed its cycle of existence
of three or ten thousand years. Physical and sanitary reasons may
also have induced the ancient Egyptians; and the legend of Osiris,
whose body, destroyed by Typhon, was found by Isis, and embalmed by
his son Anubis, gave a religious sanction to the rite, all deceased
persons being supposed to be embalmed after the model of Osiris in the
_abuton_ of Philæ. One of the earliest embalmments on record is that
of the patriarch Jacob; and the body of Joseph was thus prepared, and
transported out of Egypt. The following seems to have been the usual
rule observed after death. The relations of the deceased went through
the city chanting a wail for the dead. The corpse of a male was at
once committed into the charge of undertakers; if a female, it was
detained at home until decomposition had begun. The _paraschistes_,
or flank-inciser of the district, a person of low class, conveyed
the corpse home. A scribe marked with a reed-pen a line on the left
side beneath the ribs, down which line the paraschistes made a deep
incision with a rude knife of stone, or probably flint. He was then
pelted by those around with stones, and pursued with curses. Then the
_taricheutes_, or preparer, proceeded to arrange the corpse for the
reception of the salts and spices necessary for its preservation,
and the future operations depended on the sum to be expended upon
the task. When Herodotus visited Egypt, three methods prevailed: the
first, accessible only to the wealthy, consisted in passing peculiar
drugs through the nostrils, into the cavities of the skull, rinsing
the body in palm wine, and filling it with resins, cassia, and other
substances, and stitching up the incision in the left flank. The
mummy was then steeped in natron for 70 days, and wrapped up in linen
cemented by gums, and set upright in a wooden coffin against the walls
of the house or tomb. This process cost what would now amount in our
money to about £725. The second process consisted in injecting into the
body cedar oil, soaking it in a solution of natron for 70 days, which
eventually destroyed everything but the skin and bones. The expense was
a _mina_, relatively, about £243. In the third process, used for the
poorer classes, the corpse was simply washed in myrrh, and salted for
70 days. When thus prepared the bodies were ready for sepulture, but
they were often kept some time before burial--often at home--and were
even produced at festive entertainments, to recall to the guests the
transient lot of humanity. All classes were embalmed, even malefactors;
and those who were drowned in the Nile or killed by crocodiles received
an embalmment from the city nearest to which the accident occurred.
The Ethiopians used similar means of embalming to preserve the dead,
and other less successful means were used by nations of antiquity.
The Persians employed wax, the Assyrians, honey; the Jews embalmed
their monarchs with spices, with which the body of Our Lord was also
anointed; Alexander the Great was preserved in wax and honey, and
some Roman bodies have been found thus embalmed. The Guanches, or
ancient inhabitants of the Canary Isles, used an elaborate process
like the Egyptian; and dessicated bodies, preserved by atmospheric or
other circumstances for centuries, have been found in France, Sicily,
England, and America, especially in Central America, and Peru. The art
of embalming was probably never lost in Europe, and De Bils, Ruysch,
Swammerdam, and Clauderus boast of great success in it. During the
present century it has been almost entirely discarded, except under
very exceptional circumstances.
[Decoration]
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--_Tomb of Runjeet Singh at Lahore._]
LEAVING the Oriental and remotely ancient nations aside, we will now
consider the history of mourning as it was used by those peoples from
whom we immediately derive our funereal customs. In ancient times,
even amongst the Greeks and Romans, it was the custom to immolate
victims--either slaves or captives--on the tomb of the departed, in
order to appease the spirit, or that the soul might be accompanied by
spirits of inferior persons to the realms of eternal bliss; and in
India we have some difficulty even now in preventing the burning of a
widow on the funeral pyre of her husband, instances of this barbarous
custom occurring almost every year, notwithstanding the vigilance of
our Government.
It would be extremely interesting to trace to their sources all the
various rites and ceremonies connected with our principal subject,
of every nation, savage or civilised, ancient or modern; but the
task would be quite beyond my limits. A thorough investigation of the
matter, assisted very materially by a systematic investigation of that
mine of curious information, Picard's famous "_Cérémonies et coutumes
religieuses de tous les peuples_", which contains so many original
letters from missionaries of the 16th and 17th Centuries, obliges me to
come to the conclusion that there is, after all, not so much variety
in the funereal ceremonies of the world as we imagine. Those of the
Chinese and Japanese resemble in many ways, very strikingly too, the
ceremonies which the Roman Catholics employ to this day: there are the
same long processions of priests and officials; and Picard shows us a
sketch of a very grand burial at Pekin, in 1675, in which we behold the
body of the Emperor of the Celestials stretched upon a bier covered
with deep violet satin, and surrounded by many lighted candles; prayers
were said for the repose of the soul; and, as all the world knows,
the costumes of the priests of Buddha are supposed to have undergone,
together with their creed and ritual, a great change in the early part
of the 17th Century, owing to the extraordinary influence of the Jesuit
missionaries who followed St. Francis Xavier into India and Japan.
The Japanese cremated their dead and preserved the ashes; the Chinese
buried theirs; but the Cingalese, after burning the body, scattered the
ashes to the winds; whilst a sect of Persians exposed their dead upon
the top of high towers, and permitted the birds of prey to perform the
duty which we assign to the gravedigger.
Cemeteries existed in the East at a remote epoch, and were rendered
so beautiful with handsome mausoleums, groves of stately cypresses
and avenues of lovely rose bushes, that they are now used as public
promenades. On certain days of the year multitudes resort to them for
purposes of prayer, and the Armenian Christians illuminate theirs
with lamps and tapers on the annual feast of the commemoration of
the departed. Perhaps India possesses the most elegant tombs in the
world, mainly built by the sovereigns of the Mongol dynasty. None
among them is so sumptuous as the mausoleum of Taj Mahal, situated
about a mile outside the port of Agra. It was built by Shah Jehan for
himself and his wife Arjimand Banoo, surnamed Mumtaz Mahal; 20,000
men were employed for 20 years erecting it. It is constructed of the
purest white marble, relieved with precious stones. In the interior
is the sepulchral apartment, which is chiefly decorated with lapis
lazuli. The tombs of the Emperor and Empress, which stand under the
dome, are covered with costly Indian shawls of green cashmere, heavily
embroidered with gold.
Another most beautiful specimen of Mahometan sepulchral architecture is
the tomb of Runjeet Singh, near Lahore, which, though less known, is
externally as magnificent as the mausoleum above described.
[Decoration]
MOSES prohibited the immolation of human victims on the tombs of the
dead, and decreed that relatives should signify their sorrow by the
manner in which they tore their garments. They rent them according
to the degrees of affinity and parentage. Sometimes the tears were
horizontal, and this indicated that a father, mother, wife, brother,
or sister had died; but if the tear was longitudinal, it signified
that some person had departed who was not a blood relation. An idea
can be formed of the appalling destruction of clothing which must
have occurred on certain occasions amongst the ancient Jews, when we
remember that on the death of a king everybody was expected to tear
their garments longitudinally, and to go about with them in tatters for
nine days. This curious custom possibly explains Solomon's proverb,
"There is a time to rend and a time to mend."
The High Priest among the Jews was exempted from wearing mourning. The
French, when they embraced Christianity, added many Jewish customs
to their own: up to the time of the Revolution of 1789, their Grand
Chancellor, or Chief Magistrate, was not bound to wear mourning even
for his own father.
The Greeks, doubtless, derived their funereal ceremonies from the
Egyptians, and it is from this ancient people that we obtain the
custom of wearing black as mourning. When a person in Greece was
dangerously ill and not expected to recover, branches of _laurestinus_
and _achanthus_ were hung up over the door, and the relatives hurried
round the bed and prayed to Mercury, as the conductor of souls, to have
mercy upon the invalid, and either to cure him completely or else help
his soul to cross the river Styx. If the death really occurred, then
the house was filled with cries and lamentations. The body was washed
and perfumed, and covered with rich robes; a garland of flowers was
placed on its head, and in its hand a cake made of wheat and honey,
to appease Cerberus, the porter of Hell; and in the mouth a purse of
money, in order to defray the expenses of Charon, the ferryman of Styx.
In this state the deceased was exposed for two days in the vestibule of
the house. At the door was a vase full of water, destined to purify the
hands of those who touched the corpse.
Visitors to Paris will remember how often they have seen a coffin
exhibited in the doorway of a house, elaborately covered with flowers,
having at its head a crucifix, and many lights surrounding it,
everybody as they passed saluting it--the men by taking off their
hats, and the women by making the sign of the cross, often using for
this purpose holy water offered to them on a brush by an acolyte.
Now, the Greeks used blessed water when they exposed their dead in
front of their dwellings; possibly the French custom is derived from
the Grecian. The funeral in Greece took place three days after the
exhibition of the remains, and usually occurred before sunrise, so
as to avoid ostentation. Many women surrounded the bier, weeping and
howling, and not a few, being professionals, were paid for their
trouble. The corpse was placed on a chariot, in a coffin made of
cypress wood. The male relatives walked behind, those who were of
close kinship having their heads shaved. They usually cast down their
eyes, and were invariably dressed in black. A choir of musicians came
next, singing doleful tunes. The procession, as a rule, had not far
to go, for the body of a wealthy person was usually buried in his
garden--if his city house did not possess one, in that of his villa
residence.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--_A Greek Tomb: the Monument of Themistocles,
Athens._]
The Greeks, it will thus be seen, buried their dead, and did not
cremate them as did the Romans; but in the latter years of the Republic
both forms of disposing of the body were common. After the burial,
libations of wine were poured over the grave, and all objects of
clothing which had belonged to the deceased were solemnly burnt. The
ninth and fourteenth days after the funeral, the parents, dressed in
white, visited the grave, and a ceremony was gone through for the
repose of the soul. The anniversary of the death was also observed,
and the Greeks, moreover, had a general commemoration of the dead in
the month of March. And here let us make a digression to see how very
closely the Greeks must have influenced the early Christians, and
consequently their more immediate descendants, the Roman Catholics, in
the matter of religious ceremonies; for it is usual among Catholics to
hear a Mass for the Dead a week after the death, and also another on
the anniversary. The universal feast of the dead is observed by them,
however, not in the month of March, but in that of November. People
who have lived in Paris will know how very largely these funereal
ceremonies enter into the manners and customs of that gay city, so
that it is not unfrequent for foreign residents to observe that their
time is passed in perpetually going to funerals; for, if you have a
large acquaintance, you are sure to receive at least twenty or thirty
invitations to funerals and funereal commemorations in the course of
the year. Of course, everybody will remember how on the Continent
the first day of November is devoted to visiting the cemeteries and
decorating the tombs of relatives and friends.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--_Gallo-Roman bas-relief--found in Paris about
fifty years ago--representing a family surrounding the body of a woman
who has recently died._--Museum of the Louvre.]
To return to the Greeks, it should be observed that their respect
for the dead was remarkable, even amongst the ancients. If a man
accidentally found a body on the high-road, he was obliged to turn
aside and bury it. When the people saw a funeral procession pass, they
uncovered their heads and murmured a prayer. The laws against the
violation of the sepulchres of the dead were most severe, and any one
who was caught damaging a tomb was usually flogged for his trouble, but
if he overthrew it and disturbed the body, he was burnt alive.
If a person died at sea, all the people on board the ship assembled at
sunset, and cried out three times the name of the departed, who was
usually thrown overboard. In the morning they repeated these calls, and
so forth until the ship entered port. This was done in order to recall
the names of the deceased, or at any rate to keep them propitious.
When an illustrious person died in Greece, the ceremonies were on a
most elaborate scale, and even accompanied by games, which lasted for
many days. Readers of Homer's "Iliad" will remember his magnificent
description of the death and funeral of Patroclus.
Among the Romans the men were not obliged to wear mourning, but it was
the fashion for women to do so. Very wisely, children under three years
of age were not forced to put on black, even for their parents, and
after that age, only for as many months as they had lived years.
The Roman ladies only wore mourning for their parents for one year. Men
were expected to wear it for the same period in the case of the death
of a father, mother, wife, sister, or brother. Numa fixed the period
of wearing deep mourning for the nearest of kin as ten months. People,
however, were not obliged to wear mourning for any of their relatives
who had been in prison, were bankrupt, or in any way outlawed. Numa
published a minute series of laws regulating the mourning of his
people. A very odd item in these included an order that women should
not scratch their faces, or make an exceptional fuss at a public
funeral. This was possibly decreed to put some stop to abuses which the
hired mourners had occasioned: scratching their faces, for instance,
so as to injure themselves, and making an over-dismal wail which was
offensive to the genuine mourners.
For freedmen and slaves among the Romans, the greatest mark of respect
was the erection of a monument or inscription in the tomb reserved
for the family they had served. Thousands of these inscriptions to
slaves and faithful servants still exist, and lead us to hope that the
hardships of slavery in ancient Rome were often softened by mutual
kindness and respect. One of the most touching of these is in a tomb on
the Appian Road, which is supposed to have belonged to the attendants
of Livia, the illustrious consort of Augustus. It runs:--
"To my beloved Julia, my slave-woman, whose last illness I have watched
and attended as if it had been that of my own mother."
Tombs of slaves who were martyrs to the Christian religion are very
frequent, and their inscriptions are usually of a most pathetic
description.
The ashes of the dead, after the solemn burning of the body, were
carefully gathered together and placed in an often very beautifully
painted urn, and taken to the family tomb on the Appian Way, where
an appropriate inscription was affixed to the wall under the niche
containing the vase or urn. Little glass bottles, said to be filled
with the tears of the nearest relations, were likewise enclosed in the
urn, or else hung up beside it. Thousands of these, brilliant, after
ages, with iridescent colours, are still found in the Roman tombs.
It was not imperative for a man in old Rome to wear mourning at all;
but it was considered very bad taste for a male not to show some
external sign of respect for his dead. With women, on the other hand,
it was obligatory.
On great occasions, such as the death of an Emperor or a defeat of
the army in foreign parts, the Senate, the Knights, and the whole
Roman people assumed mourning; and the same ceremony was observed when
any general of the Roman army was slain in battle. When Manlius was
precipitated from the Tarpeian rock, half the people put on mourning.
The defeat at Cannæ, the conspiracy of Catilina, and the death of
Julius Cæsar were also events celebrated in Rome with public mourning;
but during the whole period of the Republic it was not compulsory for
people to notice death, either publicly or privately.
The first public mourning recorded as being observed throughout the
entire Roman Empire was that for Augustus. It lasted for fifty days
for the men, and the whole year for women. The next public event which
called forth a decree commanding that the entire people of Rome and
the Empire should wear mourning, was the death of Livia, mother of
Tiberius. The same thing occurred at the death of Drusus; and Caligula
followed the example, and ordered general mourning on the death of
Drusilla.
Private mourning, which was among the Romans, as we have already
intimated, not at all compulsory, could be broken by events such as the
birth of a son or daughter, the marriage of a child, and the return
of a prisoner of war. Men wore lighter mourning than women, but were
expected to absent themselves from places of public amusement.
The usual colour adopted by women for mourning, under the Roman Empire,
was a peculiar blue-black serge, and an absolutely black veil. As with
us, occasionally, the wearing of mourning brought forth some sharp
remarks from the satirical poets. Thus, Macrobius tells us, in his
Saturnalia, that Croesus on one occasion went to the Senate wearing the
deepest mourning for the largest lamprey in his tank, which had died.
Women were not allowed to remarry within the year of their husband's
death. Imperial permission, however, might smooth this difficulty.
AMONG the early Christians the sincerest respect for the memory of
their dead was paid; for most of them, in the first centuries of the
Church, were either martyrs or near connections of such as had suffered
for the faith. The Catacombs are covered with inscriptions recording
the deaths of martyrs; and many of these memorials are exceedingly
pathetic, testifying to the fortitude with which the first Christians
endured any manner of torture rather than deny the new faith which
had been imparted to them by Divine revelation. The remains of the
martyrs, however mangled they might be, were gathered together with the
greatest reverence, and their blood placed in little phials of glass,
which were considered relics of a most precious nature. The Catacombs,
which served the first Christians as churches as well as places of
burial, are called after the most distinguished martyrs who were buried
therein. In that of St. Calixtus, for instance--where that early and
martyred Pope was interred--about two centuries ago was found the body
of Saint Cecilia, "the sweet patroness of music." With such precaution
had her remains been transported to their place of interment, that
Bernini, the most eminent sculptor of the 17th Century, was able to
take a cast of them, which he subsequently worked into a lovely statue,
representing the saint in the graceful and modest attitude in which it
is said her body was found after the lapse of a thousand years. This
exquisite work of art is to be seen in the church which bears Saint
Cecilia's name, in the Trastevere; and a fine replica of it is in the
chapel of St. Cecilia, in the Oratory, Brompton.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--_Divine Service in the Catacombs of St.
Calixtus_, A.D. 50.]
The Catacombs are subterraneous chambers and passages usually formed
in the rock, which is soft and easily excavated, and are to be found
in almost every country in which such rocks exist. In most cases,
probably, they originated in mere quarries, which afterwards came to be
used either as places of sepulchre for the dead, or as hiding-places
for the persecuted living. The most celebrated Catacombs in existence
are those on the Via Appia, at a short distance from Rome. To these
dreary crypts the early Christians were in the habit of retiring, in
order to celebrate Divine worship in times of persecution, and in them
were buried many of the saints, the early Popes, and martyrs. They
consist of long narrow galleries, usually about eight feet high and
five wide, which twist and turn in all directions. The graves were
constructed by hollowing out a portion of the rock, at the side of
the gallery, large enough to contain the body. The entrance was then
built up with stones, on which usually the letters D. M. (Deo Maximo),
or [CHR], the first two letters of the Greek name of Christ, were
inscribed. Though latterly devoted to purposes of Christian interment
exclusively, it is believed that the Catacombs were at one time used
as burying-places for Pagans also, and there are one or two which were
evidently entirely devoted to the Jews. At irregular intervals, these
galleries expand into wide and lofty vaulted chambers, in which the
service of the Church was no doubt celebrated, and which still have
the appearance of chapels. The original extent of the Catacombs is
uncertain, the guides maintaining that they have a length of twenty
miles, whereas about six only can now be ascertained to exist, and of
these, many portions have either fallen in or become dangerous. When
Rome was besieged by the Lombards in the 8th Century, several of the
Catacombs were destroyed, and the Popes afterwards caused the remains
of many of the saints and martyrs to be removed and buried in the
churches. The Catacombs at Naples, cut into the Capo di Monte, resemble
those at Rome, and evidently were used for the same purposes, being
partially covered with remarkable Christian symbols. At Palermo and
Syracuse, there are similar Catacombs, and they are also to be found
in Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Persia, and Egypt. At Milo, one of the
Cyclades, there is a hill which is honeycombed with a labyrinth of
tombs running in every direction. In these, bassorilievi and figures
in terra-cotta have been found, which prove them to be long anterior
to the Christian era. In Peru and other parts of South America,
ancient Catacombs still exist. The Catacombs of Paris are a species of
charnel-house, into which the contents of such burying-places as were
found to be pestilential, and the bodies of some of the victims of the
Revolution, were cast by a decree of the Government. The skulls are
arranged in curious forms, and a visit to these weird galleries is one
of the sights of Paris, which few strangers, however, are privileged
to study. The Capuchin monks have frequently attached to their
monasteries, a cloister filled with earth brought from the Holy Land.
In this the monks are buried for a time, until their bones are quite
fleshless, when they are arranged in surprising groups in the long
corridors of a series of galleries, and produce sometimes the reverse
of a solemn effect.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--_Crypt of a Chapel in the Catacomb of St.
Agnes, without the walls of Rome (restored), showing the manner in
which the bodies of the early Christians were arranged one above the
other. The front of each tomb was of course walled up._--From the work
on the Catacombs of Rome, by M. PERRET.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--_An Anglo-Saxon Widow Lady. The upper garment
is of black cloth, edged with fur, and a veil of black gauze hangs from
the head._--9th Century MS., National Library, Paris.]
AS the Church emerged from the Catacombs, and was enabled to take her
position in the world, her funereal ceremonies became more elaborate
and costly. Masses for the dead were offered up in the churches, to
the accompaniment of music and singing; and the funereal ceremonies
which attended the burial of the Empress Theodolinda, A.D. 595, the
friend and correspondent of Pope St. Gregory the Great, lasted for
over a week. The Cathedral of Monza, where she was buried, was hung
with costly black stuff, and the body of the Empress was exhibited
under a magnificent catafalque, surrounded with lights, and was visited
by pilgrims from all parts of Lombardy. Many hundreds of masses were
said for her in all the churches, and all day the great bells of the
cathedral and of the various monastic establishments tolled dolefully.
At the end of the week the body of the illustrious Empress was placed
in the vault under the high altar, where it remains to this day; and
above it was a shrine filled with extraordinary relics, many of which
still subsist, as, for instance, her celebrated "Hen and Chickens"--a
plateau or tray of silver gilt with some gold chickens with ruby eyes
upon it--and the famous iron crown, which is, indeed, of gold, having
one of the nails said to have been used at the Crucifixion beaten in a
single band round the inside. Napoleon I. crowned himself, at Milan,
King of Italy, with this singular relic.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--_An Anglo-Saxon Priest wearing a black
Dalmatic, edged with fur, ready to say a Requiem Mass._--From an early
MS., 10th Century.]
Our Catholic ancestors spent large sums of money upon their funerals.
The pious practice of praying for the dead, which they doubtless
derived from the Hebrews, induced them to secure the future exertions
of their friends, by building chanteries and special chapels in the
churches, with a view of reminding the survivors of their demise.
Guilds, which by the way, still exist, were created for the purpose of
binding people together in a holy league of prayer for the souls of the
faithful departed. We find in the laws established for the Guild of
Abbotsbury, the following regulations:--"If any one belonging to the
association chance to die, each member shall pay a penny for the good
of the soul, before the body be laid in the grave. If he die in the
neighbourhood, the steward (secretary) shall enquire when he is to be
interred, and shall summon as many members as he can, to assemble and
carry the corpse in as honourable a manner as possible to the grave or
minster, and there pray devoutly for his soul's rest." With the same
view, our ancestors were ever anxious to obtain a place of sepulchre in
the most frequented churches. The monuments raised over their remains,
whilst keeping them safe from profanation, recalled them to memory,
and solicited on their behalf the charity of the faithful. The usual
inscription on the earlier Christian tombs in this country was the
pathetic "Of your charity, pray for me." In the Guild of All Souls,
in London, when any member died, it was the custom of the survivors
to give the poor a loaf for the good of the soul; and the writer can
perfectly remember, that some thirty years since, in remote parts of
Norfolk, when anybody died, it was the fashion to distribute loaves
of bread in the church porch as a dole. The funeral of an Anglo-Saxon
was thus conducted:--The body of the deceased was placed on a bier or
in a hearse. On it lay the book of the gospels, the code of his or her
belief, and the cross, the signal of hope. A pall of silk or linen was
thrown over it till it reached the place of interment. The friends
were summoned, and strangers deemed it a duty to join the funeral
procession. The clergy walked before or on each side, bearing lighted
tapers in their hands, and chanting a portion of the psalter. If it
were in the evening, the night was passed in exercises of devotion.
In the morning, mass was sung and the body deposited with solemnity
in the grave, the sawlshot paid, and a liberal donation distributed
to the poor. Before the Reformation, it was the excellent custom for
all persons who met a funeral to uncover and stand reverentially
still until it had passed. The pious turned back, and accompanied the
mourners a part of the way to the grave. It is pleasant to notice
that this essentially humane habit of taking off the hat and behaving
gravely as a funeral goes by, which is universal upon the Continent,
is at last becoming more and more general here. The homage of the
living to the mortal remains of even the humblest is excellent, and
one which should be earnestly encouraged, being far more beneficial in
its results than the heaping of costly flowers upon a hearse, which no
one notices as it passes, laden with its ephemeral offerings, to the
cemetery.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--_Funeral of St. Edward the Confessor, January
5th, 1066. The body, covered with a silken pall adorned with crosses,
is carried by eight men, and followed by many priests, to Westminster
Abbey, which he had founded. Under the bier are seen two small
figures ringing bells._--From the Bayeux Tapestry, worked by Matilda
of Flanders, Queen of William the Conqueror, and preserved in the
Cathedral at Bayeux--11th Century.]
The funeral of Edward the Confessor was exceedingly magnificent, and
the shrine built over his relics, behind the high altar of the glorious
abbey which he founded, is still an object of reverence with our Roman
Catholic fellow-citizens, who, on St. Edward's Day, are permitted by
a tolerant age to offer their devotions before the resting-place of
the last of our Saxon Kings. But our first Norman King was buried with
scant ceremony. He died 1087, at Hermentrude, a village near Rouen,
having been taken suddenly ill on his way to England. No sooner was
the illustrious king deceased, than his servants plundered the house
and even the corpse, flinging it naked upon the floor. Herleadin, a
peasant, undertook at last to convey the body to Caen, where it was to
be buried in the Abbey of St. Stephen, Prince Henry and the monks being
present. Scarcely, however, was the mass of requiem begun, when the
church took fire, and everybody fled, leaving William the Conqueror's
hearse neglected in the centre of the transept. At last the flames were
extinguished, the interrupted service finished, and the funeral sermon
preached. Just, however, as the coffin was about to be lowered into the
vault, Anselm Fitz-Arthur, a Norman gentleman, stood forth and forbade
the interment. "This spot," cried he, "is the site of my father's
house, which this dead man burnt to ashes. On the ground it occupied I
built this church, and William's body shall not desecrate it." After
much ado, however, Fitz-Arthur was prevailed upon by Prince Henry to
allow the body to be buried, on the payment of sixty shillings as the
price of the grave. In the 17th Century the Calvinists ravaged the tomb
and broke the monument. It was restored in 1642, but finally swept
away, together with that of Queen Matilda, in the Revolution of 1793.
[Decoration]
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--_The Shrine of the Confessor, in Westminster
Abbey._]
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--_Funeral of an Abbess--10th Century._--From a
MS.]
PERHAPS the most curious funeral on record occurred just at the dawn
of the Renaissance--that of the ill-fated Inez de Castro--"the Queen
crowned after death"--who was murdered in the 14th Century by three
assassins in her own apartment at Coimbra. "Being conveyed," says the
Chronicle of Fray Jao das Reglas, "to the chapel of the neighbouring
convent, her body was arrayed in spotless white and decked with roses.
The nuns surrounded the bier, and the Queen-mother of Portugal,
Brittes, sat in state--her crown upon her head and her royal robes
flowing around her--as chief mourner, having given an order that the
body should not be buried until after the return of her son Don Pedro.
When he did come back, he was transported with grief and anger at the
foul murder of his consort; and, throwing himself upon the corpse,
clasped it to his heart, covered its pale lips, its hands, its feet
with kisses, and, refusing all consolation, remained for thirty hours
with the body clasped in his embrace! At last, being overcome with
fatigue, the unhappy Prince was carried away senseless from the piteous
remains of his most dear Inez, and they were consigned to the grave.
It was his father who had instigated the murderers to commit their
foul deed, and this determined Pedro to take up arms against him; and
Portugal was desolated by civil war. Eventually the reasoning of the
Queen (Brittes) prevailed, and peace was restored. Pedro, however,
never spoke to his father again until the hour of his death, when he
forgave the great wrong he had done him. He now ascended the throne,
and his first act was to hunt down the three murderers, two of whom
were put to death, with tortures too awful to describe, and the other
escaped into France, where he died a beggar. After this retributive
act, Don Pedro assembled the Cortes at Cantandes, and, in the presence
of the Pope's Nuncio, solemnly swore that he had secretly married Inez
de Castro at Braganza, in the presence of the bishop and of other
witnesses." "Then occurred an event unique in history," continues this
naive contemporary chronicle. "The body of Inez was lifted from the
grave, placed on a magnificent throne, and crowned Queen of Portugal.
The clergy, the nobility, and the people did homage to her corpse,
and kissed the bones of her hands. There sat the dead Queen, with her
yellow hair hanging like a veil round her ghastly form. One fleshless
hand held the sceptre, and the other the orb of royalty. At night,
after the coronation ceremony, a procession was formed of all the
clergy and nobility, the religious orders and confraternities--which
extended over many miles--each person holding a flaring torch in his
hand, and thus walked from Coimbra to Alcobaça, escorting the crowned
corpse to that royal abbey for interment. The dead Queen lay in her
rich robes upon a chariot drawn by black mules and lighted up by
hundreds of lights."
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--_Bird's-eye view of the Monument (restored) of
the Queen Inez of Castro, Abbey of Alcobaça, Portugal._]
The scene must indeed have been a weird one. The sable costumes of the
bishops and priests, the incense issuing from innumerable censers,
the friars in their quaint garments, and the fantastically-attired
members of the various hermandades, or brotherhoods--some of whom were
dressed from head to foot entirely in scarlet, or blue, or black, or in
white--with their countenances masked and their eyes glittering through
small openings in their cowls; but above all, the spectre-like corpse
of the Queen, on its car, and the grief-stricken King, who led the
train--when seen by the flickering light of countless torches, with its
solemn dirge music, passing through many a mile of open country in the
midnight hours--was a vision so unreal that the chronicler describes it
as "rather a phantasmagoria than a reality." In the magnificent abbey
of Alcobaça the _requiem_ mass was sung, and the corpse finally laid to
rest.
The monument still exists, with the statue, with its royal diadem and
mantle, lying thereon. The tomb of Don Pedro is placed foot to foot
with that of Inez, so--the legend runs--that at the Judgment Day they
may rise together and stand face to face.
In 1810 the bodies of Don Pedro I. and Dona Inez de Castro were
disturbed by the French, at the sack of Alcobaça. The skeleton of Inez
was discovered to be in a singular state of preservation--the hair
exceedingly long and glossy, and the head bound with a golden crown
set with jewels of price. Singularly enough, this crown, although very
valuable, was kicked about by the men as a toy and thrown behind the
high altar, whence, as soon as the troops evacuated the monastery, it
was carefully taken and laid aside by the Abbot. Shortly afterwards it
again encircled the unhappy Queen's head, when, by order of the Duke
of Wellington, the remains were once more replaced in the tomb, with
military honours.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--_Funeral Service, in which are shown
the Candelabra and Incense Vessels which were deposited in the
coffin._--Drawing of the 14th Century--Collection of the Rev. Father
COCHET.]
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--_Angels praying over a Skull._--Bas-relief of
16th Century.]
[Illustration: FIGS. 18 & 19.--_Death Criers_--_French costumes of 17th
Century. The English dress was almost identical._--From a rare print
in the collection of Mr. RICHARD DAVEY. Engraved expressly for this
publication.]
FUNERAL services of great magnificence entered largely into the customs
of this pageantic epoch; and to this day, in Catholic countries, no
religious ceremonies are conducted with more pomp than those intended
to commemorate the departed. Besides the religious orders, there were
numerous confraternities, guilds, and brotherhoods devoted to the
burying and praying for the deceased. As no newspapers existed in those
days, when a person of distinction died, the "Death Crier,"--in some
parts of England called the "Death Watch,"--dressed in black, with a
death's-head and cross-bones painted on the back and front of his gown,
and armed with a bell, went the round of the town or village, as the
case might be, shouting "Of your charity, good people, pray for the
soul of our dear brother, [or sister] who departed this life at such
and such an hour." Upon this the windows and doors of the houses were
opened, and the "good people" said an ave or a pater for the "rest"
of the dead, and at the same time the passing bell was tolled. In
London, when the King or Queen died, the crier, or "Death Watch," who
paraded our principal thoroughfares was, of course, a very important
personage. Attended by the whole brotherhood, or guild, of the Holy
Souls, with cross-bearer, each carrying a lighted candle, he proceeded
processionally through the streets, notably up and down Cheapside and
the Strand, solemnly ringing his bell, and crying out in a lugubrious
voice his sad news. These criers, both in England and France, were
paid, as officials, by the civic corporation so much per day, and were
obliged, in addition to their usual mournful occupation, to inspect and
report on the condition of low taverns and places of ill-fame. In the
course of time they added to their "cry" news of a more miscellaneous
character, and after the Reformation, became, we may well imagine,
those rather musty folks the "Watch," who only disappeared from our
midst as late as the early half of this century.
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--_Pall from the Church of Folleville, France,
now in the Museum at Amiens. It is of black velvet, with stripes of
white silk let in, embroidered with black and gold thread. It was
placed over the coffin. Similar palls existed in England, and one or
two are still preserved in our national collections._]
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--_Scene from Richard III._--_The body of Henry
VI. being by chance met by Richard on its way to Chertsey, he orders
the bearers to set it down, and then pleads his cause to the Lady
Anne._]
Shakespeare, whose knowledge of Catholicism of course came to him from
immediate tradition, possibly remembered a very ancient custom when, in
_Richard III._, he makes the Duke of Glo'ster command the attendants
who follow the body of Henry VI. to set it down,--an order which they
obey reluctantly enough,--thereby giving him an opportunity to make
love to Lady Anne in the presence of her murdered father-in-law's
remains. In Catholic times the streets were adorned not only by many
fine crosses, such as those at Charing and Cheapside, but also by
numerous chapels and wayside shrines. Funerals, when they passed
these, were in the habit of stopping, and the assistants, kneeling,
prayed for the dead person whom they were carrying to the grave. They
likewise stopped, also, and very frequently too, at certain well-known
public-houses or taverns, the members of the family of the deceased
being obliged by custom to "wet the lips" of the "thirsty souls" who
carried the corpse. Sometimes very disorderly scenes ensued. The hired
mourners and more unruly members of the guilds got drunk; and it is on
record that on more than one occasion the body was pulled out of its
coffin by these rascals and outraged, to the horror and indignation of
honest people. It has frequently occurred to the writer, that if the
attendants in the curious scene in the tragedy just mentioned, were to
convey the body of the dead King to the side or back of the stage, in
front of some shrine or cross, and occupy themselves with prayer, they
would render the astonishing dialogue between Glo'ster and Lady Anne
much more intelligible than when we hear it spoken, as is usually the
case, before a number of persons for whose ears it was certainly never
intended.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--_Funeral of King Richard II., showing his
waxen effigy._--From an early MS. of FROISSART.]
IMPORTANT personages in olden times in this country were usually
embalmed. The poor, on the contrary, were rarely furnished even with
a decent coffin, but were carried to the grave in a hired one, which,
in villages, often did duty for many successive years. Once the brief
service was said, the pauper's body, in its winding-sheet, was placed
reverently enough in the earth, and covered up--a fact which doubtless
accounts for the numerous village legends of ghosts wandering about in
winding-sheets. Charitable people paid for masses to be said by the
friars for their poorer brethren, and the guilds paid all expenses of
the funeral, which were naturally not very considerable. On the other
hand, the funeral of great personages, from king to squire, was a
function which sometimes lasted a week. The bell tolled--as it still
does--the moment the death became known to the bell-ringer. Then the
body was washed, embalmed with spices and sweet herbs, wrapped in a
winding-sheet of fine linen,--which, by the way, was often included
among the wedding presents--and taken down into the hall of the palace
or manor, which was hung with black, and lighted by many tapers, and
even by waxen torches--sometimes as many as 300 and 400 of them--an
immense expense, considering the cost of wax in those days. After three
days' exposition--if the body remained incorrupt so long--the corpse
was sealed up in a leaden coffin, and taken to the church, where solemn
masses were sung. The clothes--we may presume the old and well-worn
ones only--were then formally distributed to the poor of the parish.
Finally came the funeral banquet of "baked meats," to which all those,
including the clergy, who had taken part in the funeral service and
procession were invited.
When the Sovereign or any person of royal rank deceased, a waxen
presentment was immediately made of him as he was seen in life under
the influence of sleep. This figure, dressed in the regal robes,
was exposed upon the catafalque in the church, instead of the real
body--a custom doubtless inspired originally by hygienic motives, for
frequently the funeral rites of a king or prince of the blood were
prolonged for many days. In Westminster Abbey there are still several
of these grim ancient waxen effigies to be seen, by special permission
of the Dean, very faded and ghastly, but interesting as likenesses,
and for the fragments which time has spared of their once gorgeous
attire. This custom lasted with us until the time of William and Mary.
In France it disappeared in the middle of the 17th Century, the last
mention of it being on the occasion of the death of Anne of Austria;
for we read in a curious letter from Guy Patin to his friend Falconet,
"The Queen-Mother died to-day [Jan. 21, 1666]. She was immediately
embalmed, and by noon her waxen effigy was on view at the Louvre.
Thousands are pressing in to see it."
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--_Funeral Procession of King Henry V._, A.D.
1422.]
In France, so long as the wax effigy was exposed in the church or
palace, sometimes for three weeks, the service of the royal person's
table took place as usual. His or her chair of state was drawn up to
the table, the napkin, knife and fork, spoon and glass, were in their
usual places, and at the appointed time the dinner was served to the
household, and "the meats, drinks, and all other goodly things" were
offered before the dead prince's chair, as if he were still seated
therein. When, however, the coffin took the place in the church
of the wax figure, and the body was put into the grave, then the
banqueting-hall was hung with black, and for eight days no meals were
served in it of any kind.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--_Queen Katherine de Valois in her Widow's
Dress, A.D. 1422. The costume is of black brocade elaborately trimmed
with black glass beads, and trimmed with white fur._--MS. of the
period.]
We still possess some curious details concerning the funeral of Henry
V., who died at Vincennes in 1422. Juvenal des Usines tells us that
the body was boiled, so as to be converted into a perfect skeleton,
for better transportation into England. The bones were first taken
to Notre Dame, where a superb funeral service was said over them.
Just above the body they placed a figure made of boiled leather,
representing the king's person "as well as might be desired," clad in
purple, with the imperial diadem on its brow and the sceptre in its
hand. Thus adorned, the coffin and the effigy were placed on a gorgeous
chariot, covered with a "coverture" of red velvet beaten with gold.
In this manner, followed by the King of Scots, as chief mourner, and
by all the princes, lords, and knights of his house, was the body of
the illustrious hero of Agincourt conveyed from town to town, until it
reached Calais and was embarked for England, where it was finally laid
at rest in Westminster Abbey, under a new monument erected by Queen
Katherine de Valois, who eventually caused a silver-plated effigy of
her husband, with a solid silver gilt head, to be placed on the tomb,
which was unfortunately destroyed at the time of the Reformation.
The funeral of Eleanor of Castile, the adored consort of Edward I.,
was exceptionally sumptuous. This amiable Queen died at Hardbey, near
Grantham, of "autumnal" fever, on November 29, 1290. The pressing
affairs of Scotland were obliterated for the time from the mind of the
great Edward, and he refused to attend to any state duty until his
"loved ladye" was laid at rest at Westminster. The procession, followed
by the King in the bitterest woe, took thirteen days to reach London
from Grantham. At the end of every stage the royal bier surrounded by
its attendants, rested in some central place of a great town, till the
neighbouring ecclesiastics came to meet it in solemn procession, and
to place it upon the high altar of the principal church. A cross was
erected in memory of King Edward's _chère reine_ at every one of these
resting-places. Thirteen of these monuments once existed; now only
two of the originals remain, the crosses of Northampton and Waltham.
The fac-simile at Charing Cross, opposite the Railway Station, though
excellent, is of course modern, and does not occupy the right spot,
which was, it is said on good authority, exactly where now stands the
statue of Charles II. The Chronicler of Dunstable thus describes the
ceremony of marking the sites for these crosses: "Her body passed
through Dunstable and rested one night, and two precious cloths were
given us, and eighty pounds of wax. And when the body of Queen Eleanor
was departing from Dunstable, her bier rested in the centre of the
market-place till the King's Chancellor and the great men there present
had marked a fitting place where they might afterwards erect, at the
royal expense, a cross of wonderful size,--our prior being present, who
sprinkled the spot with holy water."
Perhaps the most magnificent funeral which took place before the
Reformation was that of Elizabeth of York, consort of Henry VII. It
was one of the last great Roman Catholic state funerals in England,
for the obsequies of Henry VII. himself were conducted on a much
diminished scale; and those of the wives of Henry VIII., and of that
monster himself, were not accompanied by so much pomp, owing to the
religious troubles of the time. Queen Elizabeth of York was the last
English Queen who died at the Tower. Her obsequies took place in the
chapel of St. Mary, which was, until quite lately, the Rolls Office,
and which was magnificently hung on this occasion with black brocade.
The windows were veiled with crape. The Queen's body rested on a bed of
state, in a _chapelle ardente_, surrounded by over 5,000 wax candles.
High Mass was said during the earlier hours of the morning, and in the
afternoon solemn Vespers were sung. When the Queen's body was nailed up
in its coffin, the usual waxen effigy took its place. The procession
left St. Mary's, in the Tower, at noon, for Westminster Abbey, and was
of exceeding length. At every hundred yards it was met by the religious
corporations, fraternities, and guilds, and by the children attached
to sundry monastic and charitable foundations, some of them dressed as
angels, with golden wings, and all of them singing psalms. There were
over 8,000 wax tapers burning between Mark Lane and the Temple; and
the fronts of all the churches were hung with black, and brilliantly
illuminated. The people in the streets held candles, and repeated
prayers. At Temple Bar the body was received by the municipal officers
of the City of Westminster, who accompanied it to the Abbey, where the
Queen's effigy was exhibited with great state for two days, and on the
morning of the third she was buried in what is since known as "Henry
VII.'s Chapel."
[Illustration: FIG. 25.--_Gentleman in Mourning, time of Henry VII. The
costume is entirely black, edged with black fur._--From a contemporary
MS.]
The funeral of the unfortunate Katherine of Arragon took place, as all
the world knows, in Peterborough Cathedral.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--_Richard I. and his Queen attending the
Requiem Mass for the fallen Crusaders, in the Cathedral of Rhodes._]
In a recently discovered contemporary Spanish chronicle, translated
by Mr. Martin Sharpe Hume, it seems that the servants of the "Blessed
lady" (Queen Katherine) were all dressed in mourning, and the funeral
was a fairly handsome one. More than three hundred masses were said
during the day at Peterborough, for all the clergy for fifteen miles
round came to the various services. Chapuy, the Spanish Ambassador to
the Court of King Henry, in a letter to his master Charles V., however,
informs him that the funeral of Queen Katherine was mean and shabby in
the extreme, quite unworthy even of an ordinary baroness. Jane Seymour
fared better after death than any other of the wives of Henry VIII.,
and was buried with considerable solemnity at Windsor. The first royal
Protestant state funeral mentioned as taking place in this country
was that of Queen Catherine Parr, at Sudeley Castle. The ceremony was
of the simplest description: psalms were sung over the remains, and a
brief discourse pronounced. The Lady Jane Grey was chief mourner.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.--_Lying in State of Queen Elizabeth of York,
Consort of Henry VII._]
The author of the Spanish chronicle just mentioned, who evidently
witnessed the interment of Henry VIII., assures us that the waxen
effigy of the King was carried in a chair to Windsor, and was an
astonishing likeness. It was followed by 1,000 gentlemen on horseback,
the horses all being draped with black velvet. Many masses were said in
St. George's Chapel for the rest of the King's soul, but the obsequies
do not appear to have been exceptionally splendid.
[Illustration: FIG. 28.--_Tomb of Henry V._]
The funeral of Anne of Cleves, who had become a Catholic, took place
at Westminster, under the special supervision of Queen Mary. It was a
plain but handsome function, conducted with good taste, but without
ostentation. The unpopular Mary Tudor's funeral was the last Catholic
state ceremony of the kind which ever took place in Westminster Abbey.
Queen Elizabeth attended her sister's funeral, which was a simple one,
and listened attentively to the funeral oration preached by Dr. White
Bailey, of Winchester, who, when he spoke of poor Mary's sufferings,
wept bitterly, and exclaimed, looking significantly at her successor,
_Melior est canis vivis leone mortuo_. Elizabeth understood her Latin
too well not to be fired with indignation at this elegant simile,
which declared a "living dog better than a dead lion," and ordered the
bishop to be arrested as he descended from the pulpit, and a violent
scene occurred between him and the Queen, which, Her Majesty prudently
permitted him to have the best of, by withdrawing with her train from
the Abbey.
[Illustration: FIG. 29.--_Departure of the body of Queen Elizabeth from
Greenwich Palace, for Interment at Westminster._]
QUEEN ELIZABETH died in the seventieth year of her age and the
forty-fourth of her reign, March 24, on the eve of the festival of the
Annunciation, called Lady Day. Among the complimentary epitaphs which
were composed for her, and hung up in many churches, was one ending
with the following couplet:--
"She is, she was--what can there be more said?
On earth the first, in heaven the second maid."
It is stated by Lady Southwell that directions were left by Elizabeth
that she should not be embalmed; but Cecil gave orders to her surgeon
to open her. "Now, the Queen's body being cered up," continues Lady
Southwell, "was brought by water to Whitehall, where, being watched
every night by six several ladies, myself that night watching as one
of them, and being all in our places about the corpse, which was fast
nailed up in a board coffin, with leaves of lead covered with velvet,
her body burst with such a crack that it splitted the wood, lead, and
cere-cloth; whereupon, the next day she was fain to be new trimmed up."
Elizabeth was most royally interred in Westminster Abbey on the 28th of
April, 1603. We subjoin a rare contemporary engraving of the funeral
procession, by which it will be seen with what pomp and ceremony the
remains of the great Queen were escorted to their last resting-place.
"The city of Westminster," says Stow, "was surcharged with multitudes
of all sorts of people, in the streets, houses, windows, leads, and
gutters, who came to see the obsequy. And when they beheld her statue,
or effigy, lying on the coffin, set forth in royal robes, having a
crown upon the head thereof, and a ball and a sceptre in either hand,
there was such a general sighing, groaning, and weeping as the like
hath not been seen or known in the memory of man; neither doth any
history mention any people, time, or state to make such lamentation
for the death of a sovereign." The funereal effigy which, by its close
resemblance to their deceased sovereign, moved the sensibility of the
loyal and excitable portion of the spectators at her obsequies in this
powerful manner, was no other than the faded waxwork effigy of Queen
Elizabeth preserved in Westminster Abbey.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--_A memento mori, or death's-head timepiece,
in solid silver, lately exhibited at the Stuart Exhibition, 1888-9.
On the forehead is a figure of Death standing between a palace and a
cottage: around is this legend from Horace,_ "Pallida mors equo pulsat
pede pauperum tabernas Regum que turres." _On the hind part of the
skull is a figure of Time, with another legend from Ovid:_ "Tempus
Edax Rerum tuque Mirdiosa Vetustas." _The upper part of the skull
bears representations of Adam and Eve and the Crucifixion; between
these scenes is open work to let out the sound when the watch strikes
the hour upon a silver bell which fills the hollow of the skull and
receives the works within it when the watch is shut. On the edge is
inscribed:_ "Sicut meis sic et omnibus idem." _It bears the maker's
name, Moysart à Blois. Belonged formerly to Mary Queen of Scots, and by
her was given to the Seton family, and inherited thence by its actual
owner, Sir T. W. Dick Lauder._]
Elizabeth was interred in the same grave with her sister and
predecessor in regal office, Mary Tudor. Her successor, James I., has
left a lasting evidence of his good feeling and good taste in the
noble monument he erected to her memory in the Abbey, and she was the
last sovereign of this country to whom a monument has been given.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--_Funeral of Queen Elizabeth, 18th of April,
1603._--From a very rare contemporary engraving, reproduced expressly,
and for the first time, for this work, by M. Badoureau, of Paris. No. 1
represents the wax effigy of the Queen lying on her coffin; gentlemen
pensioners carrying the banners. The chariot is drawn by four horses.
2. Kings at Arms. 3. Noblemen. 4. The Archbishop of Canterbury. 5.
The French Ambassador and his train-bearer. 6. The great Standard
of England, carried by the Earl of Pembroke. 7. The Master of the
Horse. 8. The Lady Marchioness of Northampton, grand mourner, and the
ladies in attendance on the Queen. 9. Captain of the Guard. 10. Lord
Clanricarde carrying the Standard of Ireland. 11. Standard of Wales,
borne by Viscount Bindon, followed by the Lord Mayor. 12. Gentlemen
of the Chapels Royal; children of the Chapels. 13. Trumpeters. 14.
Standard of the Lion. 15. Standard of the Greyhound. 16. The Queens
Horse. 17. Poor Women to the number of 266. 18. The Banner of Cornwall.
The Aldermen, Recorders, Town Clerks, etc.]