France, in a curious book published in the 17th Century, from a MS. of
the time of Louis XI. In it we learn that King Louis XI. wore scarlet
for mourning on the death of his father, Charles VII. Up to the time of
Louis XIV. the Queens of France, if they became widowed, wore white;
and this is the reason that Mary Tudor was called "_La Reine Blanche_,"
when she clandestinely married the Duke of Suffolk in the chapel of
that most interesting place, the Maison Cluny, now a museum, which
still retains its name of _La Reine Blanche_. The Queen had been but a
very short time the widow of Charles VIII., and still wore her weeds
when she gave her hand to the lusty English duke. Mary Stuart wore
white for her husband, Francis II. of France; and when she arrived in
Scotland she still retained, for some months, her white robes, and
was called the "White Queen" in consequence. But this illustrious and
ill-fated princess throughout the greater part of her life wore black,
and we have many minute details of her dresses, especially of the
stately one she wore on the day of her execution, which was of brocaded
satin, having a train of great length; a ruffle of white lawn, edged
with lace; and a veil (which still exists) made of drawn threads, in
a check-board pattern, and edged with Flemish lace. From her girdle
was suspended a rosary, and in her hand she carried a crucifix. Her
under garments, we know, were scarlet; for, when she removed her dress
upon the scaffold, the bodice at least, all contemporaries agree,
was flame-coloured. Queen Elizabeth ordered her Court to go into
mourning for the Queen of Scots, whose sad and "accidental" death she
hypocritically decreed should be regarded as a very great misfortune.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--_French Lady of the 16th Century in Widow's
Weeds. This costume is identical with that worn by Mary Stuart as
widow of the Dauphin, only her dress was perfectly white._--From
PIETRO VERCELLIO'S famous work on Costume, engraved expressly for this
publication.]
King James ordered the deepest mourning to be worn for his royal
mother--a requisition with which all his nobles complied, except the
Earl of Sinclair, who appeared before him clad in steel. The King
frowned, and inquired if he had not seen the order for a general
mourning. "Yes," was the noble's reply; "this is the proper mourning
for the Queen of Scotland." James, however, whatever his inclinations
might have been, was unprovided with the means of levying war against
England, and his Ministers were entirely under the control of the
English faction, and, after maintaining a resentful attitude for a
time, he was at length obliged to accept Elizabeth's "explanation" of
the murder of his mother.
Early in March, 1587, the obsequies of Mary Stuart were solemnised
by the King, nobles, and people of France, with great pomp, in the
Cathedral of Notre Dame at Paris, and a passionately eloquent funeral
oration was pronounced by Renauld de Beaulue, Archbishop of Bourges
and Patriarch of Acquitaine, which brought tears to the eyes of every
person in the congregation.
After Mary's body had remained for nearly six months apparently
forgotten by her murderers, Elizabeth considered it necessary, in
consequence of the urgent and pathetic memorials of the afflicted
servants of the unfortunate princess and the remonstrances of her
royal son, to accord it not only Christian burial, but a pompous state
funeral. This she appointed to take place in Peterborough Cathedral,
and, three or four days before, sent some officials to make the
necessary arrangements for the solemnity. The place selected for the
interment was at the entrance of the choir from the south aisle. The
grave was dug by the centogenarian sexton, Scarlett. Heralds and
officers of the wardrobe were also sent to Fotheringay Castle to
make arrangements for the removal of the royal body, and to prepare
mourning for all the servants of the murdered Queen. Moreover, as
their head-dresses were not of the approved fashion for mourning in
England, Elizabeth sent a milliner on purpose to make others, in the
orthodox mode, proper to be worn at the funeral, and to be theirs
afterwards. However, these true mourners coldly, but firmly declined
availing themselves of these gifts and attentions, declaring "that they
would wear their own dresses, such as they had got made for mourning
immediately after the loss of their beloved Queen and mistress."
On the evening of Sunday, July 30, Garter King of Arms arrived at
Fotheringay Castle, with five other heralds and forty horsemen,
to receive and escort the remains of Mary Stuart to Peterborough
Cathedral, having brought with them a royal funereal car for that
purpose, covered with black velvet, elaborately set forth with
escutcheons of the arms of Scotland, and little pennons round about
it, drawn by four richly-caparisoned horses. The body, being enclosed
in lead within an outer coffin, was reverently put into the car, and
the heralds, having assumed their coats and tabards, brought the same
forth from the castle, bare-headed, by torchlight, about ten o'clock at
night, followed by all her sorrowful servants.
The procession arrived at Peterborough between one and two o'clock on
the morning of July 30, and was received ceremoniously at the minster
door by the bishop and clergy, where, in the presence of her faithful
Scotch attendants, she was laid in the vault prepared for her, without
singing or saying--the grand ceremonial being appointed for August 1.
The reason for depositing the royal body previously in the vault was,
because it was too heavy to be carried in the procession, weighing,
with the lead and outer coffin, nearly nine hundredweight. On Monday,
the 31st, arrived the ceremonial mourners from London, escorting the
Countess of Bedford, who was to represent Elizabeth in the mockery of
acting as chief mourner to the poor victim. At eight in the morning
of Tuesday the solemnities commenced. First, the Countess of Bedford
was escorted in state to the great hall of the bishop's palace, where
a representation of Mary's corpse lay on a royal bier. Thence she was
followed into the church by a great number of English peers, peeresses,
knights, ladies, and gentlemen, in mourning. All Mary's servants,
both male and female, walked in the procession, according to their
degree--among them her almoner, De Préau, bearing a large silver cross.
The representation of the corpse being received without the Cathedral
gate by the bishops and clergy, it was borne in solemn procession and
set down within the royal hearse, which had been prepared for it, over
the grave where the remains of the Queen had been silently deposited by
torchlight on the Monday morning. The hearse was 20 feet square, and
27 feet high. On the coffin--which was covered with a pall of black
velvet--lay a crown of gold, set with stones, resting on a purple
velvet cushion, fringed and tasselled with gold.
All the Scotch Queen's train--both men and women, with the exception
of Sir Andrew Melville and the two Mowbrays, who were members of the
Reformed Church--departed, and would not tarry for sermon or prayers.
This greatly offended the English portion of the congregation, who
called after them and wanted to force them to remain. After the prayer
and a funeral service, every officer broke his staff over his head
and threw the pieces into the vault upon the coffin. The procession
returned in the same order to the bishop's palace, where Mary's
servants were invited to partake of the banquet which was provided for
all the mourners; but they declined doing so, saying that "their hearts
were too sad to feast."
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--_Shakespeare's Tomb before the present
restoration._]
But let us turn aside from the pageants of kings and queens, and direct
our attention for a few moments towards Stratford-upon-Avon, where,
on April 23, 1616, the greatest of all Englishmen breathed his last.
A vague tradition tells us that, being in the company of Drayton and
Ben Johnson, Shakespeare partook too freely of the cup, and expired
soon after. This may be a calumny; and, if it were not, it would not
diminish our gratitude and reverence for the highest intellect our
race has produced. It, however, leads us to think and hope, that at
the modest funeral of the "great Bard of Avon" the illustrious Ben
Johnson as well as Drayton were present with his sorrowing relatives
and fellow-citizens. His remains rest under the famous slab which bears
the inscription due, it is said, to his own immortal pen:
"Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbeare
To digg T--E dust encloased here:
Blessed be T--E Man T/y spares T--ES Stones,
And curst be He T/y moves my bones."
If his contemporaries have forgotten to give us details of that
memorable funeral, and if for nearly two centuries his modest grave was
almost neglected, ample reparation has been made to his memory in this
enlightened age, and Shakespeare's tomb has become a shrine visited
by countless pilgrims from all parts of the earth; and a glorious
monument, more beautiful than has been generally admitted, stands
not far from the church, erected to Shakespeare only last year by a
nobleman, Lord Ronald Gower, whose taste and culture would have done
honour to the epoch which produced not Shakespeare alone, but Sydney
and Raleigh.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--_Stratford-on-Avon Church._]
If we could discover all the particulars respecting Shakespeare's
burial, we should possibly find that, being a "gentleman," he was
wrapped in his coffin in "wool," for which privilege his survivors
paid a tax of 10s. This curious habit, which we derived from our
Norman ancestors, endured until the first few years of this century.
By "wool" we should read flannel. Almost all the old parish registers
in the country make a point of informing us that "the body" was buried
in wool, and the "usual tax paid." The Normans, and their descendants
in Normandy to this day, had some curious superstitions connected with
"flannel," which even the industrious bibliophile Jacob has failed to
discover. This custom they introduced into England, and it lasted for
hundreds of years. I believe the coffin was also frequently filled up
with fine sheep's wool. Another curious custom, which is now obsolete,
was to put cloves, spikenard, fine herbs, and twigs of various aromatic
shrubs into the coffin, in memory of the embalming of our Lord. Young
girls and unmarried women were buried in white, and had their coffins
covered with white flowers. All the people who accompanied the funeral
wore white scarves, and before the Reformation, white dresses, and the
way was strewn with box leaves, grass, and flowers. The porch of the
deceased's house was decked with flowers and garlands, and especially
with dog-roses and daisies.
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--_Seal of an imaginary Bull of Pope
Lucifer._--From the _Roi Modus_, a MS. of the 15th Century, Royal
Library, Brussels. The inscription is evidently cabalistic and
unintelligible.]
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--_The Funeral of Juliet_ ("Romeo and
Juliet").--This charming engraving from KNIGHT'S splendid edition of
Shakespeare gives a very fair idea of a grand funeral procession in the
16th Century.]
THE funeral ceremonies of the French kings and princes of the blood
during the Middle Ages and the period of the Renaissance, were, as
may well be imagined, exceedingly magnificent. As already related,
the death criers announced the decease of the sovereign in the usual
manner, shouting out, "_Oyez! bonnes gens de Paris_--listen, good
people of Paris: the most high and mighty, excellent and powerful King,
our sovereign Master, by the grace of God King of France, the most
Christian of Princes, most clement and pious, died last night. Pray for
the repose of his soul."
The first part of the ceremony took place at Notre Dame, where what is
known as the lying-in-state was conducted with appropriate splendour.
The procession, after a solemn mass, formed on the _Pavis_, or square,
round the Cathedral, and began to move slowly over the bridge and
through the Marais to St. Denis, some miles distant from Paris. There
was a halt, however, at the convent of St. Lazaire (now covered by the
railway station), and the gentlemen in attendance mounted their horses.
Before the Revolution of '93, fifteen beautiful wayside crosses, or
_montjoies_, as they were called, stood on the roadside between the
Porte St. Denis and the Abbey. At each of these prayers were said and
the coffin rested. Sometimes, as in the case of Charles VIII., the
coffin and its waxen effigy were carried on the shoulders of a number
of noblemen; but usually, since their feet were hidden by heavy black
velvet draperies, very common men were charged with the "honourable
burden." After the first half of the 16th Century, the royal body was
conducted to the grave in a chariot drawn sometimes by as many as
four-and-twenty black horses. If I err not, the last King of France
whose coffin was carried by men was Francis I., whose gentlemen of the
bedchamber performed this office, having each a halter round his neck,
and a cord or rope.
At St. Denis the ceremonies were very imposing. High Mass of Requiem
being over, the body was removed from the catafalque and lowered into
the vaults under the altar. The Grand Almoner of France recited the _De
profundis_, all kneeling. Suddenly a voice, that of the Herald-at-Arms,
was heard, crying out from the vault below, "Kings-at-Arms, come
do your duty." The grand officers were now summoned by name, thus:
"Monsieur le duc de Bourbon, bring your staff of command over the
hundred Archers of the Guard, and break it and throw it into the
grave." "Monsieur le comte de Lorges, bring your staff of office as
commander of the Scotch Guard, and break it and throw it into the
grave," and so forth, until some fifty of the grand dignitaries of the
Court had in turn performed this lengthy ceremony. The last time it
occurred was in 1824, on the occasion of the funeral of Louis XVIII.,
when each detail of the ancient ceremonial was punctually followed.
Every staff of office was broken and thrown into the King's grave,
except the banner of France, which was merely inclined three times to
the very edge of the crypt.
At the conclusion of this rather tedious ceremony, everybody knelt
down, and the herald shouted, "The King is dead; pray for his soul."
A moment of silence ensued, which was eventually broken by a blast
of trumpets. Then the organ played a lively strain, and the Herald
proclaimed, "_Le roi est mort, vive le roi_--long live the King!" The
banners waved, the cannon boomed, the bells pealed forth joyously, and
the procession reformed, whilst the officiating clergy sang the _Te
Deum_. As almost all the Kings and Queens of France, with not more
than half a dozen exceptions, from the time of Clovis to that of Louis
XVIII., were buried at St. Denis, the funeral rites were rarely if ever
altered. But with us, although so many of our most illustrious princes
are interred at Westminster, still not a few were buried at St. Paul's;
many at Blackfriars and at Greyfriars, two glorious churches destroyed
in the 17th Century, at Windsor, and in various Cathedrals; so that our
royal funereal ceremonies were not always conducted with such punctual
etiquette as were those of our neighbours.
[Decoration]
THE minute details of the funeral of Mary Stuart, at Westminster
Abbey, prove that it was conducted on the same scale and with the same
ceremonies as the one which preceded it by many years at Peterborough.
King James, her son, was present, and shortly afterwards the sumptuous
monument which we still admire marked the place where her mutilated
remains, translated from Peterborough, found a permanent place of rest.
The great changes in religion which occurred at the time of the
Reformation, although they took much longer to permeate the habits
and customs of the people than is usually imagined, nevertheless were
so radical, that of the ancient ritual little soon remained, and the
beautiful funeral service of the Church of England, which is so full
of faith and hope, and mainly selected from passages of Holy Scripture
adapted to the requirements of a religion which abolished belief in
an intermediary state, and therefore in the necessity of prayers for
the dead, was introduced, and little by little the pompous ceremonies
of the Roman Church were forgotten. The lying-in-state of the corpse,
for instance, which up to the close of the reign of Mary was general,
even with poor people, was now only in use among those of the very
highest rank. The increase in the use of carriages, too, and of course
the abolition of the monastic orders and brotherhoods, diminished the
splendour of the street processions which used to follow the bier.
Still, much that was quaint remained in fashion, and it is only, as
already said, a few years since that ladies ceased wearing a scarf and
hood of black silk, and gentlemen "weepers" on their hats and arms,
which were black or white according to the sex of the deceased. In
Norfolk, until the end of the first quarter of the present century,
it was the custom to give the mourners at a funeral black gloves,
scarves, and bunches of herbs. Indeed, it is but a short time since a
very old lady told me that so rich, broad, and beautiful was the silk
of the scarves presented to each lady at a funeral, when she was a
girl, that ladies were wont to keep the pieces by them until they were
sufficient in number to form a dress. A bill of the funeral expenses of
a very rich gentleman who died at Brandon Hall, in Norfolk, early in
this century,--Mr. Denn, of Norwich,--and who left over half a million
of money, enables us to form some idea of the expense to which our
grandfathers of the upper class were put in order to be buried with
what they considered proper respect. It would seem that in those days
the hearse and funeral carriages had to be hired from London, and they
took three days to perform the journey from the metropolis--a distance
of about three hours by rail. No fewer than 40 persons figure as
accompanying these vehicles, and as they had to be put up at inns along
the road, going both to and from London to Brandon Hall, their expenses
were £180. The hire of horses and carriages was £106, and what with
the distribution of loaves to the poor at the grave, and the expense
of bringing relatives from far parts of the country, and of providing
them with silk scarves, gloves, etc., and the housing and entertaining
of them all, the worthy Mr. Denn's funeral cost his survivors not less
than £775.
[Illustration: FIG. 37.--_Interment in a Church in the first quarter of
the 18th Century._--From PICARD'S great work on the Religions of all
Nations.]
In Picard, there is a very beautiful engraving by Schley, representing
a funeral procession in 1735, entering the church of St. Paul's, Covent
Garden. It occurs by night, and a number of pages in black velvet walk
in it, carrying lighted three-branched silver candlesticks. It seems
that until 1775 women in England only attended the funerals of their
own sex, and that men in the same manner only followed men to the
grave. Possibly as a disinfectant against the plague, at all English
funerals a branch of rosemary was handed to all who attended, which
they threw into the open grave. This fashion endured, to the writer's
knowledge, in Norfolk up to 1856.
The French Revolution cannot be described as an unmitigated
blessing--far from it; but it certainly did away with many
superstitious practices, and shed a flood of light upon civilisation.
Before that event it was the universal custom throughout Europe to
bury in churches, a practice which was most detrimental to health. By
one of the earliest decrees passed by the Convention of Paris, 1794,
intramural interments were abolished, although, to be sure, cemeteries
already existed of considerable extent, possibly suggested by those
which for ages the Mahometans have used in all the principal cities
of Asia and Asiatic Europe. That of Père la Chaise, so called after
the confessor of Madame de Maintenon, who founded it, is one of the
earliest. With the counter-Reformation, as the movement is called in
history, the ceremonial of the Roman Church became, on the Continent,
even more elaborate than heretofore, and nothing can be imagined more
theatrically splendid than the church decorations on occasions of
funerals of eminent personages.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--_The Cemetery of Père la Chaise, Paris._]
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--_Funeral of the Grand Duke Albert VII.,
surnamed "the Pious," Archduke of Austria, at Brussels, 11th March,
1622. The coffin, covered with a pall of cloth of gold, is carried
under a canopy by the Ambassador of his Catholic Majesty, by the Duke
d'Aumale, the Marquis of Baden, and other great nobles, followed
by the Archbishop of Patras and two Cardinals. The horse of the
deceased is seen led immediately behind, by grooms and officers of the
household._--From the exceedingly rare work by FRANCQUART, printed
at Antwerp in 1623. (From the collection of Mr. RICHARD DAVEY, and
engraved expressly for this publication.)]
From the last half of the 16th Century down to the Revolution of 1789,
possibly the most extraordinary funeral recorded in history was that
of the Emperor Charles V. It was celebrated with almost identical pomp
simultaneously, at Madrid and at Brussels. The procession at Brussels
took six hours to pass any one point, and it is estimated that 80,000
persons walked in it, the participants being supplied from every city
of Belgium and Holland. In this extraordinary function figured cars
on floats, representing certain striking events in the life of the
Emperor, and one of these we reproduce, since it will best afford an
idea of the supreme magnificence of the spectacle. It represents a
ship, and is intended to illustrate the maritime progress made in the
reign of this enterprising monarch. The float on which this clever
model of a vessel of the period was arranged was dragged through the
streets by 24 black horses, covered with black velvet, and followed by
representatives of the navies both of Belgium and Spain, and by some
300 lads dressed as sailors of all nations.
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--_Float carried in the Funeral Procession of
Charles V. at Brussels, December 29, 1558, and intended to illustrate
his maritime greatness. The vessel was the size of a real ship, and the
persons who appear upon its deck were living._--From the "Magnificent
and Sumptuous Funeral of the Very Great Emperor Charles V." (Antwerp,
published by Plantin, 1559.) Collection of M. RUGGIERI, Paris.]
We also reproduce a little sketch from the funeral procession of
Philip II., son of Charles V., which gives us an excellent idea of
the costumes worn on such an important occasion. The large full-page
engraving represents a portion of the funeral procession which took
place at Brussels, of the Archduke Albert VII. of Austria, surnamed
"the Pious." It was almost as sumptuous as that of Charles V., and,
fortunately a complete record of it has been preserved by Francovoart,
who published a book in the following year, containing no less than 49
plates illustrating this pageantic procession, which was of enormous
length, and must have cost a great sum of money. The great engraver
Cochin has left us one of his most beautiful plates, representing the
interior of the Church of Notre Dame as arranged for the funeral of
the Infanta Theresa of Spain, Dauphiness of France, in 1746. It gives
us rather the idea of a scene in a court ball-room than of a grave
ceremony. Literally, thousands of lights blazed in all directions,
and there was nothing of a sombre character present, excepting the
catafalque, which was of black velvet, and in a certain sense produced
an admirable effect by showing off to still greater advantage the
illuminations. The funeral of Louis XIV., was fabulously gorgeous, and
so complete an apotheosis of that vain monarch, it brought about a sort
of reaction, and made most persons observe that it was of little use
praying for the soul of one who evidently must already be in glory. In
order to put some bounds to these extravagant services, many people of
a devout character have in all ages prayed in their wills that they
should be carried to the grave in the simplest manner, sometimes in the
habit of a Franciscan, or mendicant friar, and that only a few pounds
should be expended upon their burial.
[Illustration: FIG. 41.--_Costumes worn by King Philip II. of Spain and
his attendants in the funeral procession of his father, Charles V. The
group consists of the King; the Herald of Spain, of the Order of the
Golden Fleece, who walks in front; of the Duke of Brunswick, the Duke
of Arcos, Don Ruy Gomez, Count of Milito, and finally the Duke Emmanuel
Philibert of Savoy. Mark that the hood was only worn by the heirs of
the deceased._--From the "Sumptuous Funeral of Charles V. at Brussels."
(Antwerp, 1559.) Collection of M. RUGGIERI, Paris.]
The Italians, and especially the Venetians, spent enormous sums upon
their funeral services, which were exceedingly picturesque; but as the
members of the brotherhoods who walked in the procession wore pointed
hoods and masks, so that, by the glare of the torches, only their eyes
could be seen glittering, and as it was the custom, also, for the
funeral to take place at night, the body being exposed upon an open
bier, in full dress, the scene was sufficiently weird to attract the
attention of travellers, perhaps more so than anything else which they
saw in the land _par excellence_ of pageant. Horace Mann, in one of his
letters, thus amusingly describes the funeral of the daughter of Cosmo
III., Grand Duke of Tuscany:--
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--_Funeral of the Infanta Theresa of Spain,
Dauphiness of France, at Notre Dame, 1746._--From the original
engraving of COCHIN.]
"There was nothing extraordinary in the funeral last night. All the
magnificence consisted in a prodigious number of torches carried by
the different orders of priests, the expense of which in lights, they
say, amounted to 12,000 crowns. The body was in a sort of a coach quite
open, with a canopy over her head; two other coaches followed with her
ladies. As soon as the procession was passed by Madame Suares's, I went
a back way to St. Laurence, where I had been invited by the master of
the ceremonies; here was nothing very particular but my being placed
next to Lady Walpole, who is so angry with me that she would not even
give me the opportunity of making her a bow, which for the future,
since I see it will be disagreeable to her, I will never offer to do
again."
[Decoration]
NOTHING could be imagined more picturesque than a Venetian funeral in
bygone days. The state gondola of the family, containing the body, and
also the attendant priests and friars, was covered with black velvet,
and blazed with candelabra full of lighted candles; and from the stern
of the boat hung an immense train of black velvet, which was permitted
to touch the water, but prevented from sinking underneath it by golden
tassels, which were held by members of the family in the gondolas which
followed close behind. All those persons who took part in the funeral
of course carried lights in their hands. If the individual happened
to belong to one of the numerous confraternities, or _scuole_, which
existed in Venice up to the end of the last century, a grand musical
mass was celebrated in the chapel belonging to the order; and on these
occasions some of the finest music ever composed was heard for the
first time, such, for instance, as Paesiello's Requiem, an infinitely
beautiful one by Marcello, and the majestic mass for four voices, by
Lotti.
[Illustration: FIG. 43.--_Tomb of Hamlet._]
[Illustration: FIG. 44.--_Death devouring Man and Beast. A singular,
illuminated document on parchment, of the 12th Century, measuring over
fifty feet by one yard wide. The figure above is intended to represent
the letter T._--From the Mortuary Roll of the Abbey of Savingy,
Avranches, France. The original is preserved among the French National
Archives.]
THE funeral of a Pope is attended by many curious ceremonies, not the
least remarkable of which is, that so soon as His Holiness' death
is thoroughly assured, the eldest Cardinal goes up to the body, and
strikes it three times gently on the breast, saying in Latin, as he
does so, "The Holy Father has passed away." The body is then lowered
into the Church of St. Peter's, where it is exhibited--as was the case
when Pope Pius IX. died in '78--for three days to the veneration of
the faithful, after which it is conveyed in great state to the church
which the Pope has selected for his burial-place. As it passed along
the streets of Rome in the good old times, the members of the nobility
assembled at the entrance of their houses, each carrying a lighted
taper in his hand, and answering back the prayers of the friars and
clergy in the procession. It will be remembered that it was this sort
of spontaneous illumination which so offended a rabble of freethinkers,
on the occasion of the funeral of the late Pope, that they stoned the
coffin, and created a riot of a most disgraceful character. After the
Pope is buried, it is usual for his successor or his family to build
a stately monument over his remains, and this custom accounts for the
amazing number of fine Papal monuments in the Roman basilicas and
churches.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.--_Lying-in-State of Pope Pius IX._]
At a time when everybody is talking about the Stuart dynasty, owing to
the great success of the recent exhibition of their relics (1888-9),
the following curious account of the interment of the Old Pretender
will prove of interest:--
"On the 6th of January, 1756, the body of his 'Britannic Majesty' was
conveyed in great state to the said Church of the Twelve Apostles,"
says a correspondent from Rome of that date, "preceded by four servants
carrying torches, two detachments of soldiers; and by the side of the
bier walked twenty-four grooms of the stable with wax candles; the
body of the deceased was dressed royally, and borne by nobles of his
household, with an ivory sceptre at its side, and the Orders of SS.
George and Andrew on the breast.
"On the 7th, the first funeral service took place, in the Church of
the Twelve Apostles. The _façade_ of the church was hung with black
cloth, lace, and golden fringe, in the centre of which was a medallion,
supported by skeletons with cypress branches in their hands, and
bearing the following inscription:
'Clemens XIII. Pont. Max.
Jacobo III.
M. Britanniæ, Franciæ, et Hiberniæ Regi.
Catholicæ fidei Defensori,
Omnium urbis ordinum
Frequentia funere honestato.
Suprema pietatis officia
Solemni ritu Persolvit.'
"On entering the church, another great inscription to the same purport
was to be seen; the building inside was draped in the deepest black,
and on the bier, covered with cloth of gold, lay the corpse, before
which was written in large letters:
'Jacobus III. Magnæ Britanniæ Rex.
Anno MDCCLXVI.'
"On either side stood four silver skeletons on pedestals, draped in
black cloth, and holding large branch candlesticks, each with three
lights. At either corner stood a golden perfume box, decorated with
death's-heads, leaves and festoons of cypress. The steps to the
bier were painted in imitation marble, and had pictures upon them
representing the virtues of the deceased. Over the whole was a canopy
ornamented with crowns, banners, death's-heads, gilded lilies, etc.;
and behind, a great cloth of peacock colour with golden embroidery,
and ermine upon it, hung down to the ground. Over each of the heavily
draped arches down the nave of the church were medallions with
death's-head supporters, and crowns above them, representing the
various British orders and the three kingdoms of England, Ireland, and
Scotland; and on the pilasters were other medallions, supported by
cherubs, expressing virtues attributed to the deceased, each with an
inscription, of which the following is an instance:
'Rex Jacobus III. vere dignus imperio, quia natus ad imperandum:
dignus quia ipso regnante virtutes imperassent: dignissimus quia
sibi imperavit.'
"On the top of the bier, in the nave, lay the body, dressed in royal
garb of gold brocade, with a mantle of crimson velvet, lined and edged
with ermine, a crown on his head, a sceptre in his right hand, an
orb in his left. The two Orders of SS. George and Andrew were fastened
to his breast.
[Illustration: FIG. 46.--_Funeral of his late Holiness Pope Pius IX.,
Feb._ 13, 1878. _The lowering of the body into St. Peter's._]
"Pope Clement regretted his inability to attend the funeral, owing to
the coldness of the morning, but he sent twenty-two cardinals to sing
mass, besides numerous church dignitaries.
"After the celebration of the mass, Monsignor Orazio Matteo recited
a funeral oration of great length, recapitulating the virtues of the
deceased, and the incidents of the life of exile and privation that
he had led. After which, the customary _requiem_ for the soul of the
departed was sung, and they then proceeded to convey his deceased
Majesty's body to the Basilica of St. Peter.
"The procession which accompanied it was one of those gorgeous
spectacles in which the popes and their cardinals loved to indulge.
Every citizen came to see it, and crowds poured in to the Eternal City
from the neighbouring towns and villages, as they were wont to do for
the festivals at Easter, of Corpus Domini.
"All the orders and confraternities to be found in Rome went in front,
carrying amongst them 500 torches. They marched in rows, four deep; and
after them came the pupils of the English, Scotch, and Irish College in
Rome, in their surplices, and with more torches.
"Then followed the bier, around which were the gaudy Swiss Papal
Guards. The four corners of the pall were held up by four of the most
distinguished members of the Stuart household.
"Then came singers, porters carrying two large umbrellas, such as the
Pope would have at his coronation, and all the servants of the royal
household, in deep mourning, and on foot. After them followed the papal
household; and twelve mourning coaches closed the procession.
"The body was placed in the chapel of the choir of St. Peter's, and
after the absolution, which Monsignor Lascaris pronounced, it was put
into a cypress-wood case, in presence of the major-domo of the Vatican,
who made a formal consignment of it to the Chapter of St. Peter's,
in the presence of the notary of the 'Sacred Apostolic Palace,' who
witnessed the consignment, whilst the notary of the Chapter of St.
Peter's gave him a formal receipt.
"The second funeral was fixed for the following day, when everything
was done to make the choir of St. Peter's look gorgeous. A large
catafalque was raised in the midst, on the top of which, on a cushion
of black velvet embroidered with gold, lay the royal crown and sceptre,
under a canopy adorned with ermine; 250 candles burnt around, and the
inscription over the catafalque ran as follows:
'Memoriæ æternæ Jacobi III., Magnæ Britanniæ Franciæ et Hyber,
regis Parentis optimii Henricus Card. Dux Eboracensis moerens justa
persolvit.'
"Then the cardinals held service, thirteen of whom were then assembled;
after which, the Chapter of St. Peter's and the Vatican clergy, with
all the Court of the defunct king who had assisted at the mass,
accompanied the body to the subterranean vaults beneath St. Peter's,
where the bier was laid aside until such times and seasons as a fitting
memorial could be placed over it."
AMONG the Jews, according to Buxtorf (who published, in the 17th
Century, perhaps the most valuable work upon the Jewish ceremonies
which still existed in various parts of Europe in his time, many of
which have been modified or have entirely disappeared since), it was
the fashion when a person died, after having closed the eyes and
mouth, to twist the thumb of the right hand inward, and to tie it
with a string of the _taled_, or veil, which covered the face, and
was invariably buried with the corpse. The reason for this doubling
of the thumb was that, when it was thus turned inward, it represented
the figure Schaddai, which is one of the names of God. Otherwise, the
fingers were stretched out so as to show that the deceased had given
up all the goods of this world. The body was most carefully washed,
to indicate that the dead was purified by repentance. Buxtorf tells
us that in Holland, with the old-fashioned Jews, it was the custom to
break an egg into a glass of wine, and to wash the face therewith. The
more devout persons were dressed in the same garments that they wore on
the last feast of the Passover. When the body is placed in the coffin,
it is the habit even now, among the Polish and Oriental Jews, for ten
members of the family, or very old friends, to walk processionally
round it, saying prayers for the repose of the soul. In olden times,
for three days after the death, the family sat at home in a darkened
room and received their friends, who were indeed Job's comforters;
for they sought to afflict them in every way by recalling the virtues
of the dead person, and exaggerating the misery into which they were
thrown by his or her departure. Seven days afterwards, they were
employed in a less rigorous form of mourning, at the end of which the
family again went to the synagogue and offered up prayers, after which
they followed the customs of the country in which they lived, retaining
their mourning only so long as accorded with the prevailing fashion of
the day.
[Decoration]
[Illustration: FIG. 47.--_The Knight of Death on a White Horse_--After
ALBERT DURER. From a fac-simile of the original engraving, dated 1513,
by one of the Wiericx (1564). This famous engraving, which so perfectly
characterises the weird genius of the Middle Ages, passing into the
Renaissance, represents a knight armed, going to the wars, accompanied
by terrible thoughts of Death and Sin, whose incarnations follow him on
his dismal journey.]
ONE of the saddest, and certainly the simplest of royal funerals,
was that of King Charles I. After his lamentable execution, his body
lay at Whitehall from January 28, 1649, to the following February 7,
when it was conveyed to Windsor, placed in the vault of St. George's
Chapel, near the coffins of Henry VIII. and Jane Seymour. The day had
been very snowy, and the snow rested thick on the coffin and on the
cloaks and hats of the mourners. The remains were deposited without any
service whatever, and left inscriptionless, save for the words "Charles
Rex, 1649," the letters of which were cut out of a band of lead by
the gentlemen present, with their penknives, and the lead fastened
round the coffin. In this state it remained until the year 1813,
when George IV. caused it to be more fittingly interred. In striking
contrast were the obsequies of the unfortunate King's great rival and
enemy, Cromwell, "who lay in glorious state" at Somerset House, all
the ceremonial being copied from that of the interment of Philip II.
of Spain. The rooms were hung with black cloth, and in the principal
saloon was an effigy of the Protector, with a royal crown upon his head
and a sceptre in his hand, stretched upon a bed of state erected over
his coffin. Crowds of people of all ranks went daily during eight weeks
to see it, the place being illuminated by hundreds of candles. The wax
cast of the face of Cromwell after death is still preserved in the
British Museum. His body, however, was carried away secretly, and at
night, and buried privately at Westminster, for fear of trouble. Later,
in 1660, the remains of the great Protector, and those of his friends
Ireton and Bradshaw, were sacrilegiously taken from their graves,
dragged with ignominy through the streets, and hanged at Tyburn, to the
apparent satisfaction of Mrs. Pepys and her friend Lady Batten, and all
and sundry in London, as is recorded in the "immortal diary." By the
way, Mr. Pepys himself, who died in 1703, was buried with much state
and circumstance in Crutched Friars Church, but at night, the service
being said by Dr. Hickes, the author of the _Thesaurus_.
[Decoration]
PERHAPS the strangest funeral recorded in modern history was that of
the translation of the remains of Voltaire, popularly known as his
"apotheosis." The National Assembly in May, 1791, decreed that the
bones of the poet should be brought from the Abbey of Scellières, and
carried in state to the Pantheon. In Voltaire's lifetime it was boasted
that he had buried the priests and the Christian religion, but now
the priests were going to bury him, having very little of Christian
religion left amongst them. The day of the procession was fixed for
July 10; but the 10th was a deluging, rainy day, and the ceremony was
postponed to the next day, or till the weather should be fine. The next
day was as wet, and the Assembly was about to renew the postponement,
when about two o'clock it cleared up. The coffin was placed on a car
of the classic form, and was borne first to the spot on which the
Bastille had stood, where it was placed on a platform, being covered
with myrtles, roses, and wild flowers, and bearing the following
inscriptions:--"If a man is born free, he ought to govern himself." "If
a man has tyrants placed over him, he ought to dethrone them." Besides
these, there were numerous other inscriptions in different parts of the
area, including one on a huge block of stone: "Receive, O Voltaire! on
this spot, where despotism once held thee in chains, the honours thy
country renders thee!"
From the Bastille to the Pantheon all Paris seemed to be following the
procession, which consisted of soldiers, lawyers, doctors, municipal
bodies, a crowd of poets, literary men, and artists carrying a gilded
chest containing the seventy volumes of Voltaire's works; men who had
taken part in the demolition of the Bastille, bearing chains, fetters,
and cuirasses found in the prison; a bust of Voltaire, surrounded by
those of Rousseau, Mirabeau, and Montaigne, borne by the actors from
the different theatres, in ancient costume; and lastly came the funeral
car, now surmounted by a statue of the philosopher, which France was
crowning with a wreath of immortelles. The immense procession halted
at various places for the effigy to receive particular honours. At
the opera houses the actors and actresses were waiting to present
a laurel crown and to sing to Voltaire's glory; at the house of M.
Villette--where was yet deposited the heart of the great man, previous
to being sent to Fernay--four tall poplars were planted, and adorned
with wreaths and festoons of flowers, and on the front of the house
was written in large letters: "His genius is everywhere, and his
heart is here." Near this was raised a sort of amphitheatre, on which
were seated a crowd of young girls in white dresses with blue sashes,
crowned with roses, and holding wreaths in honour of the poet in their
hands. The names of all Voltaire's works were written on the front of
the Theatre Français. The next halt was made on the site of the Comédie
Française, and a statue of the poet was there crowned by actors
costumed as Tragedy and Comedy. Thence the procession wended its way
to the Pantheon, where the mouldering remains of Voltaire were placed
beside those of Descartes and Mirabeau. All Paris that evening was one
festal scene; illuminations blazing on the busts and figures of the
patriot of equality.
[Illustration: FIG. 48.--_Funeral Car of Nelson._--From a contemporary
engraving, reproduced expressly for this publication.]
The obsequies in England of Lord Nelson, which took place on January
9, 1806, were extremely imposing. I transcribe from a contemporary and
inedited private letter the following account of it:--"I have just
returned from such a sight as will never be seen in London again. I
managed at an inconveniently early hour to get me down into the Strand,
and so down Norfolk Street to a house overlooking the river. Every
post of vantage wherever the procession could be seen was swarming
with living beings, all wearing mourning, the very beggars having a
bit of crape on their arms. The third barge, which contained the body,
was covered with black velvet and adorned with black feathers. In the
centre was a viscount's coronet, and three bannerols were affixed
to the outside of the barge. In the steerage were six lieutenants
of the navy and six trumpets. Clarencieux, King-at-Arms, sat at the
head of the coffin, bearing a viscount's coronet on a black velvet
cushion. The Royal Standard was at the head of the barge, which was
rowed by forty-six seamen from the 'Victory.' The other barges in the
cortege were rowed by Greenwich pensioners. The fourth barge contained
Admiral Sir Peter Parker, the chief mourner, and other admirals,
vice-admirals, and rear-admirals; whilst the Lords of the Admiralty,
the Lord Mayor of London, members of the various worshipful Companies,
and other distinguished mourners occupied the remaining barges, which
were seventeen in number, and were flanked by row-boats, with river
fencibles, harbour marines, etc., etc. All, of course, had their
colours half-mast high. On the following morning, the 9th, the land
procession, which I also contrived to see, started from the Admiralty
to pass through the streets of London to St. Paul's, between dense
crowds all along the route. This procession was of great length, and
included Greenwich pensioners, sailors of the 'Victory,' watermen,
judges and other dignitaries of the law, many members of the nobility,
public officers, and officers of the army and navy; whilst in it were
carried conspicuously the great banner, gauntlets, helmet, sword,
etc., of the deceased. The pall was supported by four admirals. Nearly
10,000 military were assembled on this occasion, and these consisted
chiefly of the regiments that had fought in Egypt, and participated
with the deceased in delivering that country from the power of France.
The car in which the body was conveyed was peculiarly magnificent. It
was decorated with a carved resemblance of the head and stern of the
'Victory,' surrounded with escutcheons of the arms of the deceased, and
adorned with appropriate mottoes and emblematical devices, under an
elevated canopy, in the form of the upper part of a sarcophagus, with
six sable plumes, and a viscount's coronet in the centre, supported
by four columns, representing palm trees, entwined with wreaths of
natural laurel and cypress. As it passed, all uncovered, and many wept.
I heard a great deal said among the people about 'poor Emma' (Emma,
Lady Hamilton), and some wonder whether she will get a pension or not.
On the whole, the processions were most imposing, and I am very glad I
saw it all, although I am much fatigued at it, from standing about so
much and pushing in the crowd, and faint from the difficulty of getting
food, every eating-place being so full of people; and surely, though a
nation must mourn, equally certain is it that it must also eat."
[Illustration: FIG. 49.--_Funeral Car of Lord Nelson._--From a
contemporary engraving, reproduced expressly for this publication.]
[Illustration: FIG. 50.--_An Old Market Cross, Rouen._]
[Illustration: FIG. 51.--_Funeral Procession of the Emperor
Napoleon I., December_ 15, 1840. _The Cortége descending the Champs
Élysées._--From a contemporary engraving.]
LOUIS PHILLIPPE, who, by the way, had neglected no opportunity to
render justice to the genius of Napoleon, obtained, in 1840, the
permission of the British Government to remove his body from St.
Helena; and on December 15 it was solemnly interred in the gorgeous
chapel designed by Visconti, at the Invalides. The Prince de Joinville
had the honour of escorting the remains of the Emperor from the lonely
island in the Indian Ocean to Paris. Words cannot paint the emotion
of the inhabitants of the French capital, as the superb procession
descended the long avenue of the Champs Élysées, or that of the
privileged company which witnessed the striking scene in the chapel
itself, as the Prince de Joinville formally consigned the body to the
King, his father, saying, as he did so, "Sire, I deliver over into your
charge the corpse of Napoleon." To which the King replied, "I receive
it in the name of France," and then taking the sword of the victor of
Austerlitz, he handed it to General Bertrand, who, in his turn, laid
it on the coffin. Many years later, when another Napoleon reigned in
France, a Lady who had not yet reached the _mezzo camin di nostra
vita_, stood silently, with bowed head, before the grave of the mighty
enemy of the glorious empire over which she rules, and it was observed
that there were tears in the eyes of Queen Victoria when she quietly
left the chapel.
[Illustration: FIG. 52.--_The Tomb of Napoleon I. at the Invalides,
Paris._]
The earliest year of the last half of this century witnessed another
funeral of much magnificence, that of the great Duke of Wellington.
It was determined that a public funeral should mark the sense of the
people's reverence for the memory of the illustrious deceased, and
of their grief for his loss. The body was enclosed in a shell, and
remained for a time at Walmer Castle, where the Iron Duke died. A guard
of honour, composed of men of his own rifle regiment, did duty over it,
and the castle flag was hoisted daily half-mast high. On the evening
of the 10th of November, 1852, the body was placed upon a hearse and
conveyed, by torchlight, to the railway station, the batteries at
Walmer and Deal Castles firing minute-guns, whilst Sandown Castle
took up the melancholy salute as the train with its burden swept by.
Arrived at London, the procession re-formed, and by torchlight marched
through the silent streets, reaching Chelsea about three o'clock in the
morning, when the coffin containing the body was carried into the hall
of the Royal Military Hospital. Life Guardsmen, with arms reversed,
lined the apartment, which was hung with black and lighted by waxen
tapers. The coffin rested upon an elevated platform at the end of the
hall, over which was suspended a cloud-like canopy or veil. The coffin
itself was covered with red velvet; and at the foot stood a table on
which all the decorations of the deceased were laid out. Thither,
day by day, in a constant stream, crowds of men, women, and children
repaired, all dressed in deep mourning. The first of these visitors was
the Queen, accompanied by her children; but so deeply was she affected
that she never got beyond the centre of the hall, where her feelings
quite overcame her, and she was led, weeping bitterly, back to her
carriage.
The public funeral took place on the 18th of November, and was attended
by the Prince Consort and all the chief officers of State. The body
was removed by torchlight, on the evening previous, to the Horse
Guards, under an escort of cavalry. At dawn on the 18th the solemn
ceremony began. From St. Paul's Cathedral, down Fleet Street, along the
Strand, by Charing Cross and Pall Mall, to St. James's Park, troops
lined both sides of the streets; while in the park itself, columns of
infantry, cavalry, and artillery were formed ready to fall into their
proper places in the procession, of which we publish two interesting
engravings. How it was conducted--with what respectful interest watched
by high and low--how solemn the notes of the bands, as one after
another they took up and entoned the "Dead March in Saul"--how grand,
yet how touching the scene in the interior of St. Paul's--none but
those who can remember it can realise.
[Illustration: FIG. 53.--_Funeral of the Duke of Wellington, November_
18, 1852. _The Procession passing Apsley House._--From an original
sketch, reproduced expressly for this publication.]
[Illustration: FIG. 54.--_Funeral of the Duke of Wellington, November_
18, 1852. _Scene inside St. Paul's._--Reproduced from an original
sketch, expressly for this publication.]
A man of genius in France is rightly placed on a kind of throne,
and considered a "king of thought;" so the obsequies of so truly
illustrious a poet as Victor Hugo, which took place in Paris, June 1,
1885, assumed proportions rarely accorded even to the mightiest
sovereigns. Unfortunately, it was marred by the desecration of a noted
church, the Pantheon; for it pleased a political party in power to
make out that Hugo had denied even the existence of God, and this
notwithstanding the fact that every page of his works is a testimony
to his ardent creed in the Almighty and his hope in the life to
come. The lying-in-state took place under the Arch of Triumph, which
was decorated with much taste by a huge black veil draped across it.
Flaring torches lighted up the architectural features of the monument,
and also the tremendous throng of spectators. The arch looked solemn
enough, but the behaviour of the people who surrounded it was the
reverse, especially at night. On Thursday, June 1, early in the day,
which was intensely hot, the procession began to move from the Arc de
Triomphe to the Pantheon, and presented a scene never to be forgotten.
The coffin was a very simple one, in accordance with the poet's wishes
to be buried like a pauper; but what proved the chief charm of this
really poetical spectacle was the amazing number of huge wreaths
carried by the countless deputations from all parts of France, and
sent from every city of Europe and America. There were some 15,000
wreaths of foliage and flowers carried in this strange procession,
many of which were of colossal dimensions, so that when one beheld the
cortége from the bottom of the Champs Élysées, for instance, it looked
like a huge floral snake meandering along. The bearers of the wreaths
were hidden beneath them, and these exquisite trophies of early summer
flowers, combined with the glittering helmets of the Guards, the bright
costumes of the students, and, above all, with the veritable walls of
human beings towering up on all sides, filling balconies and windows,
covering roofs and every spot wherever even a glimpse of the pageant
could be obtained, created a spectacle as unique as it was picturesque.
[Decoration]
[Illustration: FIG. 55.--_Funeral of Victor Hugo, Paris, June_ 1, 1885.]
[Illustration: FIG. 56.--_Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Frederick of
Germany, Princess Royal of Great Britain._]
THE solemn but exceedingly simple obsequies of that much regretted and
most able man His Royal Highness the Prince Consort, took place at
Windsor on the 23rd December, 1861. At his frequently expressed desire
it was of a private character; but all the chief men of the state
attended the obsequies in the Royal Chapel. The weather was cold and
damp, the sky dull and heavy. There was a procession of state carriages
to St. George's Chapel, at the door of which the Prince of Wales and
the other royal mourners were assembled to receive the corpse. The
grief of the poor children was very affecting, little Prince Arthur
especially, sobbing as if his heart were breaking. When all was over,
and the last of the long, lingering train of mourners had departed,
the attendants descended into the vault with lights, and moved the
bier and coffin along the narrow passage to the royal vault. The day
was observed throughout the realm as one of mourning. The bells of
all the churches were tolled, and in many of them special services
were held. In the towns the shops were closed, and the window blinds
of private residences were drawn down. No respectable people appeared
abroad except in mourning, and in seaport towns the flags were hoisted
half-mast high. The words of the Poet Laureate were scarcely too strong:
"The shadow of his loss moved like eclipse,
Darkening the world. We have lost him; he is gone;
We know him now; all narrow jealousies
Are silent; and we see him as he moved,
How modest, kindly, all-accomplished, wise;
With what sublime repression of himself,
And in what limits, and how tenderly;
Not swaying to this faction or to that;
Not making his high place the lawless perch
Of wing'd ambitions, nor a vantage ground
For pleasure; but thro' all this tract of years
Wearing the white flower of a blameless life,
Before a thousand peering littlenesses,
In that fierce light which beats upon a throne,
And blackens every blot; for where is he
Who dares foreshadow for an only son
A lovelier life, a more unstained than his?"
[Illustration: FIG. 57.--_Funeral of His Royal Highness the Prince
Consort, at Windsor, December_ 23, 1861.]
When Her Majesty became a widow, she slightly modified the conventional
English widow's cap, by indenting it over the forehead _à la_ Marie
Stuart, thereby imparting to it a certain picturesqueness which was
quite lacking in the former head-dress. This coiffure has been not only
adopted by her subjects, but also by royal widows abroad. The etiquette
of the Imperial House of Germany obliges the Empress Frederick to
introduce into her costume two special features during the earlier
twelve months of her widowhood. The first concerns the cap, which is
black, having a Marie Stuart point over the centre of the forehead, and
a long veil of black crape falling like a mantle behind to the ground.
The second peculiarity of this stately costume is that the orthodox
white batiste collar has two narrow white bands falling straight from
head to foot. This costume has been very slightly modified from what it
was three centuries ago, when a Princess of the House of Hohenzollern
lost her husband.
[Decoration]
[Illustration: FIG. 58.--HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY THE QUEEN. _From a
Photograph by Messrs. W. & D. Downey._]
THE first general mourning ever proclaimed in America was on the
occasion of the death of Benjamin Franklin, in 1791, and the next on
that of Washington, in 1799. The deep and wide-spread grief occasioned
by the melancholy death of the first President, assembled a great
concourse of people for the purpose of paying him the last tribute of
respect, and on Wednesday, December 18, 1799, attended by military
honours and the simplest but grandest ceremonies of religion, his body
was deposited in the family vault at Mount Vernon. Never in the history
of America did a blow fall with more terrible earnestness than the
news of the assassination of President Lincoln on April 14, 1865. All
party feeling was forgotten, and sorrow was universal. The obsequies
were on an exceedingly elaborate scale, and a generous people paid
a grateful and sincere tribute to a humane and patriotic chieftain.
After an impressive service, the embalmed body was laid in state in
the Capitol at Washington, guarded by officers with drawn swords, and
afterwards the coffin was closed for removal to Springfield, the home
of the late President, a distance of about 1,700 miles. It took twelve
days to accomplish the journey. The car which conveyed the remains was
completely draped in black, the mourning outside being festooned in
two rows above and below the windows, while each window had a strip of
mourning connecting the upper with the lower row. Six other cars, all
draped in black, were attached to the train, and contained the escort,
whilst the engine was covered with crape and its flags draped. At
several cities _en route_ a halt was made, in order to permit people
to pay tributes of respect to the deceased, and several times the body
was removed from the train, so that funeral services might be held. At
last, on the 3rd of May, the train reached Springfield, and after a
brief delay the procession moved with befitting ceremony to Oak Ridge
Cemetery, President Lincoln's final resting-place. During the period
intervening between President Lincoln's death and his interment, every
city and town in the United States testified the greatest grief, and
public expressions of mourning were universal. To take New York, as an
instance, that city presented a singularly striking appearance. Scarce
a house in it but was not draped in the deepest mourning, long festoons
of black and white muslin drooped sadly everywhere, and even the gay
show-cases outside the shop doors were dressed with funereal rosettes.
The gloom which prevailed was intense. In many places, however, the
decorations, though sombre, were exceedingly picturesque, the dark
tones being relieved by the bright red and blue of the national
colours, entwined with crape.
Scarcely less magnificent were the obsequies accorded by the people of
America to General Grant. Funeral services were observed in towns and
cities of every state and territory of the Union, amidst a display of
mourning emblems unparallelled. In New York, for two weeks previous to
the funeral ceremony, preparations of the most elaborate description
were going on, and the best part of the city was densely draped.
The route of the procession to the tomb was 9 miles long, and it is
estimated that three million persons saw the cortege, in which over
50,000 people joined, including 30,000 soldiers. Some further idea
of the magnitude of this solemn procession can be formed when it is
stated that its head reached the grave three hours and a half before
the funeral car arrived. This car was exceptionally imposing, inasmuch
as it was drawn by 24 black horses, each one led by a coloured servant,
and each covered with sable trappings which swept the street.
Another imposing funeral, which many who are still young can remember,
was that of his Majesty Victor Emmanuel, the first King of United
Italy, who died in Rome early in 1878. His obsequies were conducted
with all the pomp of the Roman Catholic religion, and the catafalque,
erected in the centre of the Pantheon, was supremely imposing. We give
an engraving of it, which will afford an excellent idea of its great
magnificence.
[Decoration]
[Illustration: FIG. 59.--_The Catafalque erected for the Funeral
Service of His Majesty King Victor Emmanuel, in the Pantheon, Rome._]
THE ingenious idea of the _Magasin de Deuil_, or establishment
exclusively devoted to the sale of mourning costumes and of the
paraphernalia necessary for a funeral, has long been held to be
exclusively French; but our quick-witted neighbours have, to speak the
truth, originated very few things; for was not the father of French
cookery a German physician in attendance on Francis I., assisted by an
Italian cardinal, Campeggio, who, by the way, came to England on the
occasion of the negotiations in connection with the divorce of Queen
Catherine of Arragon. The _Magasin de Deuil_ is but a brilliant and
elaborate adaptation of the old _Mercerie de lutto_ which has existed
for centuries, and still exists, in every Italian city, where people in
the haste of grief can obtain in a few hours all that the etiquette of
civilisation requires for mourning in a country whose climate renders
speedy interment absolutely necessary. Continental ideas are slow to
reach this country, but when they do find acceptance with us, they
rarely fail to attain that vast extension so characteristic of English
commerce. Such development could scarcely be exhibited in a more marked
manner than in Jay's London General Mourning Warehouse, Regent Street,
an establishment which dates from the year 1841, and which during that
period has never ceased to increase its resources and to complete its
organisation, until it has become, of its kind, a mart unique both
for the quality and the nature of its attributes. Of late years the
business and enterprise of this firm has enormously increased, and
it includes not only all that is necessary for mourning, but also
departments devoted to dresses of a more general description, although
the colours are confined to such as could be worn for either full or
half mourning. Black silks, however, are pre-eminently a speciality
of this house, and the Continental journals frequently announce that
"_la maison Jay de Londres a fait de forts achats_." Their system is
one from which they never swerve. It is to buy the commodity direct
from the manufacturers, and to supply it to their patrons at the very
smallest modicum of profit compatible with the legitimate course of
trade. The materials for mourning costumes must always virtually,
remain unchangeable, and few additions can be made to the list of
silks, crapes, paramattas, cashmeres, _grenadines_, and _tulles_ as
fabrics. They and their modifications must be ever in fashion so long
as it continues fashionable to wear mourning at all; but fashion in
design, construction, and embellishment may be said to change, not only
every month, but well-nigh every week.
The fame of a great house of business like this rests more upon its
integrity and the expedition with which commands are executed than
anything else. To secure the very best goods, and to have them made up
in the best taste and in the latest fashion, is one of the principal
aims of the firm, which is not unmindful of legitimate economy. For
this purpose, every season competent buyers visit the principal silk
marts of Europe, such as Lyons, Genoa, and Milan, for the purpose
of purchasing all that is best in quality and pattern. Immediate
communication with the leading designers of fashions in Paris has
not been neglected; and it may be safely said of this great house of
business, that if it is modelled on a mediæval Italian principle,
it has missed no opportunity to assimilate to itself every modern
improvement.
[Illustration: FIG. 60.--_Funeral of Earl Palmerston, in Westminster
Abbey, Oct._ 27, 1865.]
Private mourning in modern times, like everything else, has been
greatly altered and modified, to suit an age of rapid transit and
travel. Men no longer make a point of wearing full black for a fixed
number of months after the decease of a near relation, and even content
themselves with a black hat-band and dark-coloured garments. Funeral
ceremonies, too, are less elaborate, although during the past few
years a growing tendency to send flowers to the grave has increased in
every class of the community. The ceremonial which attends our State
funerals is so well known that it were needless to describe them. We,
however, give, as "records," illustrations of the funerals of Lord
Palmerston, Lord Beaconsfield, Mr. Darwin, and of the much-regretted
Emperor Frederick of Germany, a function which was extremely imposing,
as the etiquette of the German Court still retains many curious relics
of bygone times.
[Illustration: FIG. 61.--_Funeral of the Right Honourable the Earl of
Beaconsfield, in Hughenden Church, April_ 26, 1881.]
GENERAL Court mourning in this country is regulated by the Duke of
Norfolk, as Earl Marshal, but exclusively Court mourning for the Royal
Family by the Lord Chamberlain.
The order for Court mourning to be observed for the death of a foreign
sovereign is issued by the Foreign Office, and transmitted thence to
the Lord Chamberlain.
Here is the form of the order for general mourning to be worn on the
occasion of the death of the Prince Consort:
COLLEGE OF ARMS, Dec. 16, 1866.
_Deputy Earl Marshal's Order for a General Mourning for His late
Royal Highness the Prince Consort._
In pursuance of Her Majesty's commands, this is to give public
notice that, upon the melancholy occasion of the death of His Royal
Highness the Prince Consort, it is expected that all persons do
forthwith put themselves into decent mourning.