ROYAL FUNERALS OF THE PAST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2455, 3 April 1901, Page 63

ROYAL FUNERALS OF THE PAST.

(Bi- Rich \ed D vvky ) Previous to the Reformation tune:als in England weie conducted accoiding to the picturesque liturgy of the Roman Cathoh • Church. Thus, lor instance, when a de^d body was cairied pn-t it was the cu'toii not only I*ll the people to uncover . but to place lights in their window--. In ;i mimbei of the (-er.tlemui's. Magazine for 1801 theie is a nr-nt.o:i of this cu-tom of "lighting" the de;id to the grave m some lemote parts of Yoikilure c- en at that date. FOltunately punctilious ob^ivntion of cere mony wat mi gieit >n bygone times that we po"-'e=- mnursie.ublj lecoid* ;;nd co<.ten.poiary d^'-Mitu/.-s of the lunc-ra' jmgcants wl'-ch atioru d the ly;ng-.n-^tat-e t'ncJ hui'al of our S ,v, 1 ign 1 - J. caving a-'.d the o'j--eqine- 01 mil cailb^t Queen-., v c shall paw-e to coiwdei a veiy typitul pieReformation bUte lanoml, that of Ehz.Jictb of Yoik, consoit of Henry VII Queen Elizabeth ot York vwi*- almo^ as greatly beloved i: d \uiu;ited b\ the natii v as her defend ait, Quec 1 VictcuM. „n.l 11 is to her tnit the tndenrmg name of ' (iood Queen Be^> ' icaliy belongs, and not. a^ is popularly bj'.ieved. to her famoui guinddaughter and namesake. The Queen was the last English So\creign who dice' in the Towei. Her o'^eruies took place 111 the Chapel of Si Maiy, which for man\ ge aeration*- s?r\ed .is the Record OfTke, and which lus been le^ently restored The Queen died oa her but 11day, Febru.i'-y 11, 1502-3. in hei thiityseventh yeai. Xo soonei was the ne\u of her decease spread tlnough the city than the shops weie at once closed, business ceased, and the bells of St Paul s and oi all the chinches in the metiopohs tolled. The Queen was straightaway embalmed, 60 ells ot Holland cloth bein^ "used and many pound* of gum, balm and .spices and wax. The bod\ was next Mturated «'itli sweet wine Hiid placed in a leaden coffin and sealed up. This coffin was then encased in a wooden one covered with black velvet, which opei.ition being concluded, the body wa^ lemoved to the chapel anc l raised on a catafalque, and surrounded by mourneis. who watched at legul.ti intervals during 12 days and nights round the remains of the beloved Queen. Little were they aware that each time they entered the chapel they stepped over the bodies of the Queen's two murdered brothers, Edward V and Richard. Duke of Y'oik, who, after their death, hcul been thrust under the chapel steps. Tim chapel Avas turned into a Chapelle aidente, , and lighted by not less than 3000 vtax| tapers. On 'the twelfth day after tip,

Queen's death, after an early mass, the 1 corose was placed in a carriage covered ■with black velvet, having a broad cross in White cloth of gold upon it. Then an image for effigy of the Queen made of wax and , 'exactly representing her seated on a jhhrone, her crown upon her head, her hair, j [which was very fair, falling in a golden | hhower over her shoulders down to her ■ Itraist. At each corner knelt a gentlewoman of her household in the attitude of grayer. In this manner was the coffin, {with its effigy, drawn by six horses from Ihe Tower to Westminster. Then came eight palfreys^ saddled jwith Iblack velvet and carrying eight maids ox Ihonour, who rode singly after the corpse in [iNheir &lops and mantles, every horse led •py a man bareheaded and in a mourning fgown, and followed by many lords on foot. 1 »The Lord Mayor and citizens brought up "the rear, and at every door in the city stood a person bearing a lighted torch. j In Fenchurch street and Cheap3ide were Bta-tioned groups of 37 virgins dressed in : white, bearing garlands of "white and. green 1 and holding lighted tapers. From Mark ! 3ane to Temple Bar thsre were not less j than 5000 torches besides lights burning j before all the parish churches. At Temple {Bar ths procession was met by a body of 303 noblemen and gentlemen on horseback, '• .under fcha lead of the Earl of Derby. At Charing Cross the body was met by the •Abbots of Westminster in black copes, bearing censors. They were accompanied by representatives of all branches of the clergy of the metropolis, regular and secular. The procession was so prodigiously long that the tail was still at Temple Bar when the body was entering Westminster Abbey. On tho following day High Mass was sung i9Bth3 presence of the whole Court, including the King, Princa Henry, and the Princess Catherine of Aragon. Sir Thomas More wrote the elegy on the death of the Queen, and Torrigiana, the great Florentine sculptor, has immortalised her memory in one of the mest magnificent monuments in the world, in which she is represented as lyinij side by side with her consort in that glorious chapel which bears his name. The funeral of this good Queen's daugh-ter-in-law, Catherine of Aragou, was, considering the sad circumstances of her death, a pompous affair. The first State funeral according to the ritual of the Church of England was that of Queen Katheriile Parr, ■who died in 1548 at Sudely Castle, in Gloucestershire. The service for the sixth ■wife and widow of Henry VIII was read in -English .throughout, and contained no .■prayer for the repose of the soul. Dr Corendale preached, and the Lady Jane t Grey was chief mourner. The funeral of Queen ,Mary Tudor was .the last Catholic State ceremony of the •kind which ever took place in Westminster /Abbey. Queen Elizabeth attended her isi«ter's obsequies, which were unostentatious, and listened attentively to the : tfsaera4r oration, preached by Dr White !Bailey'. v Bislrop of Winchester, who, when he spoke of Mary's sufferings, wept bitterly, ;and exclaimed, looking significantly at her 'successor, "Melior est canis vivis leone mortuo." Elizabeth understood Latin too ■well not to be fired with indignation at this elegant simile, which declared a livdng dog better than a dead lion; and straightaway ordered the Bishop to be arrested as he descended from the pulpit. A violent scene ensued between him and the Queen, in which her Majesty had the prudence to allow the Bishop to have tho best of if; by promptly sweeping out of the Abbey with her train. Queen Elizabeth died in the seventieth year of her age and the forty-fourth of her reign, March 24, on the eve of the Annunciation, or Lady Day. Among the complimentary epitaphs which were composed for iher 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. Elizabeth was most royally interred in Westminster Abbey, on April 28, 1603. The City of Westminster, says Stowe, was surcharged with multitudes of all sorts of people, in the streets, houses, roofs, windows, leads, and gutters, who came to see the obsequies, and when they beheld the etatue or her efngy lying on the coffin set .forth in royal robes, having a crown upon the head thereof and a ball and sceptre in either hand, there was such a sighing, ; groaning, and weeping as the like hath never been heard nor seen before, neither doth history mention any people, time, or State to~make sucli a lamentation over Uie death of a Sovereign. The funeral effigy, which Iby its close resemblance to their deceased Sovereign so moved the sensibility cf her loyal and excitable subjects, wa^ none other than the j fared waxwork figure of Queen Elizabeth, i stiU preserved in Westminster Abbey, and which even now preserves sufficient likeness to the old Lioness as to give evidence that when it -was fresh it was a striking prefienLment of its illustrious model. The next royal Ir.dv's funeral of great interest was that of Mary Stuart, who but for her untimely death -would most probably have been Queen of these realms. ''After her body had remained six months apparently forgotten, Elizabeth considered it necessary, in consequence of the urgent and pathetic appeals of the afflicted servants of the unfortunate Princess and the remonstrances of her son, the King of Scotland, to accord it not only a Christian iburial, but a pompous State funeral in Peterborough Cathedral. The place . se- ' lected for the interment was at the entrance : to the choir from the south aisle. The grave was dug by Master Scarlet, a sexton who was over a hundred years of age, and who had 'buried Catherine of Aragon. Elizajbeth interfered with the costumes of the Scots' Queen's waiting women, and commanded that they should appear in mourning robes such as were worn at the English Court, but this they one and all obstinately refused to do. "They would," they said, '"wear their own dresses, .such as they had made themselves for mourning after the execution of their beloved Queen and mistress '' On the evening of Sunday, July 30, Gar-

ter King of Arms arrived at Fotheringay Castle, witli^frve other heralds and 40 horsemen, to receive and escort the remains of Mary 'Stuart to Peterborough Cathedial, having brought with them a Royal funeral 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, ibe.ng enclosed in lead within an outer coffin, was reverently put into the car, and the heralds, "having assumed their coats a.nd tabards, brought the same forth from the castle, bare-headed, iby torchlight, about Ij) o'clock at night, followed by all her sorrowful servants. The procession arrived at Peterborough between 1 and 2 o'clock on the morning of July 31, 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. On Monday, the 31st, arrived the ceremonial mourners from London, escorting the Countess of Bedford, who was to represent Elizabeth. At 8 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' 3 corpus lay on a Royal bier. Thence she was followed into the church by a g\-eat 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 tb-eir degree — among them her almoner, De Preau, bearing a large silver cross. The representation ot the corpise being received without the Cathedral gate by the bishops Jind 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 torch-light on the Monday morning. 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 hend and threw the pieces into the vault upon the coffin. The procession returned in tha , same order to the Bishop's palace, where Mary's servants were invited to partake, of the banquet which was provided for all tte mourners ; but they declined doing so, saying that "their hearts were too sad to feast." The minute details of the funeral of Mary Stuart, at Westminster Abbey, prove that it was conducted oh 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. Queen Mary II died of small-pox in 1694. Her end was peaceful, but owing to the fatal nature of the disease which carried her off, her body was placed in a coffin and sealed up immediately. It was, however, conveyed with great pomp to Westminster amidst a vast concourse of people. During the whole time that her "effigy," to speak correctly, lay in state at Whitehall, a dense crowd passed in front of it. I possess a curious engraving of this said effigy, which must have been an extraordinarily good likeness of the Queen when in good health. The artist who modelled it charged '"Is 7d extra for special carmine to rouge the Queen's cheeks withal." The figure was clad in crimson velvet, edged with ermine, and bore an orb in one hand and a sceptre in the other, and on the head was a tinsel crown full of coloured glass jewels. It reclined under a sort of canopy representing a small temple having a domed roof supported by four white columns with a crown on the top of it. The effigy, on the top of the coffin, of course, was conducted in great state to Westminster Abbey, where the burial service of the Church of England was said, a full choir singing the responses. The remains were deposited in the vault on the south aisle of Henry Vll' s Chapel, but no monument has been erected to her memory, which, however, will always remain connected with Greenwich, Hospital, erected under ter fostering care. On the night of July 27, Queen Anne, who had dismissed Oxford after a long and fierce altercation, fell ill, and it is said took such an overpowering quantity of brandy after the violent scene she had undergone that Lady Masham had to lift her into bed, and was terrified at the leaden, heavy look tne drowsy Queen's countenance bad assumed. On' Sunday, August 1, the Queen passed awa~ at 7 o'clock in the morning, without having receovered ■sufficient consciousness to receive either the sacrament or to sign her wnl, being in her fiftieth year, and in the thirteenth of her reign. She was buried with all the consideration due to her exalted rank in Westminster Abbey. No monument was ever erected to her memory, but her coffin was discovered not many years ago in the vault to the left-hand side of Henry Vll's Chapel, having on the top of it two or three small coffins containing the remains of some of her 18 children, of whom not one survived her. She was an indolent, good-natured woman, who was an enemy to herself, but a sincere friend of the people over whom she was called upon to reign. Like her predecessor Elizabeth, and her no less illustrious successor Victoria, &he died at the beginning of a centuiy.