The National Register.
London, England, 1815-01-29 00:00:00

....R:

• with -breeches of :grey silk, and atoekinp of rise same colour W, , f
014, bautoreatr and myself) rte the vespers, and rceittd all the u.nal
players fir the burial of 'indeed ; and I can say with truth, that the
et; y tame populace, who INA latelymade•the air resound with their
vociferation*, listened to the prayers for the soul of his Majesty in.
solemn silence. But before the body was let doviu into tlu grave.
*Lich was stunt 10 feet distant from the wall of the churchyard, a
layer of quieklime wax thrown into the grave by order of the ixeen- ;
tire. The corpse was than covered with a similar layer of quicklime,
and mxt a quantity of earth was thrown in, and the whole beaten '
down several times. We rethed in silence after this too painful cerc- '
mony ; and as far as I can recollect, a minute of the whole was
drawn up by the justice of peace. which was signed by the two-neon-
hers of the department, and the two of the commune. On return-
ing
to the church I enterr 4 the burial in a rcvister, which was after- ,
wards carried off by the no-mbers of the Revolutionary Committee,
when the church was shut op."
There is also the declaiation of Dominique Lanjou, late •
Advocate. It states that he witnessed the interment of both
Louis tine XVI. and his Queen ; that the head of the King,
separated from the body, was placed between his legs; that
he never lost sight of the spot, which be regarded as sacred i
and that when his father•in-law purchased the ground, he
had the spot where the bodies of their Majesties rested in-
closed, and there planted 'soine willows and cypresses.
Next follows the minute of the proceedings for the disin-
terment of the remains of the Queen. The Commissioners
for this purpose were—the Chancellor Dambray, the Count
De Blacas, the Bail i De Crussol the Bishop of Nancy, and
M. Distel, the king's surgesn. It is dated the 18th ofJa-
nuary.
We proceeded at eight in the morning to what was lately
the burial ground of the 'Magdalen, in the Rcu &Anjou St.
licnore. Having entered the house to which the burial-
ground is now attached as a garden, and which house is oc-
cupied by the Sieur Deseloseau, wbo had formerly purchased
the said burial ground, in order to watch over the precious
remains there deposited ; we there found the said Des-
- closeaux and several persons of his family, who conducted us
into what was the burial-ground, and pointed out to us the
spot where they had every reason to believe the remains of
their Majesties woure deposited. We began the researches
prescribed to us, for. the body of the Queen. After hay
ing, by means of some workmen, one of whom was pre-
i,.•nt at the Queen's interment, opened the ground t 6 an ex-
teat of ten feet in length by five or six in breadth, and to the •
(ftpth of about five feet, we came to a layer of lime from ten
to eleven inches. in thickness, which we caused to be carefully
iemoved, aid under which we found a very distinct itupres-
ion of a coffin, of about five feet and a half, or thereabouts,
• in length, which iinpre,sion was traced out amidst a thick
layer of lime, and along which there were found various frag-
ments of plank still untouched..: We found within this out-
line formed by the coffin a great number of .hones, which
• we carefully collected; some were, however, wanting, which
-doubtless had been reduced to dust: but we found the head
entire, and the position iu which it was placed shcwcd in-
contcitably that it bad been detached from the trunk. We
also found some fiaginents of clothing—in. particular two
elastic garters, in tolerable preservation, which we have
brought away, that they may be given to his Majesty, as well
as two ftagtnents of the coffin. We then respectfully placed
the remains iu a box which we brought with us, in order to
their being deposited in the leaden coffin which we have or-
dered. We also separated and placed, in another bat the
earth and lime found with the bona, and *which Are to be
deposited in the tame coffin. This. operation finiabed, we
caused the spot to be coveted with strong planks. and pro-
ceeded
search, however, on this disy-was unsucctssful, and was put
an end to by the approach of night. j

THE N A TION AL REfillTEß.,,_

-

JAN • ••

The report then,. proce.eds.:-r-We. therefore left the burial
ground, with the workmen.whom we bad brought; we care-
fully locked the gate, takitag with the key, and placed the
two above mentioned chists in the salt, so of the Sieur Des-
eloseaux, after having sealed them with the m modal seal of
France. The said chests were then covered with a pall, and
surrounded by wax-lielsts, and several ecclesiastics of his Ma-
jesty's Chapel. in order to recite during the night the prayers
of the church around these precious remains. [The report
concludes with stating. that a guard was placed at the gate
and around the butimi ground, and the Comniissioners ad-
journed till next more ng.]
The following is the account of the discovery pc the body
of the King:—

The workmen opened in our presence a trench of seven
feet in depth, a little below the tomb of the Queen, and
nearer the wall on the side of the street d'Anjou. We dis-
covered some earth mixed with time, and some small frag-
ments of boards, indicative of a wooden coffin. We ordered
them to continue to dig with more caution but instead of
finding a bed of pure lime, as round the coffin of the Queen,
we perceived that the earth and the lime had been designedly
mingled, in such a manner, however, that the lime greatly
predominated in the mixmixture,but had not the same consistence
as that found in yesterday's operation ; in the middle•of this
lime, and of this earth, we discovered the bones of a human
hody, most of which, being thoroughly corroded, were ready
to fall to dust : the bead was covered with lime, and it was
' found placed betwixt two leg bones, a circumstance which
appeared to us the more remarkable, as this had been pointed
out as the situation of the head of Louis XVI. in the infor-
mation we had received on the 22d of last Nfay.
We searched carefully for the remains of any trace of
clothing, without being. able to discover any, no doubt be-
cause the quantity of lime being much more considerable,
had produced-a greater effect. We collected all the relics
which we could collect in this confused mass of earth and
lime, and placed them together in a large sheet prepared.for
the purpose, as also many pieces of the lime yet entire.
Although this place-where. the body was discovered was
that whet e many eye witnesses of the interment had declared
to us that the body of his Majesty was deposited, and although
the situation of the head left no doubt as to the result of our
operation, we, however, took care to cause ten or twelve feet
of earth to be dug up at a distance of about 25 feet, to ex-
amine whether there existed a complete het of lime, which
might point out to us the burying place of the King as pi e-
cisely as that of the Queen. 'But this superabundant 111°4
convinced us still more completely that we were in posse-
sion of the sacred relics.

We inclosed them with respect in a large box, which we
had fastened and scaled with the signet of the arms of France :
we then carried this box into the same chamber where the.
'•rern2ins of the Queen were deposited yesterday, in order that
the ecclesiastics already assembled might continue round tlia
two bodies the prayers of the church, till the time which
shall be fixed by the King fur placing them in leaden coffins,
aid for conveying these coEns to the' oyal church of St.
Denis.

Of all which we .have compiled and written this present
statement. which has. been signed by the same commissionets
and witnesses as in the sitting of yesterday, and besides, by
the Duke of Darers, Peer of France, first gentleman of the
Chamber of the King; by the Marquis of Dreux•Breze,
g•and-mwter of the ceremonies of France, who assisted in
the operatbms of this day; and. by the Abbe Dastros, Vicar-
' General of the church of Paris, brie of the ministers of the