The Sun.
London, England, 1813-04-27 00:00:00

trio camtt,Es t.

Sir tetify talford tist ptiblished a ilar-
Oatire of the invegtiggtion which lately took
place at Windsor; in the -Vault of,,Kiog,Henry
VIII. in presence of ,the Prince itep,ent and se»
leet few, appointed by his Royal Higiniess for; the
purpose. Thelollowing is an extract : .

The Vault is' covered toy an arch, half a brick
iii thickness, is seven 'feet tiro-inches in Width,'
nine feet six inches in length, and four feet ten
inches in height, acid is situated in the centre of
the ehoir, opposite the eleventh Knight's stall on
the Sovereign's side. •1.
On removing the pall,, a plain. leaden .coffm,'
with no appear:wee of ever having been enclosed
in wood, and bearing an 'inscription, Kihg
Charles, 1648," iu ,targe legible chatacters.oo
scroll of lead encircling It, itmitediately.presented
itself to the view. A,.-square. opening was' then
made in the upper part of the lid, of such dimen-
sions as to admit a, clear insight into its contents.
These were, an internal wooden coffin, very much.
decayed, and, the Body, carefully wrapped in.
cere-cloth, the folds of
.which a quantity
of unctuous or greasy matter, mixed_ with resin,
as it seemed, bud been melted; so as to exclude,
as elrectnally as 'possible, the external air. The
coffin was completely, full; and, from the ten:tcity.
of the cere-::loth, • great difficulty was. experien-
ced in detaching it successfully from the parts
which it enveloped. Wherever the unctuous
matter had insinuated itself, the separation of
the sere-eloth was easy ; and when. it came off,- a
correct impression of the features to which it had
been applied was observed in the unctuous sub-
stance. At lenirtlt the whole face was dis,!agaged
from its covering. The complexion of the skin of
it was dark and discoloured. The forehead and
temples bad ;nit little or nothing of their muscular
sub Stance ; the cartilage .of the hose Wl.lB gone ;
but the left eye, in the first moment of exposure,
was open and full, though it vanished almost
inediately : and the pointed heard, so rharadteris-
tic,of the period of the reign of King Charles,
was perfect. The shape of time face %vns a long
oval ; many of the teeth remained; and the left
ear, in consequence of the interposition of the
unctuous matter bet Ween it and the ctre-cloth,
was found entire.

It was. difficult, at ;this .moment, to withhold
a declaration, that notwithstanding itsdisfigure-
ment, the countenance did bear. a strong resem-
blance to the coins, the busts, anti especially to
the _pictures of,King Ontries brVandyke, by,
which it had been made familiar to'us. It is
true, that the minds of the spectators of this it-
teresting sight lvere well prepared to receive this
impression.; but it- is also'certain, that such a fa,-
rility, of belief • had been occasioned by the sint
plicity• and truth of Mr.,Herbert'slNarrative,-eve---
ry part of which' had-, been confi-Aned by the in—
vestigation, so faros it had advanced ; and it will
l'n be' denied that. the shape .of the face, the
forehead, an eye, and--the beard, . are the most,
important features by which,resemblanceis deter-.
mined. • • :
" When the .head bad been entirelydisetr-,aged,
from the attachments which , confined it, At was.
found to be .loose, anti, without any difficulty, WA*
taken-up and held .to view. It wes•quite •wet a,
and gave a greenish ..red; tinge :to paper, and to
.linen which fonched it. ,The,.back part of the.
.sealp was • entirely perfect,' and had a,remarkably.
gresh appearance ; the pones of the.skio being mart:
distinct, as they usually.ure when soaked.ininoit
ture ; and the tendons and ligaments of .the peek
were.olconsiderablc substance and artmiess. The.
hair was thick at the • back Twat:of-the:head,- and
•
in appearance, nearly black,; .a portion !if it,
which has since been Cleaned and dried, is of. 'a;
beautiful dark brown colour. That of .thebeard:
was. a redder broWn. On _the badt.: plot of the-,
head, it was more than an inch in length, and had
probably been cut so short for tbecoovenience of-
the
.executioner, Or perhaps .by ;he. picky of friend,
soon after death, in order -to.furnish !memorials of
the unhappy King. • •
. .

" On holding up the bead, - to examint4he place
of separation'froin' the holly, the ukuleles ot the
neat had eYillently' retracted tkentseilies c,,ortsider-
ably ; and the fourth cervical vertebra was band
to be cut,
.through its substance, transversely,
leaving the surface of the divided portions.perfectly
slnoofb and even; an appearance which 'could
have been produced only by a heavy blow, inflicted
with 4 eery tih.Rrp instrument, and Which furnished
the last, proof wanting to identify King Chides
the First.
After After thif examination ,of the beard, which
served every purpose 'ut view, and ' Without ex=
atninitl the body helow.the neck, it wits imniedi-
ately restored to its situation; the coffin mias-401.-
tiered up again, and the vhatlt dosed.

" Neither of the other coffins had any inscrip-
tion upon them.. , larger one, supposed on
good grounds to contain the tewains of King lleury
Vlll, measured six feet ten inches in length, and
had been inclosed in an elm vibe of.two
thicfimessi .but thiS was decayed,, mid buy in small
fragmenti near it. The leaden coffin appeared to
have been, bearen in-by ‘'-iolence about the mid-
dle mid a considerable opening in that. part of
it,
,exposed a mere skeleton
,of the King. Sonic
beard remained upon the chin, but there was no-
thing to discriminate the personage contained
in it.

``,The smaller coffin, unilerstood to be that of
Queen Jane Seymour, svis not touched ; mere
curiosity not being considered, by the Wince Re-