The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1837-12-26


tombs, are kneeling statues, in their court dress,
OF those who once slept in the cenotaphs be-
Healh ana on those cenotaphs are their halt dra-
period forms, reclining in marble. These are IL
mong the richest tombs | have seen, and have
nothing approXimating to them at Paris, except
perhaps that Of the Countess Demiduff in Pere
La Chaise.
AS walked into the transept, guide with n
bundle of keys in one hand and cane in the
other, approached. This" said he "is the en-
trance to the vault" and he struck his cane down
upon large marble slab beneath my feet. The
hollow rcverberations seemed to sound through
all the arches Of the vauIted ceiling. Beneath
are the bodies Of Louis XVIII, the Duke OF
Berry, and all that could be found of the bones Of
Louis XVI, and Marie Antoncttc. None but
princes, dead or alive may enter here. 1t was
last visited by Lonis Philippe and the King of
Naples. Napoleon intended it for an imperial
sepuchre, and a son Of Louis Bonaparte was
here Inferred. At the restoration, however, his
body was taken up, and deposited in the adj acent
buryng. ground of the village Of St. Denis
Louis XVI. and his queen, us may be recolIected,
were, Immediately after their execution, buried
in the common cemetery Of the old Madeleine
Church at Paris. There they rested twenty years.
At the Restoration, Louis XVIII. ordered
search for their remains. What of them could
be found, was transported to this vault, and
beautiful cXpiatory chapel surrounded by cy
presses, now stands upon the spot Of their orlgl-
nal intCrmcnt
The guide now showed me about the Church.
He pointed out the windows, whcreon were
painted the heads Of all who had ever ruled in
France among which quickly recognized Ma
polcons and Louis Phillippe's. He particularly
desired me to notice the high altar, one of the
richest in the kingdom, and which was made for
the occasion of the marriage of Bonaparte TO
Maria Louisa. He showed monumental col
umn to the first husband of Mary, Queen of
Scots, upon whose summit stood an urn. The
heart it once contained disappeared in the rava-
ges of Ninety-threc. Having indicated for adj
miraton, this and that specimen in the archllec-
ture, my guide approached grating, through
which dimly beheld the damps of subtcnanean
sepulchrcs. Those sepulchrcs, running around
the royal vault of which have above spoken,
once held near all the buried Majesty of France.
Before descending into them, it may not be I'M
interesting TO recall few facts respecting their
pillagc.
On the 3lst Of July, 1893, the Convention de
creed the destruction of all the royal tonbs in
the Church of St Denis c9m!mtee i9rlbh5
P"iPoso ." '-'.tt,.i,,tiurl OF some friends oil lhe
Arts, was added another committee, charged to
preserve any monuments which might DC Heem-
ed worthy thereof. To this committee are we
indebted for the three beautiful matlSoleums,
which have been already alluded 10. 1T was on
Saturday night. the 10Th of Oct. 1893, that the
committees by the light of flamheaus, went
down among these tonbs for their work oil desc
Grafton. Previous thereto, they had eXcavated
deep ditch on the western side OF the church, lor
the promiscuous tumbling in OF the bones OF
kings, and queens, princes, prlncesses, and re-
noWncd men the successive Accommodations OF
near fifteen hundred years The FIRST bouy dls-
inferred was that of the great lurennc: IL was
in perfect preservation. Instead of flmgng this
into the ditch, the committee placed II III lne sac
risy where it remained eight months Thence
it was removed for exhibition to the Garden OF
Plants 1t was afterwards placed i'll the Museum
of French monuments, and finally i'll 1879. en-
ombed at the Hotel of the lnyalids, where at
this day you may see over 1t, n splendid cehotaph'
The next body they came TO was that OF Henry
~ So well preserved was it. that cast was
taken Of the cotintenancc. The report OF the
committee states that his beard and moustaches
were Gin excellent condition" Louis Alll ana
Louis XIV were well preserved. The skin OF
the latter looked black as ink. Asto the body OF
Francis LIST it was completely decomposed; so
was that of Louis XIV, us it ought TO have been.
Our committee now arrived at the tomb OF Hen
rietta Maria, daughter of Henry ~, and wife OF
Charles LIST of England, who died III lOO9 at the
age of sixty. An impressive destiny was that OF
Henrietta Maria of France. One revolution
chased her from the English throne, another rev
olution was now dragging her from her native
land. From the coffin of Charles V, who dled
/ in $780, was taken IL well preserved crown OF
silver gilt; Il hand o: Justice in silver; sceptre
some fire feet long, surmountcd with foliage, ana
wrought with eXtrem' beauty Tor that lihle' HI
the coffin of jeanne his wife, were found parts
of a crown, golden ring and bracelets, Il dlstatf
of gilded wood, slippers, and much gold and sill
YER embroidery, PHILIPPE deBel likewise bore
a sceptre of gilded "copper" golden ring and the
fragment Of diadem.
But the chief delight to our p,llagng radicals
if in the least degree antiquarian, must have been
the breaking omen the stone tomb of old Dago-
bert, who died in 63S, and whose soul we have
already contemplated in has relief, passing thro
several stages up to bliss After having broken
through the statue which, as usual, served as
cover to the stone sarcophagus, they came to
coffin of wood about two feet long, lined with
lead, and containing the the bones Of the King
and his Queen, enveloped in silk, and separated
from each other by little division: Near ny
stood the eaden tomb of Bertrand DuguescHh
The skeleton was uniniured the head III gooc
f condition, and the bones were quite white. Dn
guesclin was the first whom eulogy was
pronounced by the church. Several other cofhn'
l.