Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1862-01-18
NUMBER Il9

We take the following interesting details
from late English papers, relating to the
burial Of Prince Albert's remains in St.
Georges Chapel, Windsor;
AT FIVE minutes to one the coffin was low
cred into the vault, amid the deep and silent
emotion of all present. Minute guns were
fred during the whole Of the ceremony,
which concluded at ten minutes after one.
The following is from the Express:
The chief mourner, the Prince of Wales
and Prince Arthur, the sons, the Prince Of
Prussia the son-iD-law of the deceased
Prince, were the objects of sympathy to all.
They went through the trying scenes with
ss much composure and resolution as was
possible under the hecircumstances but neither
rank nor pomp gives any exemption from
the sorrows that attend upon the bursting
asunder of the sweetest and tenderest OF
human ties, and this feeling was quite man
ifest as the remains of the late Prince were
lowered into the royal vault.
The most remarkable features of the pro-
ceedings were their extreme simplicity aud
the entire absence of pomp or display within
the chapel.
With scarcely an exception, the mourners
were dressed in black aud white cravats
The procession was picturesque. Only
two or three hundred privileged persons
while scarcely one thousand persons assem-
bled outside.
Prince Arthur was dressed in Highland
costume, and his tears and sobs excited the
greatest symp pathy.
When all was over, and the last of the
loSg, lingering train of mourners had de-
parted, the attendants descended the en-.
trance to the grave with lights, and moved
the bier and coffin along the narrow passage
which leads to the entrance to the royal
vault. AT the bottom Of the grave down
which the bier was lowered is a stone pass
age, about six feet broad and some eight or
nine feet high On the right, in a little
niche, stands the very simple machinery
used for lowering The biers, and a little be.
yond this, in another niche, a row of very
tall, black, gaunt looking, two-armed wooden
candelabra, employed for torches when the
royal vault itself is opened. For some twelve
or fifteen feet beyond this the passage con-
tiDues descending, and turning little to the
left, till further ingress is cut of by two
plain, rusty, wide barred iron gates. This
is the entrance to the royal vault. 1t is diff
ficult, without strong lights, to pierce the
intense gloom which always euvelops this
last resting place of royalty, and even when
its somber contents are revealed there is,
after all, but little to be seen. 1t is very
plain, wide, lofty stone vault, with groined
roof springipg from stone columns. On
either side, supported by these columns, are
four tiers Of marble shelves; in the center
are three very wide and massive slabs of
marble raised some two feet from the ground.
The side shelves are destined for the men,
hers of the royal family-the center marble
| biers for the collins OF monarchs only.
AS the light slowly penetrates this dismal
chamber, two purple cofins, looking almost
| black in the gloom, can be distinctly seen,
at the taTthest end, brightly rejecting back
the rays of the light as the beams fall upon
their richly. eilded ornaments, which shine
as though affixed but yesterday. These are
the coffins of George III and Queen Char.
| lotte. Above their heads, but shining Out
warmly with bright crimson glow, are the
cofins of three of their children, who diet
young. At their feet, but some distance
apart, and quite alone, lies the gorgeous cof
fin of George w. On the center slab, an,
nearest to the gates the coffins of William
w and Queen Adelaide rest side by side, tn
Queen being on the left. The light dis
tinctly shows these coifins, and the velve
is IS soft and rich, and the gilded plates ant
handles as bright, as on the day when thel
were first laid there, many years ago. No
even dust seems to have soiled their funera
grandeur; and, except few stray bits o
gravel on and around the center plates
where the earth was thrown at that solemn
passage which commits the body to tht
ground, and tells US how we are all alike be
fore the sight of God, there is nothing t,
show that all the remains had not been care
fully watched and tended since the day O
their interment.
There are no coffins on the right side c
the vault, but on the left are those Of th
Duke of York, the Duke of Gloucester, th
Duke of Kent, and the Duke of Cambridge
Strangely enough, the coffin nearest to th
gate is that of the Princess of Wales. 1t i
a crimson coffin, close in view, and, like tn
rest, as bright as that which, alas has beel
so lately laid there. Along the passage W
have described, the bier of the late Prime
was wheeled till the foot OF the coifin was a
the gates of the royal vault. There it re
mains, though it was not left to the gloon
OF its dark and narrow home till some dea
memorials Of love and fond regret from tn
bereaved Queen and children, whom he hs
so untimely left were deposited by kindre
hands upon the coffin. On Monday, Queen
messenger brought from Osborne to WindsC
three little wreaths and a bouquet Th
wreaths were simple chAplets of moss an
violets, with a white camellia in the cente
was sent by the widowed Queen. Betwee
the beraldic insignia these last tributes fror
his widow aud orphan daughters were lai
upon the coffin, and the royal vault was the
closed.