The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-02-09


the greatest possible care, Judgment and |
labor and NJ. Viollet-Leduc has brought |
all these to bear, with q result that leaves
nothing to be desired. 1t was not merely
n question of replacing displaced tombs,
raising fallen columns, and mending sta
tues, but the notions of formor govern
ments had evidently been very vague and
indistinot on the subject of restoration"
and those notions had all tended to spoil ST.
Denis rather than to improve it, so that IL
has been now necessary to destroy much
before the work of restoration could be
begun. Yet it was this disfgured church
that was the glory Of the sight-seers of the
reigns of Louis the Eighteenth, Charles the
Tenth, and Louis Philippe The hghtness
and elevation of its dome were vaunted by
our fathers, yet it's flooring had been raised
more than yard above the ground, to avoid
damp; its windows had given place to medi@-
val portraits of kings and abbes, whose like
ness to the originals was very doubtful; and
its tombs had been removed into q dark
damp crypt exposed to the indiscretion of
visitors. There were columns, statues, and
busts-some among them of persons who
had never been buried at st. Denis-al uu-
chronologically and incorrectly arranged The
st, Denis of to-day presents a very indifer-
ent appearance, even in its unfinished state,
The royal mausoleum stands before us,
brilliant in renewed beauty and freshness,
and carries us back at once to the days Of its
past glory With this difference, however,
that It is now less mausoleum than mu-
scum. NJ Georges d'Heilly, in very inter
esting account lately published in Paris of
the extraction of the royal coffins from st.
Denis in 1898, says:-''Death no longer sur
rounds us when visiting St. Denis The tombs
which once sheltered the bodies of our kings
are empty, many of them re-made,
the ashes of Dagobert and Henry the
10 f1a dc fhafr
burnt in quick-lime. The fault, therefore, of
this admirable restoration is that the royal
church is no longer q church, nor metropolis.
It is simply museum which we visit, as we
visit the Louvre, and the difference between
the old tombs, painted windows, and chapels
of the past, and those of the present, which
are the work of NJ Visllet-Leduo is the
difference which exists between an admirably
executed copy and an utterly lost original.
Son the 31st Of July, 1898, at sitting of
the convention, Barrere, in the name of the
Comite du Salut Public, read paper in
which he proposed that the anniversary of
the 10th Of Augustine day on which the
throne had been levelled-should be cele-
brated by the destruction of the royal tombs
of st. Denis, the sumptuousness of which, he
argued, was vanity tending to the hattery
and glory of monarchy. The convention
unanimously gave assent to the proposition,
and the work of destruction commenced on
the 9th and finished on the Sth of August, to
the end that ON the 10th it might be publicly
announced that the great and Just act had
been accomplished, and that it only now re-
manned to open the collins and disperse the
remains of the royal tyrants, which would be
effected as soon as circumstances permitted
Accordingly, in the following October COM
menced the opening of the cofins-the first
being that of the great Turenne. The shape of
his body was we'll preserved, and his features
were very little altered. He appeared like a
dried mummy of light shade of bistre A
large opening was then made in the vault in
which lay tho Bourbon princes and prin-
cesses, and the coffin Of Henri the Fourth
was discovered. His body was perfectly pre-
served and his face recognizable. At the
moment of opening, an enthusiastic soldier
threw himself before the corpse, and, after o
long and silent worship, drew his sword and
cut off lock of his beard, which he held to
his own lip, crying in loud tones:-'And
also am a French soldier! And AIN hence
forth sure of conquering the enemies OF
France and marching to victory.
''On the same day, 18th of October, the
other members of the House of Bourbon, tC
the number Of forty seven, were taken out oi
their coffins. The body of Louis the Thir
teenth was whole, and surprisingly we'll pre-
served; he was recognizable by his moustache
called a la royale, which remained intact
The body OF Louis the Fourteentn was DlacE
as ink, and the skin shiny. The coffin of Louis
the Fifteenth was opened at the entrance tC
the pit, which had been dug ready for the re
ception of the royal remains in the court-yar
of the church where formerly stood the beau
tiful chapel of the Valois. This chapel wa
destroyed in 719, being unsafe; butsome of it
finest remains, consisting of arched columns
etc, are to be seen at the present day in tn
Pare Monceaux. The body of the royal love
of the Du Barry was entire, and well band
aged: the skin white, the nose violet; som
portions of the trunk, red 1t floated i
water formed by the dissolying of the Sc
salt in which it had lain. The bodies of tn
other princes and princesses were in stat
of liquid putrefaction, and gave forth blac
and thick vapor, the odor of which burn
vinegar and gunpowder hardly dissipatet
The intestines of the illustrious dead wei
plAced in leaden vessels attached to th
iron trestes that supported the collins, whic
we're also of lead. The whole was despatche
to the meters, after the contents had bee
emptied into the pit.
'tIn the vault of Charles the Fifth sever
members of his family had been buried.
his coffin, besides some dried bones, were
crown and sceptre of gold and a hand of Ju
tice beautifully carved in silver. In Il
coffin of Jeanne de Bourbon, his wife, wel
the remains of crown, gold ring, spl
die in e1lt wood half eaten away, and son
pointed shoes covered with gold and sllv
embroidery Part of crown and 8
sceptre were also found in the cofhns
Charles the Seventh and his WI
Marie d'Anjou. The tomb of Her
the Second held nine collins, contai
ing the bones and decomposed renal
~ iu