New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-08-20
Shakespeare's Remains.

features, OF even VI LIS SKULL W Uo
taken, the world would by such means
has nOt-an authentic and undieputeG
portrait, or help to portrait. of
The man Shakespeare. LET not the inscrip
ton on the tombstone prevent the exhuma-
tion," it is pleaded, ''for there is no proof
that it was placed there at his request
Open the grave reverently, have the photo
graphers ready, and the moment the coffin
lid is removed (if there be any) expose the
plates, and see what will be the result.
accomplished no harm would be done, and
people would rest satisfied"
As encouragement Of the hope that Shake.
speare's body, although it has lain in the
tomb 200 years, may not yet have crumbled
into dust, letter from q person living near
Stratford is quoted:
"Some graves of the Shakespeare date fit
saye1 were opened at Church Lawford q
few years ago; and the figures. faces and
dresses were perfect, but, of course, in half
an hour were mere heaps of dust. Shake
less he was buried we'll lin q leaden coffin,
probably ]. and there is scarcely room for q
doubt that, with proper precautions, photo
graphs of his face might be taken perfectly.
surely the end does justify the means here.
- Surely such Q duty might be rev.
erently done. l doubt, after all, if it will
be; but l am very strongly in favor of the
trial, and, if no remains were found no harm
would be done, the curse to the CON
trary notwithstanding. People who have
pet projects about portraits would not
like to have all their neat and logical argu-
ments rude)y knocked in the head; but
where SHOULD we all be if no Shakespeare at
all were found, but only bundle of rusty
old manuscript in Lord Bac0n's fine Roman
handi After all, am rather nervous about
the result of such an exhumstion But,
seriously, ] see no reason why it should not
be made. A legal friend here long ago
suggested (humorously, not professionally,
of cOurse) that the curse might be escaped
by employing woman ('cursed be he').
and women would compete for the honor !"
Just here comes up the vision of that de-
luded enthusiast who, after years of soil
tary single handed struggle to substantiste
the theory of Bacon's authorship of the
Shakesparean dramas, succeeded, as the
elimination of her chimeras, in bribing the
sexton of the church inclosing the poets
tomb to allow her to open the grave and
satisfy her belief that it contained only
the manuscripts of the plays, written in
Bacon's hand. The two proceeded alone
waited in silence the arrival of the mid
night hour as the fittest for the performance
of their contemplated deed. Motionless sat
the pale-browed woman who had surren-
dered her mind to the dominion of one in.
sane idea until it absolutely possessed her,
driving out every other object of thought
or affection, and finally Grazing and de-
her. The email lantern she held
threw its pale light Immediately about her,
but had not strength to penetrate far into
the surrounding shadows; and thin and pale
ho -.
that single nebulous spot in the gloom, had
become through the disease that was con-
suming her, she might have been taken for
the wrath of come dead one, which had
come back from the realm of spirits to
watch for one given hour over the tomb
where the remains of its earthly tenement /
we're inferred. The instant for striking
the first blow that was to open the grave
If Shakespeare, and reveal the secret in |
ts keeping, came and went, and yet she
stirred not. The opportunity for which |
The had striven for years was within her
grasp. and her weak, wasted hand, relaxed |
ind let it drop. The nerve that would |
have supported her in the early years of |
Ter endeavor had worn away with long
and painful tension, and, in this supreme |
moment of victory over the last obstacles |
opposing the confirmation of her theory, |
he was unequal to the self-imposed de- |
nand; and, we may suppose, with a desc |
ate and despairiDg heart, che rose in |
ilence, and, motioning the sexton to fol-
ow her, left the tomb of Shakespeare un- |
One can not avoid a regret at |
his pathetic failure. The shock of finding
Ter cherished theory untrue might have |
lilled the disappointed woman on the in
tant; but interesting questions aside from
hose she had herself originated, would |
hen have been finally set at rest.
The writer in the Bibliopolist cites num-
'er of cases recorded in Miss Stricklsnd's
Queens of England" where the bodies of
he royal dead have been exhumed CEN
uries after their interment, and found to
etain their perfect shape and semblance.
he remains of Williams, the Conqueror,
rho died in 1887, were disinterred in 1542,
nd, writes Miss Strickland:
ION removing the cases, the body, which
7as corpulent, and exceeding in stature the
allest men then known, appeared as entire
9 when in was first buried. Within the
Dmb lay . plate Of copper gilt, on which
1as engraved an inscription in Latin verse.
he bishop, who was greatly surprised at
nding the body in such perfect preserve
ne royal remains, in the state in which
ley then appeared, by the best artist in
aen, and caused it to be hung up on the
bbey wall, opposite the monument"
The tomb OF the Princess Mary, daughter
Edward w., who died in 1882, was
pened in 1917, and, says Miss Strickland:
"The coffin of the Princess Mary, beau
full girl of fifteen. who died in the year
efore her father, was opened; q curl of
air of the most exquisite pale gold had in
nuated itself through the chinks of the |
,fhn; the eyes, beautiful blue, were IN.
osed and bright, but fell to dust soon
tier the admission of air.
Of Katherine Parr, the sixth Queen of
enry VIII, who died in 1851, the same
lthor writes:
"She was originally inferred on the north
de of the altar of the then splendid chapel
Sudley, and q murat tablet of sculptured
abaeter was placed above her tomb The |
lapel is now despoiled and in ruins, the
Ofless walks alone remaining. The his.
ry of Queen Katherine's death and in
rment, from the document in the
erald's office, having been published in
uddes' History of Gloucestershire, some
dies who happened to be at Sudley Cas-
> in May, 1852, determined to examine
q ruined chapel. Observing q large
Ock of alabaster fixed in the north wall of
9 chapel, they imagined that it might be
9 back of Q monument that haa once
'en fixed there. Led by this hint, they
ID the ground opened mot far from there, |
i'd about foot from the surface they | [
und leaden envelope which they opened ! q