The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-01-20
Shelley.
STORY OF THE RECOVERY AND CREMA-
TON OF THE REMAINS OF THE
CELEBRATED POET.

STORY OF THE RECOVERY AND CREMA-
TON OF THE REMAINS OF THE
CELEBRATED POET.
From Richard Henry Stoddard's can
ecdote Biography of Percy Bysshe Shell
ley" published by Scribner, Armstrong
& Co., we take the following
The story of the drowning of Shelley
and Williams, in the Gulph of Spezzia,
is wildly told. It will be remembered
that when the bodies were found, they
were buried on the beach. Quicklime
having been thrown into the graves. It
was decided to remove them to Leghorn,
but the remains could not be removed
in the condition to which the quicklime
and q months interment had reduced
them. It was then suggested that they
be burnt; and permission having been
obtained from the Government. the GER
emony was performed August 18th,
1922. A furnace was constructed at Leg
horn, and sent to the spot. Williams
body was first exhumed and burned, and
on the day following the party proceeded
to the spot near Via Reggie, where Shell
ley's body was laid. We quote:
Three white wands had been stuck in
the sand to mark the poets grave, but
az they were at some distance from each
other, we had to cut trench thirty
yards in length, in the line of sticks, to
ascertain the exact spot, and it was near
ly an hour before we came upon the
grave. In the meantime Byron and
Leigh Hunt arrived in the carriage, at
tended by soldiers and the health officer
as before. The lonely and grand scenery
that surrounded us SO exactly harmon
lied with Shelley's genius that could
imagine his spirit soaring over us. The
sea, with the islands of Gorgona, Ca
praji and Elba, was before us; old bat
tlemented watch-towers stretched along
the coast, backed by the marble-crested
Apprentices glistening in the sun, pic
turesque from their diversified outlines,
and not human dwelling was in sight.
As thought of the delight Shelley felt
in such scenes of loneliness and gran
deur while living, felt we were no bet
ter than heard of wolves or pack Of
wild dogs, in tearing out his battered
and naked body from the pure yellow
sand that lay so lightly over it, to drag
him back to the light of day but the
dead have no voice, nor had power to
check the sacrilege; the work went on
silently, and in the deep and unresting
sand; not a word was spoken, for the
Italians have touch of sentiment, and
their feelings are easily excited into SYM
pathy. Even Byron was silent and
thoughtful. We were startled and drawn
together by q dull, hollow sound that
followed the blow of mattock; the iron
had struck skull, and the body was
soon uncovered. Lime had been strewn
on it, this, or decomposition, had the
effect of staining it of dark
and CHASTITY indigo color. Byron
asked me to preserve the skull for
him, but remembering that he had for
merly used one as drinking cup, was
determined Shelley's should not be so
profaned. The limbs did not separate
from the trunk, as in the case of Will
liam's body, so that the corpse was re-
moved entire into the furnace. 7 had
taken the precaution of having more and
larger pieces of timber, in consequence
of my experience of the day before of
the difficulty of consuming corpse in
the open air with our apparatus. After
the fire was we'll kindled we repeated the
ceremony of the previous day, and more
wine was poured over Shelley's dead
body than he had consumed during his
life. This, with the oil and salt, made
the yellow flames glisten and CULVER
The heat from the sun and fire was so
intense that the atmosphere was tremu-
lous and wavy. The corpse fell open
and the heart was laid bare. The from
tai bone of the skull, where it had been
struck with the mattock, fell off, and, as
the back Of the head rested on the bot
tom bars of the furnace, the brains lit
terally seethed, bubbled and boiled as
in caldron, for very long time. By
ron could not face this scene; he with
drew to the beach Fad swan off to the
Bolivar. Leigh Hunt remained in tho
carriage. The 70 was so fierce as to
produce white heat ON the iron and to
reduce its contents to gray ashes. The
only portions that were not consumed
were some fragments of bones, the jaw
and the skull, but what surprised US all
was that the heart remained entire. In
snatching this relic from the fiery fur
mace my hand was severely burnt, and
had any one seen me do the act, should
have been put into quarantine. After
cooling the iron machine in the sea col
lected human ashes and placed them in
box, which i took on board the Boil
var. Byron and Hunt retraced their
steps TO their home, and the officers and
soldiers returned to their quarters.
EFFECT OF VIOLENT PAM Mantle
gazza (Hirsch Enthusiastically by expert