West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1879-08-16
Heart Burials.

The human heart has been consider
ed by many of the dying, in past times
as n votive gift peculiarly sacred. Aud
many instances are on record of the
burial of the heart apart from the place
where the ashes of the body might re-
pose. One of the earliest instances of
this mode of heart burial is that of
Henry III. of England. lie died I'm a
passion of grief before the altar of the
church of Chinon In 1889. His heart
was Inferred at Fontrevault. but his
body, from the nostrlls OF which tradi-
ton alleges blood TO have dropped on
the approach of his rebellious son,
Richard, was laid i'm separate vault.
When Richard Cmur de Lion fell be-
meath Gourdan's arrow at the siege of
Chalway, the gallant heart which, In
Its greatness and mercy, inspired him
to forgive and even to reward the luck
less archer. was, after his death, pre-
served in a casket I'm the treasury of the
cathedral which William the Conquer
or built at Rouen; for Richard by "A last
will directed that his body should be
Inferred In Fontevrault. Eat the feet of
his father to testify his sorrow for the
uneasiness he had created him during
his life time" He bequeathed his
heart to Normandy. out of his great
love for the people thereof In Scot
land there have been many instances of
the separate burial of the human heart.
The earliest known Is that connected
with the founding and erection of New
Abbey by Deragilla. daughter OF Allan
the Celtic lord OF Galloway, and wife
of John Baliol, father of the competitor
of the Scottish crown. Baliol, TO whom
she was deeply attached, died an exile
la France In 1863, but Derargilla had
his heart embalmcd, and as the Scott
chronicon records, "loykt and bunden
with sylver brycht," and this she al
ways carried about with her. In 1889.
as death approached, she directed that
this silent and daily companion In
life for twenty years should be laid
upon her bosom when she was buried
In the abbey she had founded. During
the repair of Christ's church at Cork
(lreiand) In 1919, human heart, In a
leaden case, was found imbeded among
the masonry; but to whom 1t had be-
longed, what was Its story, the piety or
love its owner wished To comm cmorate
no legend or inscription remained to
tell. When the body of the Emperor
Napoleon was prepared for interment
AT st. Helena in May, 1921, the heart
was removed by medicinal officer to
be soldered up in case. Nine. Ber-
trand, In her grief and enthusiasm
had made some vow, or expressed "A
vehement desire to obtain possession of
this as precious relic, and the doctor,
fearing that some trick might be played
him, and his commission be thereby
imperilled, kept II all night in his own
room In glass dish. The noise of
broken glass aroused him from wax
ing doze, and he started forward, only
In time to rescue the heart OF the EN-
peror from huge brown rat, which
was dragging 1t across the floor TO its
hole. IL was rescued by the doctor.
soldered mp In silver urn, filled with
spirits by Sergeant Abraham Milling
ton of the st. Helena artillery, and
placed I'm casket. IN IVA Sir Francis
DashwoOd received the singular be-
quest Of a human heart, as the oJtua-
ries OF that year record, that when
Paul Whitehead, Esq, gentleman
much admired by the ueratt for his
publications, died at his apartments in
Henrietta street, Covent Garden,
among other whimsical legacics was
his heart, which, with ESQ he be-
queathed to his lordship."