The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1883-04-26
Visits of the Living to the Dead.

In 1854 the collins containing the
bodies of Charles V. and his descendants
were removed from the vault in front of
the high altar in the church of the Es-
corral to their final resting place in the
Pantheon. GAS the body of Charles v.
was placed in his marble sarcophogus, !"
writes Sir W. Stirling Maxwell. (Cloister
Life of Charles ", 1858. p. 279), "the
coverings were removed to enable Philip
Nv. to come face to face with his great
ancestor. The corpse was found to be
quite entire, and even some sprigs Of
white thyme folded in the winding sheet,
retained, said the friars. all their vernal
fragrance after the lapse of four score
winters" But once more the resolute
countenarce of the victor of Muhlberg
was to be seen by degenerate success.
sor. Toward the end of the eighteenth
century, Chrales III. of Spain. at the
request of the author of "Vathek,"
ordered the marble sarcophagus
which contained the body of the
famous Emperor of the West to be re-
moved fiom its niche and the lid to be
raised. The features. so we'll known
from the portraits by Titan, were still
unchanged. and the wild thyme, gath.
cred in the Vera of Plasencia by the
Jeromite friars more than two centuries
before, was fresh and sweet.
In 1912, while passage was being
constructed under the choir of st.
Georges chapel, Windsor, an aperture
was accidentally made in one of the
walls of Henry Wills vault. Three
collins were seen, and it was supposed
that one of them might hold the remains
of Charles I. The vault was examined
in the presence of George Nv. and other
distinguished persons, among whom was
Sir Henry .Halford, and to the work
published by him C'An Account of the
Opening OF the Coffin Of Charles l., !"
Alto, 1879 I am indebted for the details
of the interesting incident. On opening
the coffin supposed to contain the re-
mains of the unfortunate monarch, the
body was wrapped in cere- cloth, and the
damp folds about the face adhered so
closely that on being detached it was
found to retain an impress of the royal
countenance-a circumstance which to
ardent loyalists would doubtless recall
the legend of st. Veronica. The head
was found to be separate from the body,
and the back hair of the head was cut
short at the neck to facilitate the heads
mans task. But no circumstantial evil
dence was required to prove that the re-
mains of Charles I had at last been
found. The long oval face and the
brown pointed beard, which the pencil
of Vandyck has rendered so familiar to
us, were at once recognized. When the
face was first seen the left eye was full
and open, but it vanished almost immedi.
ately on exposure to the air. After a
short time, when the identity of the re-
mains was placed beyond doubt, the
coffin was closed and the vault was fast
ened up.
One more Interview with the dead
must be told. though in this case the
body had not been embalmed. Some
years ago the family vault of the Stap-
hope family was, for some necessary rea-
son, opened, and the lid of the coffin
which contained the body of the famous
earl, the author of the Letters, was by
accident removed. The skeleton was re-
clining on white satin coverlet, and the
Uranium propped up on cushion of the
same material with a courtly air Of re-
pose which was very remarkable, and
which made great impression upon
those who were present. l was not an
eyewitness of the event, but relate the
occurrence as it was told to me. It may
be mentioned incidentally that the late
earl was not originally buried in the fam
lily vault, but in the church at Bretby.-
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