Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-11-27

LIVERY SChoolboy knows the verses which
~ are inscribed on the tomb of Shakes
peare in the church at Stratford, in which
the poet or somebody who wrote far below
his style for him, adjures the reader:
Good friend, for Jesus sake forbear
TO dig the dust enclosed here.
Blest he the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
Had Ben Jonson known what was in store
for him, gladly would he have borrowed his
friends protesting cpitaph.
NOR was Shakcspeares prccauton un-
~ necessary. The precincts of the church
were II protection against desecration. 3ut
these precincts were narrow; especially few
were choice places like that Of Shakespeare's
in the chanccl and the custom was to remove
the older bodies from time to time to the
chHrnel house. where the bones of the we'll
to do and the pauper might lie scattered
and indistinguishable, TO make place for new
occupants whose heirs were in possession Of
more current coin. 1t was the thought OF
the charnel house.
Ger covered quite with dead mems rat
tline bones
With rcaky shanks and yellow hGpless
skulls
take the sleeping potion and travellers will
remember the gruesomc collection in Cologne
of the bones of the ten thousand virgins aud
the fantastic ornamcntations made in the
crypt of one of the ancient churches OF
Rome of these last remains of hundreds Of
dcvout monks.
N OLD story runs that Ben Jonson, in
"a colIoquy with King Charles. asked for
a modest little piece of ground, to be two
feet BY two: and that the king replied that
he should have it and in whatsoever place
tho poet himself might choose. Whereupou
.Tonson chose Westminster Abbey. Whether
this story in one of its several variants. be
true or not. certain il is that Ben Jonson,
dying was buried in the north aisle of the
Abbey, lin the path of square stone tblue
marble. fourteen inches square,, and that
in order that his might not trespass on
other graves. his coffin was let down into
deep grave and stood on end. Jonson died
in August. 1887. and, shortly after. one
Jack Young. walking in the Abbey. inquired
the place of the poets tomb. and finding
it unmarked. gave "A stonccutter working
near eighteen pence 20 cut in the pavement
the words. 20 rare Ben Jonson."
HERE our story ought to end but there
L is n gruesomc cpilogue for the recoIcct-
ing and new ordering Of which the Gowns
man is indebted to Prof. J. q. Adams, of
Cornell. in recent paper of his on the
subject For 1856 years Jonson stood in his
gravN--thc Gowusmau can not bring him
self to accept the slanderOuS tale that the
poet was buried with his feet upmost And
il happening that Lady Wilson. wife Of
II distinguished soldier. was assigned rest
iug place contiguous to JonSon's, in the
,,,u nf hn rrumDIinn
remains of the old poet were disclosed. A
somewhat realistic letter by one u. c. B.,
contributed to the Gcntleman's Magazine of
September. 1893. tells how, after the funeral
OF Lady Wilson the writer had examined
lonson'S grave and found it to be some
eighteen inches square: how he viewed the |
remains and inferred from their position |
matter readily explained, the topsy turvy |
notion noted above and also that .Jonson was |
of small stature. n point on which there is |
other evidence u. c. f." tells us finally |
that after he-and apparently others. who |
were equally 'curiouS had examined the |
skull aud other detached bones. which We're |
firm and perfect and of the usual brown
color" the remains were again buried !
with the most scrupuous care.
DTT .Ionsou's bones were MOI destined to
- remain long in peace. As fate would
have it. in 1919. Sir Robert followed Lady
Wilson. his wife, to the grave, and arrange
mpnts were made to lay him beside her.
Once more were the bones of Ben Tonson
uncovered to the light and the matter care
fully noted by Francis Buckland. IA young
student Of surgery. son Of the then Dean
Of Westminster. Buckland wrote. in part. as
follows: ''Aftcr time the men found
coffin very much decayed. which, from the
appcaranCe of the remains must have orig
iually been placed in an upright position.
The skull found among these remains. Spice,
the gravedigger. gave me as that of Ben
Jousou. and took it at once into the deans
study. We examined it together. and then.
going into the Abbey. carefully returned it
to the earth: retaining, however, few
fragments of the coffin wood
A SSTREDLY two disinterments might be
n thought vicissitude enough for any
man after death. But not so as to the
perturbed remains of Tonson. In 1850 tho
same Francis Buckland, who had made an
enviable reputation meanwhile in medical
science rescued the remains of the cele-
bratcd John Hunter described as the founder
of modern surgery. aud arranged to have
them reinterred in Westminster Abbey. As
the malevolcnce of chance would have it.
the authorities chose spot next to the
can NOT can II lhc resting place
of Ben Jonson. And now the story becomes
the London Times of March
20. 1850, declaring that the skull of ,Jonson
was freely handed about" at the cere-
monies attending the reintermcnt of DR..
Hunter. Buckland telling crcumstantially
how he hid it to prevent precisely this desc
Grafton. placing it on the top of DR.. Hunters
coffin and waiting until the grave was filed
that there could be no possibility of any ones
it. Six years later appeared a
story that Jonson skull had been distracted
from the Abbey and was reposing among
other curiosities in the cabinet of private
gentleman. DR., Buckand was sent for by
Dean Stanley. and. investigating. came upon
still another story, that of Ryde, formerly
clerk of the works of the Abbey Ryde de-
clared that it was he who saved the skull
of Jonson taking it into his Office during the
funeral of DR.. Hunter and returning it TO
its nlace fifteen inches below the stone in