Year: 1877

| "a SNOh 0CsiAO Oo eho-S


who saw him to his grave to wear any


thing but black, ana to carry white


flowers in their buttOn-hOles, as he


wished the ceremony to be considered


more an occasion for rejoicing than one


for mourning. A yet more merry-minded


man was a so-called ''misanthrope, F"


who died at Mont Gaillard in 1922. He


left instructions that all the musicians


in the place were TO be invited to his


funeral, TO tighten the march 10 the


churchyard by playing minuets, waltzes


and hunting tunes. His house and the


church were to be decorated with ever


greens and flowers in honor of the


event, and his property was to 60 to the


relative who laughed the heartiest dur


ing the celebration of the burial-rites.


Another eccentric Frenchman, who had


spent his life in collecting gems and


coins, wished his obsequies to be per-


formed with every accompaniment cal


culated to inspire mirthful feelings. His


body was to be wrapped in tanned pig


skin, and buried coffinless in a standing


position upon pile of charcoal. The


FOLLOWERS" were TO carry laurel


branches, and upon their return from


the church the doors of his treasure


chamber were to be thrown open to all


comers, that they might help themselves


to its contents at discretion. His be-


hests were hardly likely to be obeyed !;


for, in anticipation of the general


scramble, before the collectors breath


was out of his body, his servants lie


camped with everything that was porta-


BILE.


Dame Margaret Thompson, who lived


and died in Boyle street, in the days of


Queen Anne, was of different way of


thinking. She had never found any


flowers so gratifying to her sense of


smell as good Scotch snuff, and there


fore desired her old servant, Sarah, to


see that her body was covered with it


before the coffin-lid was screwed down.


She was also to strew the threshold
with two bushels OF snuff preparatory
to her dead mistress being carried
across it by six OF the greatest snuff
takers to be found in the parish, and TO
secure the same number of old maids
for pallbearers, and supply them with
boxes of snuff for use on the road;
Sarah herself, walking Lefore the coffin,
and distributing "every twenty yards,
a large handful of Scotch snuff to the
ground and upon the ground" while
the clergyman was expected to take a
certain quantity of the same, not ex-
ceeding a pound, as he walked in the
procession--his fee of four pounds de-
pending upon his carrying out the
danes whim in that respect.


John Oliver, jolly Sussex miller,
had tomb built for himself near his
mill at Highdown hill thirty years be-
fore he was ready to occupy it. When
he came to that pass his body was put
into white cofiin and borne to its long
prepared lodging by eight men clad in
white; the burial service being read by
a girl of twelve, who afterward preached
a sermon to the congregation of Curl
osity-mongers, some two thousand
strong. Weary OF making watches that
would not go, Charles V. took to morti-
flying his flesh and making himself
miserable generally, until he brought
himself to such a melancholy pass that
nothing would do but he must celebrate
his own obsequies, before he was ready
to take his proper part in them. No
opposition was offered to the indulging
of his whim; although Charles was
only an ex-mOnarch, his will was law
in the little domain he ruled in his re-
tirement. Accordingly a tomb was
erected in the monastery chapel; a
coffin made; and all the necessary
properties" for the performance pro-
vided. At the time appointed, the
monks and the imperial domestics,
carrying black tapers, fell In behind
the coffin and the shroud-enwrapped
hero of the strange comedy; and all,
making believe to the best OF their |
ability, marched with solemn faces and !
slow steps to the chapel; where Charles,
resigning his part of chief mourner,
was laid in the coffin to listen to the |
Of his own requiem, and join |
audibly in the prayer for the repose of
his yet impaired soul. Then the coffin |
and its tenant were deposited in the
tomb, and the assistants at this odd
ceremony retired, carefully closing the
chapel doors as they departed. When
he was tired OF his solitary confine-
ment, Charles arose and returned to
lis apartments, to be seized the next
day with fever which quickly rendered
a real funeral necessary-a funeral
celebrated in much more regal fashion
than the mock one which preceded it.


On the lst of December, 1865, for
eigner called at the Office of the Plaistow
registrar, and registered the death of
Vital Douat, producing medical GER
tificate showing that person died ON
the 10Th OF November of aneurism of
the heart. The same morning the sex
ton of the Roman Catholic cemetery at
Low Leyton received instructions to
get grave ready by the ensuing Sun
day. In the afternoon a man, calling
himself Monsieur Rubini, bought
coffin at an undertaker's i'm
the Mile end Road, and ordered the
handles to be removed from the sides to
the ends, and an extra thick leaden
lining to be put to it. On the Sunday
he appeared again, called in two labOrers
who were passing by the shop, and en-
gagged them to carry hispurchase to the
railway station, where he
and it were booked for Leystonstone.
Upon getting there he hired cart, put
himself and the coffin in it aAd was
driven to st. Patrick's Cemetery, where
the coffin was taken into the chapel the