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diff --git a/old/shbn10.txt b/old/shbn10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4b43b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/shbn10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1771 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shakespeare's Bones, by C. M. Ingleby + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Shakespeare's Bones + +Author: C. M. Ingleby + +Release Date: June, 2005 [EBook #8379] +[This file was first posted on July 5, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SHAKESPEARE'S BONES *** + + + + +Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + +SHAKESPEARE'S BONES + + + + +THE PROPOSAL TO DISINTER THEM, +CONSIDERED IN RELATION TO THEIR POSSIBLE BEARING +ON HIS PORTRAITURE: +ILLUSTRATED BY INSTANCES OF +VISITS OF THE LIVING TO THE DEAD. + +By C. M. Ingleby, LL.D., V.P.R.S.L., +Honorary Member of the German Shakespeare Society, +and a Life-Trustee of Shakespeare's Birthplace, Museum, and New +Place, +at Stratford-upon-Avon. + + + +"Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs." +Richard II, a. iii, s. 2. + + + +This Essay is respectfully inscribed to +The Major and Corporation of Stratford-upon-Avon, +and the Vicar +of the Church of the Holy Trinity there, +by their friend and colleague, +THE AUTHOR. + + + +SHAKESPEARE'S BONES. + + + +The sentiment which affects survivors in the disposition of their +dead, and which is, in one regard, a superstition, is, in another, a +creditable outcome of our common humanity: namely, the desire to +honour the memory of departed worth, and to guard the "hallowed +reliques" by the erection of a shrine, both as a visible mark of +respect for the dead, and as a place of resort for those pilgrims +who may come to pay him tribute. It is this sentiment which dots +our graveyards with memorial tablets and more ambitious sculptures, +and which still preserves so many of our closed churchyards from +desecration, and our {1a} ancient tombs from the molestation of +careless, curious, or mercenary persons. + +But there is another sentiment, not inconsistent with this, which +prompts us, on suitable occasions, to disinter the remains of great +men, and remove them to a more fitting and more honourable resting- +place. The Hotel des Invalides at Paris, and the Basilica of San +Lorenzo Fuori le Mura at Rome, {1b} are indebted to this sentiment +for the possession of relics which make those edifices the natural +resort of pilgrims as of sight-seers. It were a work of superfluity +to adduce further illustration of the position that the mere +exhumation and reinterment of a great man's remains, is commonly +held to be, in special cases, a justifiable proceeding, not a +violation of that honourable sentiment of humanity, which protects +and consecrates the depositaries of the dead. On a late occasion it +was not the belief that such a proceeding is a violation of our more +sacred instincts which hindered the removal to Pennsylvania of the +remains of William Penn; but simply the belief that they had already +a more suitable resting-place in his native land. {2} + +There is still another sentiment, honourable in itself and not +inconsistent with those which I have specified, though still more +conditional upon the sufficiency of the reasons conducing to the +act: namely, the desire, by exhumation, to set at rest a reasonable +or important issue respecting the person of the deceased while he +was yet a living man. Accordingly it is held justifiable to exhume +a body recently buried, in order to discover the cause of death, or +to settle a question of disputed identity: nor is it usually held +unjustifiable to exhume a body long since deceased, in order to find +such evidences as time may not have wholly destroyed, of his +personal appearance, including the size and shape of his head, and +the special characteristics of his living face. + +It is too late for the most reverential and scrupulous to object to +this as an invasion of the sanctity of the grave, or a violation of +the rights of the dead or of the feelings of his family. When a man +has been long in the grave, there are probably no family feelings to +be wounded by such an act: and, as for his rights, if he can be +said to have any, we may surely reckon among them the right of not +being supposed to possess such objectionable personal defects as may +have been imputed to him by the malice of critics or by the +incapacity of sculptor or painter, and which his remains may be +sufficiently unchanged to rebut: in a word we owe him something +more than refraining from disturbing his remains until they are +undistinguishable from the earth in which they lie, a debt which no +supposed inviolable sanctity of the grave ought to prevent us from +paying. + +It is, I say, too late to raise such an objection, because +exhumation has been performed many times with a perfectly legitimate +object, even in the case of our most illustrious dead, without +protest or objection from the most sensitive person. As the +examples, more or less analogous to that of Shakespeare, which I am +about to adduce, concern great men who were born and were buried +within the limits of our island, I will preface them by giving the +very extraordinary cases of Schiller and Raphael, which illustrate +both classes: those in which the object of the exhumation was to +give the remains a more honourable sepulture, and those in which it +was purely to resolve certain questions affecting the skull of the +deceased. The following is abridged from Mr. Andrew Hamilton's +narrative, entitled "The Story of Schiller's Life," published in +Macmillan's Magazine for May, 1863. + + +"At the time of his death Schiller left his widow and children +almost penniless, and almost friendless too. The duke and duchess +were absent; Goethe lay ill; even Schiller's brother-in-law Wolzogen +was away from home. Frau von Wolzogen was with her sister, but +seems to have been equally ill-fitted to bear her share of the load +that had fallen so heavily upon them. Heinrich Voss was the only +friend admitted to the sick-room; and when all was over it was he +who went to the joiner's, and, knowing the need of economy, ordered +'a plain deal coffin.' It cost ten shillings of our money. + +"In the early part of 1805, one Carl Leberecht Schwabe, an +enthusiastic admirer of Schiller, left Weimar on business. +Returning on Saturday the 11th of May, between three and four in the +afternoon, his first errand was to visit his betrothed, who lived in +the house adjoining that of the Schillers. She met him in the +passage, and told him, Schiller was two days dead, and that night he +was to be buried. On putting further questions, Schwabe stood +aghast at what he learned. The funeral was to be private and to +take place immediately after midnight, without any religious rite. +Bearers had been hired to carry the remains to the churchyard, and +no one else was to attend. + +"Schwabe felt that all this could not go on; but to prevent it was +difficult. There were but eight hours left; and the arrangements, +such as they were, had already been made. However, he went straight +to the house of death, and requested an interview with Frau von +Schiller. She replied, through the servant, 'that she was too +greatly overwhelmed by her loss to be able to see or speak to any +one; as for the funeral of her blessed husband, Mr. Schwabe must +apply to the Reverend Oberconsistorialrath Gunther, who had kindly +undertaken to see done what was necessary; whatever he might direct, +she would approve of.' With this message Schwabe hastened to +Gunther, and told him, his blood boiled at the thought that Schiller +should be borne to the grave by hirelings. At first Gunther shook +his head and said, 'It was too late; everything was arranged; the +bearers were already ordered.' Schwabe offered to become +responsible for the payment of the bearers, if they were dismissed. +At length the Oberconsistorialrath inquired who the gentlemen were +who had agreed to bear the coffin. Schwabe was obliged to +acknowledge that he could not at that moment mention a single name; +but he was ready to guarantee his Hochwurde that in an hour or two +he would bring him the list. On this his Hochwurde consented to +countermand the bearers. + +"Schwabe now rushed from house to house, obtaining a ready assent +from all whom he found at home. But as some were out, he sent round +a circular, begging those who would come to place a mark against +their names. He requested them to meet at his lodgings 'at half- +past twelve o'clock that night; a light would be placed in the +window to guide those who were not acquainted with the house; they +would be kind enough to be dressed in black; but mourning-hats, +crapes and mantles he had already provided.' Late in the evening he +placed the list in Gunther's hands. Several appeared to whom he had +not applied; in all about twenty. + +"Between midnight and one in the morning the little band proceeded +to Schiller's house. The coffin was carried down stairs and placed +on the shoulders of the friends in waiting. No one else was to be +seen before the house or in the streets. It was a moonlight night +in May, but clouds were up. The procession moved through the +sleeping city to the churchyard of St. James. Having arrived there +they placed their burden on the ground at the door of the so-called +Kassengewolbe, where the gravedigger and his assistants took it up. +In this vault, which belonged to the province of Weimar, it was +usual to inter persons of the higher classes, who possessed no +burying-ground of their own, upon payment of a louis d'or. As +Schiller had died without securing a resting-place for himself and +his family, there could have been no more natural arrangement than +to carry his remains to this vault. It was a grim old building, +standing against the wall of the churchyard, with a steep narrow +roof, and no opening of any kind but the doorway which was filled up +with a grating. The interior was a gloomy space of about fourteen +feet either way. In the centre was a trap-door which gave access to +a hollow space beneath. + +"As the gravediggers raised the coffin, the clouds suddenly parted, +and the moon shed her light on all that was earthly of Schiller. +They carried him in: they opened the trap-door: and let him down +by ropes into the darkness. Then they closed the vault. Nothing +was spoken or sung. The mourners were dispersing, when their +attention was attracted by a tall figure in a mantle, at some +distance in the graveyard, sobbing loudly. No one knew who it was; +and for many years the occurrence remained wrapped in mystery, +giving rise to strange conjectures. But eventually it turned out to +have been Schiller's brother-in-law Wolzogen, who, having hurried +home on hearing of the death, had arrived after the procession was +already on its way to the churchyard. + +"In the year 1826, Schwabe was Burgermeister of Weimar. Now it was +the custom of the Landschaftscollegium, or provincial board under +whose jurisdiction this institution was placed, to CLEAR OUT the +Kassengewolbe from time to time--whenever it was found to be +inconveniently crowded--and by this means to make way for other +deceased persons and more louis d'or. On such occasions--when the +Landschaftscollegium gave the order 'aufzuraumen,' it was the usage +to dig a hole in a corner of the churchyard--then to bring up en +masse the contents of the Kassengewolbe--coffins, whether entire or +in fragments, bones, skulls, and tattered graveclothes--and finally +to shovel the whole heap into the aforesaid pit. In the month of +March Schwabe was dismayed at hearing that the Landschaftscollegium +had decreed a speedy 'clearing out' of the Gewolbe. His old prompt +way of acting had not left him; he went at once to his friend +Weyland, the president of the Collegium. 'Friend Weyland,' he said, +'let not the dust of Schiller be tossed up in the face of heaven and +flung into that hideous hole! Let me at least have a permit to +search the vault; if we find Schiller's coffin, it shall be +reinterred in a fitting manner in the New Cemetery.' The president +made no difficulty. + +"Schwabe invited several persons who had known the poet, and amongst +others one Rudolph, who had been Schiller's servant at the time of +his death. On March 13th, at four o'clock in the afternoon, the +party met in the churchyard, the sexton and his assistants having +received orders to be present with keys, ladders, &c. The vault was +opened; but, before any one entered it, Rudolph and another stated +that the coffin of the deceased Hofrath von Schiller must be one of +the longest in the place. After this the secretary of the +Landschaftscollegium was requested to read aloud from the records of +the said board the names of such persons as had been interred +shortly before and after the year 1805. This being done, the +gravedigger Bielke remarked that the coffins no longer lay in the +order in which they had originally been placed, but had been +displaced at recent burials. The ladder was then adjusted, and +Schwabe, Coudray the architect, and the gravedigger, were the first +to descend. Some others were asked to draw near, that they might +assist in recognising the coffin. The first glance brought their +hopes very low. The tenants of the vault were found 'over, under +and alongside of each other.' One coffin of unusual length having +been descried underneath the rest, an attempt was made to reach it +by lifting out of the way those that were above it; but the +processes of the tomb were found to have made greater advances than +met the eye. Hardly anything would bear removal, but fell to pieces +at the first touch. Search was made for plates with inscriptions, +but even the metal plates crumbled away on being fingered, and their +inscriptions were utterly effaced. Two plates only were found with +legible characters, and these were foreign to the purpose. Probably +every one but the Burgermeister looked on the matter as hopeless. +They reascended the ladder and closed the vault. + +"Meanwhile these strange proceedings in the Kassengewolbe began to +be noised abroad. The churchyard was a thoroughfare, and many +passengers had observed that something unusual was going on. There +were persons living in Weimar whose near relatives lay in the +Gewolbe; and, though neither they nor the public at large had any +objection to offer to the general 'clearing out,' they did raise +very strong objections to this mode of anticipating it. So many +pungent things began to be said about violating the tomb, disturbing +the repose of the departed, &c., that the Burgermeister perceived +the necessity of going more warily to work in future. He resolved +to time his next visit at an hour when few persons would be likely +to cross the churchyard at that season. Accordingly, two days later +he returned to the Kassengewolbe at seven in the morning, +accompanied only by Coudray and the churchyard officials. + +"Their first task was to raise out of the vault altogether six +coffins, which it was found would bear removal. By various tokens +it was proved that none of these could be that of which they were in +search. There were several others which could not be removed, but +which held together so long as they were left where they lay. All +the rest were in the direst confusion. Two hours and a half were +spent in subjecting the ghastly heap to a thorough but fruitless +search: not a trace of any kind rewarded their trouble. Only one +conclusion stared Schwabe and Coudray in the face--their quest was +in vain: the remains of Schiller must be left to oblivion. Again +the Gewolbe was closed, and those who had disturbed its quiet +returned disappointed to their homes. Yet, that very afternoon, +Schwabe went back once more in company with the joiner who twenty +years before had made the coffin: there was a chance that he might +recognise one of those which they had not ventured to raise. But +this glimmer of hope faded like all the rest. The man remembered +very well what sort of coffin he had made for the Hofrath von +Schiller, and he certainly saw nothing like it here. It had been of +the plainest sort, he believed without even a plate; and in such +damp as this it could have lasted but a few years. + +"The fame of this second expedition got abroad like that of the +first, and the comments of the public were louder than before. +Invectives of no measured sort fell on the mayor in torrents. Not +only did society in general take offence, but a variety of persons +in authority, particularly ecclesiastical dignitaries, began to talk +of interfering. Schwabe was haunted by the idea of the 'clearing +out,' which was now close at hand. That dismal hole in the corner +of the churchyard once closed and the turf laid down, the dust of +Schiller would be lost for ever. He determined to proceed. His +position of Burgermeister put the means in his power, and this time +he was resolved to keep his secret. To find the skull was now his +utmost hope, but for that he would make a final struggle. The keys +were still in the hands of Bielke the sexton, who, of course, was +under his control. He sent for him, bound him over to silence, and +ordered him to be at the churchyard at midnight on the 19th of +March. In like manner, he summoned three day-labourers whom he +pledged to secrecy, and engaged to meet him at the same place and at +the same hour, but singly and without lanterns. Attention should +not be attracted if he could help it. + +"When the night came, he himself, with a trusty servant, proceeded +to the entrance of the Kassengewolbe. The four men were already +there. In darkness they all entered, raised the trap-door, adjusted +the ladder, and descended to the abode of the dead. Not till then +were lanterns lighted; it was just possible that some late wanderer +might, even at that hour, cross the churchyard. Schwabe seated +himself on a step of the ladder and directed the workmen. Fragments +of broken coffins they piled up in one corner, and bones in another. +Skulls as they were found were placed in a heap by themselves. The +work went on from twelve o'clock till about three, for three +successive nights, at the end of which time twenty-three skulls had +been found. These the Burgermeister caused to be put into a sack +and carried to his house, where he himself took them out and placed +them in rows on a table. + +"It was hardly done ere he exclaimed, 'THAT must be Schiller's!' +There was one skull that differed enormously from all the rest, both +in size and in shape. It was remarkable, too, in another way: +alone of all those on the table it retained an entire set of the +finest teeth, and Schiller's teeth had been noted for their beauty. +But there were other means of identification at hand. Schwabe +possessed the cast of Schiller's head, taken after death by Klauer, +and with this he undertook to make a careful comparison and +measurement. The two seemed to him to correspond, and, of the +twenty-two others, not one would bear juxtaposition with the cast. +Unfortunately the lower jaw was wanting, to obtain which a fourth +nocturnal expedition had to be undertaken. The skull was carried +back to the Gewolbe, and many jaws were tried ere one was found +which fitted, and for beauty of teeth corresponded with, the upper +jaw. When brought home, on the other hand, it refused to fit any +other cranium. One tooth alone was wanting, and this was said by an +old servant of Schiller's had been extracted at Jena in his +presence. + +"Having got thus far, Schwabe invited three of the chief medical +authorities to inspect his discovery. After careful measurements, +they declared that among the twenty-three skulls there was but one +from which the cast could have been taken. He then invited every +person in Weimar and its neighbourhood, who had been on terms of +intimacy with Schiller, and admitted them to the room one by one. +The result was surprising. Without an exception they pointed to the +same skull as that which must have been the poet's. The only +remaining chance of mistake seemed to be the possibility of other +skulls having eluded the search, and being yet in the vault. To put +this to rest, Schwabe applied to the Landschaftscollegium, in whose +records was kept a list of all persons buried in the Kassengewolbe. +It was ascertained that since the last 'clearing out' there had been +exactly twenty-three interments. At this stage the Burgermeister +saw himself in a position to inform the Grand Duke and Goethe of his +search and its success. From both he received grateful +acknowledgments. Goethe unhesitatingly recognised the head, and +laid stress on the peculiar beauty and evenness of the teeth. + +"The new cemetery lay on a gently rising ground on the south side of +the town. Schwabe's favourite plan was to deposit what he had +found--all that he now ever dreamed of finding--of his beloved poet +on the highest point of the slope, and to mark the spot by a simple +monument, so that travellers at their first approach might know +where the head of Schiller lay. One forenoon in early spring he led +Frau von Wolzogen and the Chancellor von Muller to the spot. They +approved his plan, and the remaining members of Schiller's family-- +all of whom had left Weimar--signified their assent. They 'did not +desire,' as one of themselves expressed it, 'to strive against +Nature's appointment that man's earthly remains should be reunited +with herself;' they would prefer that their father's dust should +rest in the ground rather than anywhere else. But the Grand Duke +and Goethe decided otherwise. + +"Dannecker's colossal bust of Schiller had recently been acquired +for the Grand Ducal library, where it had been placed on a lofty +pedestal opposite the bust of Goethe; and in this pedestal, which +was hollow, it was resolved to deposit the skull. The consent of +the family having been obtained, the solemnity was delayed till the +arrival of Ernst von Schiller, who could not reach Weimar before +autumn. On September the 17th the ceremony took place. A few +persons had been invited, amongst whom, of course, was the +Burgermeister. Goethe, more suo, dreaded the agitation and remained +at home, but sent his son to represent him as chief librarian. A +cantata having been sung, Ernst von Schiller, in a short speech, +thanked all persons present, but especially the Burgermeister, for +the love they had shown to the memory of his father. He then +formally delivered his father's head into the hands of the younger +Goethe, who, reverently receiving it, thanked his friend in Goethe's +name, and having dwelt on the affection that had subsisted between +their fathers vowed that the precious relic should thenceforward be +guarded with anxious care. Up to this moment the skull had been +wrapped in a cloth and sealed: the younger Goethe now made it over +to the librarian, Professor Riemer, to be unpacked and placed in its +receptacle. All present subscribed their names, the pedestal was +locked, and the key carried home to Goethe. + +"None doubted that Schiller's head was now at rest for many years. +But it had already occurred to Goethe, who had more osteological +knowledge than the excellent Burgermeister, that, the skull being in +their possession, it would be possible to find the skeleton. A very +few days after the ceremony in the library, he sent to Jena, begging +the Professor of Anatomy, Dr. Schroter, to have the kindness to +spend a day or two at Weimar, and to bring with him, if possible, a +functionary of the Jena Museum, Farber by name, who had at one time +been Schiller's servant. As soon as they arrived, Goethe placed the +matter in Schroter's hands. Again the head was raised from its +pillow and carried back to the dismal Kasselgewolbe, where the bones +still lay in a heap. The chief difficulty was to find the first +vertebra; after that all was easy enough. With some exceptions, +comparatively trifling, Schroter succeeded in reproducing the +skeleton, which then was laid in a new coffin 'lined with blue +merino,' and would seem (though we are not distinctly told) to have +been deposited in the library. Professor Schroter's register of +bones recovered and bones missing has been both preserved and +printed. The skull was restored to its place in the pedestal. +There was another shriek from the public at these repeated +violations of the tomb; and the odd position chosen for Schiller's +head, apart from his body, called forth, not without reason, +abundant criticism. + +"Schwabe's idea of a monument in the new cemetery was, after a +while, revived by the Grand Duke, Carl August, but with an important +alteration, which was, that on the spot indicated at the head of the +rising ground there should be erected a common sepulchre for Goethe +and Schiller, in which the latter's remains should at once be +deposited--the mausoleum to be finally closed only when, in the +course of nature, Goethe should have been laid there too. The idea +was, doubtless, very noble, and found great favour with Goethe +himself, who entering into it commissioned Coudray, the architect, +to sketch the plan of a simple mausoleum, in which the sarcophagi +were to be visible from without. There was some delay in clearing +the ground--a nursery of young trees had to be removed--so that at +Midsummer, 1827, nothing had been done. It is said that the +intrigues of certain persons, who made a point of opposing Goethe at +all times, prevailed so far with the Grand Duke that he became +indifferent about the whole scheme. Meanwhile it was necessary to +provide for the remains of Schiller. The public voice was loud in +condemning their present location, and in August, 1827, Louis of +Bavaria again appeared as a Deus ex machina to hasten on the last +act. He expressed surprise that the bones of Germany's best-beloved +should be kept like rare coins, or other curiosities, in a public +museum. In these circumstances, the Grand Duke wrote Goethe a note, +proposing for his approval that the skull and skeleton of Schiller +should be reunited and 'provisionally' deposited in the vault which +the Grand Duke had built for himself and his house, 'until +Schiller's family should otherwise determine.' No better plan +seeming feasible, Goethe himself gave orders for the construction of +a sarcophagus. On November 17th, 1827, in presence of the younger +Goethe, Coudray and Riemer, the head was finally removed from the +pedestal, and Professor Schroter reconstructed the entire skeleton +in this new and more sumptuous abode, which we are told was seven +feet in length, and bore at its upper end the name + +SCHILLER + +in letters of cast-iron. That same afternoon Goethe went himself to +the library and expressed his satisfaction with all that had been +done. + +At last, on December 16th, 1827, at half-past five in the morning, a +few persons again met at the same place. The Grand Duke had +desired--for what reason we know not--to avoid observation; it was +Schiller's fate that his remains should be carried hither and hither +by stealth and in the night. Some tapers burned around the bier: +the recesses of the hall were in darkness. Not a word was spoken, +but those present bent for an instant in silent prayer, on which the +bearers raised the coffin and carried it away. They walked along +through the park: the night was cold and cloudy: some of the party +had lanterns. When they reached the avenue that led up to the +cemetery, the moon shone out as she had done twenty-two years +before. At the vault itself some other friends had assembled, +amongst whom was the Mayor. Ere the lid was finally secured, +Schwabe placed himself at the head of the coffin, and recognised the +skull to be that which he had rescued from the Kassengewolbe. The +sarcophagus having then been closed, and a laurel wreath laid on it, +formal possession, in the name of the Grand Duke, was taken by the +Marshal, Freiherr von Spiegel. The key was removed to be kept in +possession of his Excellency, the Geheimrath von Goethe, as head of +the Institutions for Art and Science. This key, in an envelope, +addressed by Goethe, is said to be preserved in the Grand Ducal +Library, where, however, we have no recollection of having seen it. + +The 'provisional' deposition has proved more permanent than any +other. Whoever would see the resting-place of Goethe and Schiller +must descend into the Grand Ducal vault, where, through a grating, +in the twilight beyond he will catch a glimpse of their sarcophagi." + + +The other case of exhumation, and reinterment with funeral rites, +which I deem of sufficient importance to be recorded here, is that +of the great Raphael. In this the motive was not, as in that of +Schiller, to give his bones a worthier resting-place, nor yet, as in +so many other cases, to gratify a morbid curiosity, but to set at +rest a question of disputed identity. In this respect the case of +Raphael has a special bearing upon the matter in hand. I extract +the following from Mrs. Jameson's Lives of Italian Painters, ed. +1874, p. 258: + + +"In the year 1833 there arose among the antiquarians of Rome a keen +dispute concerning a human skull, which on no evidence whatever, +except a long-received tradition, had been preserved and exhibited +in the Academy of St. Luke as the skull of Raphael. Some even +expressed a doubt as to the exact place of his sepulchre, though +upon this point the contemporary testimony seemed to leave no room +for uncertainty. + + +"To ascertain the fact, permission was obtained from the Papal +Government, and from the canons of the Church of the Rotunda (i.e., +of the Pantheon), to make some researches; and on the 14th of +September in the same year, after five days spent in removing the +pavement in several places, the remains of Raphael were discovered +in a vault behind the high altar, and certified as his by +indisputable proofs. After being examined, and a cast made from the +skull and [one] from the right hand, the skeleton was exhibited +publicly in a glass case, and multitudes thronged to the church to +look upon it. On the 18th of October, 1833, a second funeral +ceremony took place. The remains were deposited in a pine-wood +coffin, then in a marble sarcophagus, presented by the Pope (Gregory +XVI), and reverently consigned to their former resting-place, in +presence of more than three thousand spectators, including almost +all the artists, the officers of government, and other persons of +the highest rank in Rome." + +This event, as will appear in the sequel, is our best precedent for +not permitting a sentimental respect for departed greatness to +interfere with the respectful examination of a great man's remains, +wherever such examination may determine a question to which +"universal history is NOT indifferent." + +Toland tells us that Milton's body was, on November 12, 1674, +carried "to the Church of S. Giles, near Cripplegate, where he lies +buried in the Chancel; and where the Piety of his Admirers will +shortly erect a Monument becoming his worth, and the incouragement +of Letters in King William's Reign." {19} It appears that his body +was laid next to that of his father. A plain stone only was placed +over the spot; and this, if Aubrey's account be trustworthy, was +removed in 1679, when the two steps were raised which lead to the +altar. The remains, however, were undisturbed for nearly sixteen +years. On the 4th of August, 1790, according to a small volume +written by Philip Neve, Esq. (of which two editions were published +in the same year), Milton's coffin was removed, and his remains +exhibited to the public on the 4th and 5th of that month. Mr. +George Steevens, the great editor of Shakespeare, who justly +denounced the indignity INTENDED, not offered, to the great Puritan +poet's remains by Royalist landsharks, satisfied himself that the +corpse was that of a woman of fewer years than Milton. Thus did +good Providence, or good fortune, defeat the better half of their +nefarious project: and I doubt not their gains were spent as money +is which has been "gotten over the devil's back." Steevens' +assurance gives us good reason for believing that Mr. Philip Neve's +indignant protest is only good in the general, and that Milton's +"hallowed reliques" still "rest undisturb'd within their peaceful +shrine." I have adduced this instance to serve as an example of +what I condemn, and should, in any actual case, denounce as strongly +as Mr. Philip Neve or George Steevens. To expose a man's remains +after any interval for the purpose of treating his memory with +indignity, or of denouncing an unpopular cause which he espoused, or +(worst of all) "to fine his bones," or make money by the public +exhibition of his dust, deserves unmeasured and unqualified +reprobation, and every prudent measure should be taken to render +such an act impossible. + +To take another example of the reprehensible practice of despoiling +the grave of a great enemy: Oliver Cromwell was, as is proved by +the most reliable evidence, namely, that of a trustworthy eye- +witness, buried on the scene of his greatest achievement, the Field +of Naseby. Some Royalist Philister is said to have discovered, and +stolen from its resting-place, the embalmed head of the great +Protector. It found its way to London towards the end of the last +century, where it was exhibited at No. 5, Mead Court, Old Bond +Street. {20} It is said to have been acquired by Sir Joshua +Reynolds in September, 1786, and to be now or late in the collection +of Mr. W. A. Wilkinson, of Beckenham. It is recorded in one of the +Additional Manuscripts in the British Museum, under date April 21, +1813, that "an offer was made this morning to bring it to Soho +Square, to show it to Sir Joseph Banks, but he desired to be excused +from seeing THE REMAINS OF THE OLD VILLANOUS REPUBLICAN, THE MENTION +OF WHOSE VERY NAME MAKES HIS BLOOD BOIL WITH INDIGNATION. The same +offer was made to Sir Joseph forty years ago, which he also +refused." What a charming specimen was Banks of the genus Tory! +But after all it is a comfort to think that on this occasion he was +right: for while this head was undoubtedly that which did duty for +the Protector at Tyburn, and was afterwards fixed on the top of +Westminster Hall, it was almost certainly not that of Oliver +Cromwell: whose remains probably still lie crumbling into dust in +their unknown grave on Naseby Field. {21a} + +I give one more example of robbing the grave of an illustrious man, +through the superstition of many and the cupidity of one. +Swedenborg was buried in the vault of the Swedish Church in Prince's +Square, on April 5, 1772. In 1790, in order to determine a question +raised in debate, viz., whether Swedenborg were really dead and +buried, his wooden coffin was opened, and the leaden one was sawn +across the breast. A few days after, a party of Swedenborgians +visited the vault. "Various relics" (says White: Life of +Swedenborg, 2nd ed., 1868, p. 675) "were carried off: Dr. Spurgin +told me he possessed the cartilage of an ear. Exposed to the air, +the flesh quickly fell to dust, and a skeleton was all that remained +for subsequent visitors. {21b} At a funeral in 1817, Granholm, an +officer in the Swedish Navy, seeing the lid of Swedenborg's coffin +loose, abstracted the skull, and hawked it about amongst London +Swedenborgians, but none would buy. Dr. Wahlin, pastor of the +Swedish Church, recovered what he supposed to be the stolen skull, +had a cast of it taken, and placed it in the coffin in 1819. The +cast which is sometimes seen in phrenological collections is +obviously not Swedenborg's: it is thought to be that of a small +female skull." + +In the latter part of the reign of George III a mausoleum was built +in the Tomb House at Windsor Castle. On its completion, in the +spring of 1813, it was determined to open a passage of communication +with St. George's Chapel, and in constructing this an opening was +accidentally made in one of the walls of the vault of Henry VIII, +through which the workmen could see three coffins, one of which was +covered with a black velvet pall. It was known that Henry VIII and +Queen Jane Seymour were buried in this vault, but a question had +been raised as to the place of Charles the First's interment, +through the statement of Lord Clarendon, that the search made for +the late King's coffin at Windsor (with a view to its removal to +Westminster Abbey) had proved fruitless. Sir Henry Halford, in his +Account, appended to his Essays and Orations, 1831, {22} thus +describes the examination of the palled coffin. + +"On representing the circumstance to the Prince Regent, his R. H. +perceived at once that A DOUBTFUL POINT IN HISTORY MIGHT BE CLEARED +UP BY OPENING THIS VAULT; and accordingly his R. H. ordered an +examination to be made on the first convenient opportunity. This +was done on the First of April last [i.e., 1813], the day after the +funeral of the Duchess of Brunswick, in the presence of his R. H. +himself, who guaranteed thereby THE MOST RESPECTFUL CARE AND +ATTENTION TO THE REMAINS OF THE DEAD, during the enquiry. His R. H. +was accompanied by his R. H. the Duke of Cumberland, Count Munster, +the Dean of Windsor, Benjamin Charles Stevenson, Esq., and Sir Henry +Halford." + +"The vault was accordingly further opened and explored, and the +palled coffin, which was of lead, and bore the inscription 'King +Charles, 1648,' was opened at the head. A second Charles I, coffin +of wood was thus disclosed, and, through this, the body carefully +wrapped up in cere-cloth, into the folds of which a quantity of +unctuous or greasy matter, mixed with resin, as it seemed, had been +melted, so as to exclude, as effectually as possible, the external +air. The coffin was completely full; and, from the tenacity of the +cere-cloth, great difficulty was experienced in detaching it +successfully from the parts which it enveloped. Wherever the +unctuous matter had insinuated itself, the separation of the cere- +cloth was easy; and when it came off, a correct impression of the +features to which it had been applied was observed in the unctuous +substance. {23} At length the whole face was disengaged from its +covering. The complexion of the skin was dark and discoloured. The +forehead and temples had lost little or nothing of their muscular +substance; the cartilage of the nose was gone; but the left eye, in +the first moment of exposure, was open and full, though it vanished +almost immediately: and the pointed beard, so characteristic of the +reign of King Charles, was perfect. The shape of the face was a +long oval; many of the teeth remained; and the left ear, in +consequence of the interposition of the unctuous matter between it +and the cere-cloth, was found entire." + +The head was found to be loose, and was once more held up to view; +and after a careful examination of it had been made, and a sketch +taken, and the identity fully established, it was immediately +replaced in the coffin, which was soldered up and restored to the +vault. Of the other two coffins, the larger one had been battered +in about the middle, and the skeleton of Henry VIII, exhibiting some +beard upon the chin, was exposed to view. The other coffin was +left, as it was found, intact. Neither of these coffins bore any +inscription. + +In the Appendix to Allan Cunningham's Life of Burns {24} we read of +an examination of the poet's Tomb, made immediately after that life +was published: + +"When Burns' Mausoleum was opened in March, 1834, to receive the +remains of his widow, some residents in Dumfries obtained the +consent of her nearest relative to take a cast from the cranium of +the poet. This was done during the night between the 31st March and +1st April. Mr. Archibald Blacklock, surgeon, drew up the following +description: + +"The cranial bones were perfect in every respect, if we except a +little erosion of their external table, and firmly held together by +their sutures, &c., &c. Having completed our intention [i.e., of +taking a plaster cast of the skull, washed from every particle of +sand, &c.], the skull, securely closed in a leaden case, was again +committed to the earth, precisely where we found it.--Archd. +Blacklock.'" + +The last example I shall adduce is that of Ben Jonson's skull. On +this Lieut.-Colonel Cunningham thus writes: + +"In my boyhood I was familiar with the Abbey, and well remember the +'pavement square of blew marble, 14 inches square, with O Rare Ben +Jonson,' which marked the poet's grave. When Buckland was Dean, the +spot had to be disturbed for the coffin of Sir Robert Wilson, and +the Dean sent his son Frank, now so well known as an agreeable +writer on Natural History, to see whether he could observe anything +to confirm, or otherwise, the tradition about Jonson being buried in +a standing posture. The workmen, he tells us, 'found a coffin very +much decayed, which from the appearance of the remains must have +originally been placed in the upright position. The skull found +among these remains, Spice, the gravedigger, gave me as that of Ben +Jonson, and I took it at once into the Dean's study. We examined it +together, and then going into the Abbey carefully returned it to the +earth.' In 1859, when John Hunter's coffin was removed to the +Abbey, the same spot had to be dug up, and Mr. Frank Buckland again +secured the skull of Jonson, placing it at the last moment on the +coffin of the great surgeon. So far, so good; but not long +afterwards, a statement appeared in the 'Times' that the skull of +Ben Jonson was in the possession of a blind gentleman at Stratford- +upon-Avon. Hereupon Mr. Buckland made further inquiries, and calmly +tells us that he has convinced himself that the skull which he had +taken such care of on two occasions, [such care as not so much as to +measure or sketch it!] was not Jonson's skull at all; that a Mr. +Ryde had anticipated him both times in removing and replacing the +genuine article, [!] and that the Warwickshire claimant [!] was a +third skull which Mr. Ryde observed had been purloined from the +grave on the second opening. Mr. Buckland is a scientific +naturalist, and an ardent worshipper of the closest of all +observers, John Hunter. Now mark what satisfies such a man on such +an occasion as this. He was wrong and Mr. Ryde was right, because +Mr. Ryde described HIS skull as having RED HAIR; and in Aubrey's +Lives of Eminent Men, 'I find evidence quite sufficient for any +medical man to come to the conclusion that Ben Jonson's hair was in +all probability of a red colour, though the fact IS NOT STATED IN SO +MANY WORDS.' In so many words! I think not! Actually all that +Aubrey says on the subject is, 'HE WAS, OR RATHER HAD BEEN, OF A +CLEARE AND FAIRE SKIN'! (Lives, ii, 414.) And this, too, in spite +of our knowing from his own pen, and from more than one painting, +that his hair was as black as the raven's wing! Besides, he was +sixty-five years old when he died, and we may be sure that the few +locks he had left were neither red nor black, but of the hue of the +'hundred of grey hairs' which he described as remaining eighteen +years before. Mr. Buckland's statement will be found in the Fourth +Series of his Curiosities of Natural History, one of the most +entertaining little volumes with which we are acquainted." {26} + +In reviewing the various incidents connected with the foregoing +cases of exhumation one is perhaps most struck with the last two. +That an illustrious man of science, and his son, who at that time +must already have been a scientific naturalist, should have +cooperated in so stupendous a blunder as the mere inspection of Ben +Jonson's skull, without taking so much as a measurement or drawing +of it, would be incredible, but for the fact that both are dead, and +nothing of the sort has come to light: and it is scarcely less +surprising that the Swedenborgians, who believed themselves to be in +possession of their founder's skull, should not have left on record +some facts concerning its shape and size. + +Before addressing myself to the principal matter of this essay, +namely the question whether we should not attempt to recover +Shakespeare's skull, I may as well note, that the remains of the +great philosopher, whom so many regard as Shakespeare's very self, +or else his alter ego, were not allowed to remain unmolested in +their grave in St. Michael's Church, St. Albans. Thomas Fuller, in +his Worthies, relates as follows: "Since I have read that his grave +being occasionally opened [!] his scull (the relique of civil +veneration) was by one King, a Doctor of Physick, made the object of +scorn and contempt; but he who then derided the dead has since +become the laughingstock of the living." This, being quoted by a +correspondent in Notes and Queries {27a} elicited from Mr. C. Le +Poer Kennedy, of St. Albans, {27b} an account of a search that had +been made for Bacon's remains, on the occasion of the interment of +the last Lord Verulam. "A partition wall was pulled down, and the +search extended into the part of the vault immediately under the +monument, but no remains were found." On the other hand, we have +the record of his express wish to be buried there. I am afraid the +doctor, who is said to have become the laughingstock of the living, +has entirely faded out of men's minds and memories. + +Among the many protests against the act of exhumation, I select that +of Capel Lofft, as representative of the rest. He writes-- + +"It were to be wished that neither superstition, affectation, idle +curiosity, or avarice, were so frequently invading the silence of +the grave. Far from dishonouring the illustrious dead, it is rather +outraging the common condition of humanity, and last melancholy +state in which our present existence terminates. Dust and ashes +have no intelligence to give, whether beauty, genius, or virtue, +informed the animated clay. A tooth of Homer or Milton will not be +distinguished from one of a common mortal; nor a bone of Alexander +acquaint us with more of his character than one of Bucephalus. +Though the dead be unconcerned, the living are neither benefited nor +improved: decency is violated, and a kind of instinctive sympathy +infringed, which, though it ought not to overpower reason, ought not +without it, and to no purpose, to be superseded." Notwithstanding +the right feeling shewn in this passage, it is quite sufficient to +condemn Capel Lofft as a Philister. Let us for a moment examine +some of these very eloquent assertions. Agreeing as I cordially do +with his wish, that neither superstition, affectation, whatever that +may mean, idle curiosity, or avarice, were the motives which actuate +those who molest the relics of the dead, I cannot allow that neither +dust and ashes, bones, nor teeth, have any intelligence to give us; +nor yet that by the reverential scrutiny of those relics the living +can be neither benefited nor improved. All that depends upon the +intelligence of the scrutineer. Doubtless your Philister would turn +over the skull or the bones, or make hay with the dust, just as +Peter Bell could see nothing in a primrose but a weed in flower. +What message a bone or a weed may have for the man or the race +depends wholly upon the recipient. Your Shakespeare or Goethe, your +Owen or Huxley, would find in it an intelligible language; while +your Capel Lofft would denounce what he found there as dirt and +indecency. How true is the proverb of Syr Oracle Mar-text: "To the +wise all things are wise." In the case of Schiller, the skull spoke +for itself, and claimed to be that of Schiller; the bones, like +those in the 37th chapter of Ezekiel, aggregated themselves around +their head, and submitted to an accurate articulation; and the teeth +gave their evidence, too, at least the place of one, which was not +in the jaw, bore its testimony to the fact that the jaw in question +was that which Schiller had submitted to dentistry. In the case of +Raphael, the discovery of the skull disproved the claims of the +spurious relic, and arrested a stupid superstition. {29} Beyond +question, the skull of Shakespeare, might we but discover it in +anything like its condition at the time of its interment, would be +of still greater interest and value. It would at least settle two +disputed points in the Stratford Bust; it would test the Droeshout +print, and every one of the half-dozen portraits-in-oils which pass +as presentments of Shakespeare's face at different periods of his +life. Moreover it would pronounce decisively on the pretensions of +the Kesselstadt Death-Mask, and we should know whether that was from +the "flying-mould" after which Gerard Johnson worked, when he +sculptured the Bust. Negative evidence the skull would assuredly +furnish; but there is reason for believing that it would afford +positive evidence in favour of the Bust, one or other of the +portraits, or even of the Death-Mask: and why, I ask, should not an +attempt be made to recover Shakespeare's skull? Why should not the +authorities of Stratford, to whom this brochure is inscribed, +sanction, or even themselves undertake, a respectful examination of +the grave in which Shakespeare's remains are believed to have been +buried? + +Two grounds have always been assigned for abstention: (1) the +sentiment which disposes men to leave the relics of the dead to +their rest in the tomb: (2) the prohibition contained in the four +lines inscribed upon Shakespeare's gravestone. With the former of +these I have sufficiently dealt already. As for the latter; the +prohibitory lines, whether they proceeded from our Poet himself, as +Mr. William Page, and many before him, believed, or from the pen of +Ben Jonson, or of an inferior writer (which is to me the more +probable authorship), I am most desirous to respect them; not that I +stand in awe of Shakespeare's curse, but because I think they +proceeded from a natural and laudable fear. I have no more doubt +that "moves," in the quatrain, means "REmoves," than I have that +"stones" means "GRAVEstones." The fear which dictated these curious +lines, was, I believe, lest Shakespeare's remains should be carried, +whither so many of his predecessors in the churchyard had been +carried, to the common charnel-house hard-by. I do not read in +those lines a prohibition against an examination of the grave, say +for purposes of knowledge and history, but against the despoiling of +that grave, to make room for some local knight, squire, or squireen, +who might have been deemed a worthier tenant of the Chancel room. +Shakespeare's body was carried to the grave on Thursday, April 25, +1616 (O. S.); and, beyond question, his son-in-law, Dr. John Hall, +made all the arrangements, and bore all the expenses. We have no +proof whatever that the grave has remained closed from that time: +on the contrary there is some slight scintilla of proof that it has +been explored; and it would never astonish me to learn that +Shakespeare's skull had been abstracted! There may yet be some +among us who have a personal interest in preventing such an +exploration, and in thus maintaining the general belief, that +Shakespeare's relics still rest in the mould in which they were +buried. + +Be that as it may: in the year 1796, the supposed grave was +actually broken into, in the course of digging a vault in its +immediate proximity; and not much more than fifty years ago the slab +over the grave, having sunk below the level of the pavement, was +removed, the surface was levelled, and a fresh stone was laid over +the old bed. It is certain, I believe, that the original stone did +not bear the name of Shakespeare, any more than its successor: but +it is not certain that the four lines appear upon the new stone in +exactly the same literal form as they did upon the old one. {31} I +wish I could add that these two were the only occasions when either +grave or gravestone was meddled with. I am informed, on the +authority of a Free and Accepted Mason, that a Brother-Mason of his +has explored the grave which purports to be Shakespeare's, and that +he found nothing in it but dust. The former statement must be taken +cum grano. Granting this, however, the latter statement will not +surprise my valued friend Mr. J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps, who thinks +he sees a reason for the disappearance of Shakespeare's Bones, in +the fact that his coffin was buried in the Chancel mould. {32} If +this be all the ground of his assurance, that nothing but dust would +reward the search, I would say "despair thy charm;" for many corpses +so buried have for many years been preserved in comparative +freshness--corpses which had been treated with no more care than the +body of Shakespeare is believed to have received. The last case to +come to my knowledge, was that of the Birmingham poet, John Freeth, +the father of my old friend John Freeth, formerly the Clerk (or +principal manager) of the Birmingham Canal Navigations. On the +destruction of the burial-place of the Old Meeting House, in Old +Meeting Street, Birmingham, in March, 1882, the coffin of the poet +was found in the earth, and on opening it, the face was almost as +fresh, and quite as perfect, as on the day of the old man's +interment seventy-four years before: and as to his bones? Does Mr. +Halliwell-Phillipps believe that in a period but little more than +double that of the poet Freeth's unmolested repose, namely 180 +years, all Shakespeare's Bones would have been turned to dust, and +become indistinguishable from the mould in which the coffin lay? To +ask this question is to answer it. A more credulous man, than I +know Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps to be, would hesitate to give an +affirmative answer. Depend upon it, Shakespeare's skull is in his +grave, unchanged; or it has been abstracted. There may well have +been a mistake as to the exact locality of the grave: for we do not +know that the new gravestone was laid down exactly over the place of +the one that was removed; and the skull may be found in a grave +hard-by. But if, on making a thorough search, no skull be found, I +shall believe that it has been stolen: for, apart from the fact of +its non-discovery, I should almost be disposed to say, that no +superstition, or fear of Shakespeare's curse, nor any official +precaution and vigilance, could have been a match for that +combination of curiosity, cupidity, and relic-worship, which has so +often prompted and carried out the exhumation of a great man's +bones. If there were no other reason for searching Shakespeare's +grave, save the extinction of an unpleasant but not irrational +doubt, I would forthwith perform the exploration, and if possible +obtain tangible proof that the poet's skull had not been removed +from its resting-place. + +But the exploration, if successful, would have a bearing upon more +material issues. The most opposite judgments have been passed upon +the Bust, both as a work of art and as a copy of nature. Landor, +whose experience of Italian art was considerable, recorded it as his +opinion, that it was the noblest head ever sculptured; while Mr. +Hain Friswell depreciated it, declaring it to be "rudely cut and +heavy, without any feeling, a mere block": smooth and round like a +boy's marble. {33} After some of Mr. Friswell's deliverances, I am +not disposed to rank his judgment very high; and I accept Lander's +decision. As to the finish of the face, Mr. Fairholt's criticism is +an exaggeration, successfully exposed by Mr. Friswell. My own +opinion, telle quelle, has been already printed. {34} Allowing the +bust to have been a recognisable, if not a staring likeness of the +poet, I said and still say--"How awkward is the ensemble of the +face! What a painful stare, with its goggle eyes and gaping mouth! +The expression of this face has been credited with humour, bonhommie +and jollity. To me it is decidedly clownish; and is suggestive of a +man crunching a sour apple, or struck with amazement at some +unpleasant spectacle. Yet there is force in the lineaments of this +muscular face." The large photograph of the Monument lately issued +by the New Shakspere Society, as well as those more successful +issues of Mr. Thrupp's studio, fully bears out this judgment. But +the HEAD, as Landor said, is noble. Without accepting the +suggestion that the sculptor had met with an accident to the nose, +and had, in consequence, to lengthen the upper lip, I think it self- +evident that there is some little derangement of natural proportions +in those features; the nose, especially, being ill-formed and +undersized for the rest of the face. If we had but Shakespeare's +skull before us, most of these questions would be set at rest for +ever. + +Among the relics once religiously preserved in the Kesselstadt +collection at Mayence was a plaster mask, having at the back the +year of Shakespeare's death. This relic had been in that collection +time out of mind, and seems always to have been received as a cast +from the "flying-mould" of Shakespeare's dead face. With this was a +small oil-painting of a man crowned with bays, lying on a state +bier; of which, by the kindness of Mr. J. Parker Norris of +Philadelphia, I am able to give the admirable engraving which forms +the frontispiece to this little volume. On the death of Count and +Canon Francis von Kesselstadt, at Mayence, in 1843, the family +museum was broken up, and its contents dispersed. No more was seen +or heard of either of the two relics described, till 1847, when the +painting was purchased by an artist named Ludwig Becker; and after +some months of unremitting search he discovered the Death-Mask in a +broker's shop, and this he bought in 1849. The purchaser is dead: +but both these relics are in the Grand Ducal Museum at Darmstadt, +and belong to its curator, Dr. Ernst Becker, Ludwig's brother. I +have inspected both with the keenest interest; and I am of opinion +that the painting is not after the mask. The date, 1637, which it +bears, led Dr. Schaafhausen to think that it was intended for Ben +Jonson; a view to some extent borne out by the portrait of Ben in +the Dulwich Gallery. {35} By others, however, it is believed to be +a fancy portrait of Shakespeare, based upon the Death-Mask. Now the +Bust was believed to have been sculptured after a death-mask. Is +the Becker Mask that from which Gerard Johnson worked? If so, there +must have been a fatal accident indeed to the nose; for the nose of +the mask is a long and finely arched one: the upper lip is shorter +than that of the bust, and the forehead is more receding. + +Of the many alleged portraits of Shakespeare there are but two whose +pedigree stretches back into the seventeenth century, and is lost in +obscurity there. The origin of the vast majority of the claimants +is only too well known, or shrewdly suspected: these are (1) +copies, more or less unfaithful, of older pictures; (2) idealised +portraits, based upon such older ones, or upon the Bust; (3) genuine +portraits of unknown persons, valued for some slight or imaginary +resemblance to the Bust, or to such older portraits, or for having +passed as Shakespeare's, and thus offering the means of selling dear +what had been bought cheap; (4) impostures. As I am not writing an +essay upon the portraits, I will merely mention in the order of +their importance the few claimants whose title merits the least +consideration. + +I.--The Droeshout engraving, prefixed to the first collective +edition of the Poet's works, published in 1623: i.e., the print in +its early state. + +II.--The so-called Janssen portrait (on wood) in the collection of +the Duke of Somerset. This has been traced back to 1761, when it +was purchased by Charles Jennens, Esq., of Gopsall. Its identity +with the portrait which was purchased for the Duke of Hamilton and +Brandon in 1809 is, at least, highly probable. In 1811 Woodburn +published the first engraving from it, and stated that the picture +had belonged to Prince Rupert, who left it to Mrs. E. S. Howes on +his death in 1682. No actual proof of this was given, nor did +Woodburn mention Jennens' ownership. + +III.--The Croker portrait. We have it on the authority of Boaden +that this portrait, which he said was the property of the Right Hon. +J. Wilson Croker, was a replica of the Janssen. There was a +mystery, not in the least cleared up, concerning these two pictures +and their history. I am unable to ascertain who at present owns the +later one. Collectors of the prints can always distinguish between +the two. The only engraving of the Croker portrait was by R. +Cooper; published January 1, 1824, by G. Smeeton, and is an oval in +a shaded rectangle. All the rest are either from the Janssen, or +from Dunkarton's engraving of it. {37} + +IV.--The Chandos portrait (on wood) in the National Portrait Gallery +at South Kensington. It has been traced back to 1668, when, on +Davenant's death, it passed to John Otway: but not in its present +or even late condition. + +V.--The Lumley portrait, well known through the admirable chromo- +lithograph, by Mr. Vincent Brooks (which is scarcely distinguishable +from the original), and once sold for forty guineas as the original +portrait. It has been traced back to 1785. + +VI.--The Ashbourne portrait. + +VII.--The Felton portrait (on wood), traced back to 1792. + +VIII.--The Challis portrait (on wood). + +IX.--The Hunt portrait: at the Birthplace. This is not in its +original state, and cannot be judged-of apart from a copy of it in +the possession of John Rabone, Esq., of Birmingham. + +Of these III, VI, and VIII have not been satisfactorily traced back +even into the last century. + +Beyond question, after the Bust and the Droeshout engraving, the +Janssen portrait has the greatest value. Unfortunately the Chandos, +even if its history be as stated, is of very little real value: for +it has been so often repaired or "restored," and is at present in +such a dilapidated condition, that it cannot be relied upon as a +portrait. Moreover it bears but little resemblance to the admirable +drawing from it in its former state, made by Ozias Humphreys in the +year 1783. This drawing is an exceedingly fine work of art, to +which even Scriven's print, good as it is, scarcely does justice. +To compare Humphreys' drawing, which hangs in the Birthplace, and is +its most valuable portrait, with Samuel Cousin's fine mezzotint of +the Chandos, engraved forty years ago, is to be convinced that the +existing picture no longer represents the man--whosoever he may have +been--from whom it was painted. How many questions, affecting the +Bust, the Death-Mask, and these portraits, would be set at rest by +the production of Shakespeare's skull! + +The late Mr. William Page, the American sculptor, whose interest in +testing the identity of the Kesselstadt Death-Mask, by comparing it +with Shakespeare's skull, was in 1874-5 incomparably greater than +that of any other interested person, comes VERY NEAR the expression +of a wish for the exhumation of the skull. {39} But he had not the +courage to express that wish, and after the passage which I am about +to quote, abruptly changes the subject. He says, "The man who wrote +the four lines [of epitaph] which have thus far secured his bones +that rest which his epitaph demands, omitted nothing likely to carry +the whole plan into effect. The authorship of the epitaph cannot be +doubted, unless another man in England had the wit and wisdom to +divine the loyal heart's core of its people, and touch it in the +single appeal 'for Jesus sake.' Nothing else has kept him out of +Westminster [Abbey]. The style of the command and curse are +Shakespearian, and triumphant as any art of forethought in his +plays." Then follows on--without even the break of a paragraph--not +what naturally should have followed, and MUST have been in Mr. +Page's mind, but a citation of Chantrey and John Bell, as to the +model from which the Bust was made. Possibly it is due to the +omission of a sentence, which once intervened between the remarks on +the remains and those which concern the Bust of Shakespeare, that we +have now two totally different matters in juxtaposition, and in the +same paragraph. In this Death-Mask Mr. Page saw the reconciliation +of the Bust, the Droeshout print (in its best state), and the +Chandos portrait. I do not meddle with that opinion, or the +evidences upon which it rests. But I have inspected all the four: +I have also seen Mr. Page's life-size bronze bust, and wish I had +never seen it, or even a photograph of it, for it destroyed for me a +pleasant dream. + +But whatever be the value of Mr. Page's conclusion, or of his Bust, +I have no doubt that the value of his book lies in those accurate +"Dimensions of Shakespeare's Mask," which he took during his six +days of free access to the Grand Ducal Museum. The measurements are +on pp. 51-55 of his book, and may eventually be of the greatest +possible use, if the time should ever arrive when Shakespeare's +skull will be subjected to similar measurement. For myself, I am +disposed to believe that no mistaken sense of duty on the part of +the Stratford authorities will long be able to prevent that +examination, if the skull be still in existence. + + + +A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE EXHUMATION QUESTION AS AFFECTING SHAKESPEARE'S +BONES. + + + +1.--Hawthorne, Nathaniel, in "Recollections of a Gifted Woman," in +Our Old Home (reprinted from the Atlantic Monthly, January, 1863), +records Miss Delia Bacon's project for exploring Shakespeare's +grave, and the failure of her attempt through the irresolution +occasioned by her fear of disappointment. + +2.--Norris, J. Parker, in the New York American Bibliopolist, of +April, 1876, vol. viii, p. 38, in the section entitled "Shakspearian +Gossip" [reprinted in the Philadelphia Press, August 4, 1876], +seriously proposes the exhumation of Shakespeare's remains, and +asks, "Is it not worth making an effort to secure 'the counterfeit +presentment' of him who wrote 'for all time'? If we could even get +a photograph of Shakspeare's skull it would be a great thing, and +would help us to make a better portrait of him than we now possess." +His courageous article is particularly useful for the adduction of +cases in which corpses have lain in the grave far longer than that +of Shakespeare, and been discovered in a state of comparative +perfection. What would one not give to look upon Shakespeare's dead +face! + +The letter of "a friend residing near Stratford," from which he +gives a long extract, was from one of my present colleagues in the +Shakespeare Trust, viz.: + +3.--Timmins, Sam., as quoted in the last recorded article, writes-- +"Some graves of the Shakspeare date were opened at Church Lawford a +few years ago, and the figures, faces, and dresses were perfect, +but, of course, in half an hour were mere heaps of dust. +Shakspeare's grave is near the Avon, but doubtless he was buried +well (in a leaden coffin probably), and there is scarcely room for a +doubt that, with proper precautions, photographs of his face might +be taken perfectly. Surely the end does justify the means here. It +is not to satisfy mere idle curiosity. It is not mere relic- +mongering; it is simply to secure for posterity what we could give-- +an exact representation of the great poet as he lived and died. +Surely this is justifiable, at least it is allowable, in the absence +of any authentic portrait. Surely such a duty might be most +reverently done. I doubt after all if it will be; but I am very +strongly in favour of the trial, and if no remains were found, no +harm would be done, the 'curse' to the contrary notwithstanding. +People who have pet projects about portraits would not like to have +all their neat and logical arguments knocked on the head, but where +SHOULD we ALL be if no Shakspeare at all were found, but only a +bundle of musty old MSS. in Lord Bacon's 'fine Roman hand'? After +all, I am rather nervous about the result of such an exhumation. +But, seriously, I see no reason why it should not be made. A legal +friend here long ago suggested (humorously, not professionally of +course) that the 'curse' might be escaped by employing a woman +('cursed be HE') and women would compete for the honor!" + +4.--Anonymous Article in The Birmingham Daily Mail, of August 23, +1876, headed "Shakspeare's Carte de Visite." This is strongly +adverse to Mr. Norris's proposals. The writer inclines to believe +that the "friend residing near Stratford" was "a fiction of the Mrs. +Harris type," or "possibly a modest way of evading the praise which +would be the meed of the brilliant genius who originated the +project": both very random guesses, and, as it turns out, wide of +the mark. The article ends thus: "If Moses had been raised in +Massachussetts he would have been wanted to take a camera or some +business-cards up Sinai." For our part, if we shall be so fortunate +as to find Shakespeare alive in his grave, we shall of course raise +him, and invite him to cooperate in the business of photographing +his own shining face. But we are not so sanguine as to expect that +miracle, though almost as great wonders have been done by the power +of this magician. But where is the "triple curse" with which, +according to this authority, "that gravestone is weighted"? Quite +another view of the inscription is given by Lord Ronald Gower, +infra. + +5.--Anonymous Article in the London Daily Telegraph, of August 24, +1876: also strongly adverse to Mr. Norris. + +6.--Schaafhausen, Hermann, in the Jahrbuch, or Annual, of the German +Shakespeare Society, vol. x, 1875, asks: "Should we be afraid to +rely on this evidence [agreement of Mask with known portraits, &c.], +there is an easy way of settling the question. We can dig up +Shakespeare's skull, and compare the two. True, this may seem to +offend against the letter of the epitaph + + + +'BLESTE BE EY MAN TY SPARES THES STONES, +AND CVRST BE HE TY MOVES MY BONES.' + + +But there is no desecration in entrusting the noble remains of the +poet to the enquiring eye of science; which will but learn something +new from them, and place beyond doubt the value of another precious +relic of him, and then restore them to the quiet of the grave."-- +(From the Tr. N. S. S., 1875-76. Appendix v.) + +7.--Anonymous Article, in the Birmingham Daily Post of September 29, +1877, headed "General Grant at Stratford-upon-Avon," in the course +of which Dr. Collis, the Vicar of the church there, is reported to +have made some indignant remarks upon Mr. Parker Norris's article. +"Having dilated upon the cool presumption of the author of the +letter [article], Dr. Collis continued, that persons proposing such +an experiment would have to walk over his prostrate body before they +did it; adding that the writer even forgot to say, 'if you please.'" +The American party, however, do not appear to have seen the matter +from Mr. Collis's point of view. + +8.--Anonymous Article, in the Birmingham Town Crier of November, +1877; a skit upon Mr. Collis's foolish speech. Beyond this censure, +however, nil de mortuo. It is to be regretted that the worthy +Vicar's remains were not buried in the church, so that persons +approaching the grave with a laudable purpose might meet the +reverend gentleman's views, and "walk over his prostrate body." + +9.--Shakespearian, A, in the Birmingham Daily Post of October 10, +1877, writes a sensible letter, taking Mr. Parker Norris's side of +the question. + +10.--Anonymous Article in the New York Nation, of May 21, 1878, in +which we read: "Is it sacrilegious to ask whether it is wholly +impossible to verify the supposition that the Stratford bust is from +a death-mask? Would not the present age permit a tender and +reverential scientific examination of the grave of Shakespeare?" + +11.--Anonymous Article in the Atlantic Monthly, of June, 1878, in +the section entitled "The Contributors' Club," where it is said-- +"Since the time seems to have come when a man's expression of his +wishes with regard to what is to be done after his death is +violently and persistently opposed by all who survive him, is it not +a good opportunity to suggest that perhaps respect has been paid for +a long enough time to the doggerel over Shakespeare's grave? + + +GOOD FRIEND FOR IESVS SAKE FORBEARE, +TO DIGG THE DVST ENCLOASED HEARE: +BLESTE BE EY MAN TY SPARES THES STONES, +AND CVRST BE HE TY MOVES MY BONES. {45} + + + +When we consider how little we know of the great poet, and the +possibility of finding something more by an examination of his tomb, +it seems as if, with proper care, an investigation might be made +that would possibly reward the trouble." The writer concludes thus- +-"Is it not advisable, then, to avoid waiting till it is too late? +That is to say, unless, as I may fear, it is too late already." + +12.--Warwickshire Man, A, in the Argosy, of Oct., 1879, in an +article entitled, "How Shakespeare's Skull was Stolen." The +vraisemblance of this narrative is amazing. But for the poverty of +the concluding portion, which is totally out of keeping with the +foregoing part, one might almost accept this as a narrative of fact. + +13.--Gower, Ronald, in the Antiquary, of August, 1880, vol. ii, p. +63, "The Shakespeare Death-Mask," concludes thus--"But how, may it +be asked, can proof ever be had that this mask is actually that of +Shakespeare? Indeed it can never be proved unless such an +impossibility should occur as that a jury of matrons should +undertake to view the opened grave at Stratford; they at any rate +would not need to fear the curse that is written above his grave-- +for it says, 'Cursed be HE (and not SHE), who stirs that sacred +dust.'" This is a 'new version' of the time-honoured line. I note +too that Lord Ronald reproduces the "legal friend's" joke in Mr. +Parker Norris's article. But I do not say he ever saw it. + +14.--Halliwell-Phillipps, J. O., in his Outlines of the Life of +Shakespeare, 1st edition, 1881, p. 86: 2nd edition, 1882, p. 172: +3rd edition, 1883, p. 233: writes thus-- + +"The nearest approach to an excavation into the grave of Shakespeare +was made in the summer of the year 1796, in digging a vault in the +immediate locality, when an opening appeared which was presumed to +indicate the commencement of the site of the bard's remains. The +most scrupulous care, however, was taken not to disturb the +neighbouring earth in the slightest degree, the clerk having been +placed there, until the brickwork of the adjoining vault was +completed, to prevent any one making an examination. No relics +whatever were visible through the small opening that thus presented +itself, and as the poet was buried in the ground, not in a vault, +the chancel earth, moreover, formerly absorbing a large degree of +moisture, the great probability is that dust alone remains. This +consideration may tend to discourage an irreverent opinion expressed +by some, that it is due to the interests of science to unfold to the +world the material abode which formerly held so great an intellect." +Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps has more faith in the alleged precaution +than I have. Surely a needy clerk, with an itching palm, would be +no match for a relic-hunter. May we not here read between the +lines, q. d., 'to allow any one to make free with the masonry and +explore the sacred dust?' + +15.--Anonymous Article in the Birmingham Daily Gazette, of December +17, 1880, headed "Excavations in the Church and Churchyard of +Stratford-upon-Avon." This repeats, on the authority of Washington +Irving's Sketch Book, the story recorded by Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps. +It is an alarmist article, censuring the Vicar's excavations, which +were made indeed with a laudable purpose, but without the consent, +or even the knowledge, of the Lay Impropriators of the Church. + +16.--Anonymous Article in the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, of May +26, 1883, headed "Shakspeare at Home," where it is said "Nor should +they [the antiquarians of England] rest until they have explored +Shakspeare's tomb. That this should be prevented by the doggerel +engraved upon it, is unworthy of a scientific age. I have heard it +suggested that if any documents were buried with Shakspeare, they +would, by this time, have been destroyed by the moisture of the +earth, but the grave is considerably above the level of the Avon, as +I observed to-day, and even any traces connected with the form of +the poet would be useful. His skull if still not turned to dust, +should be preserved in the Royal College of Surgeons, as the apex of +the climbing series of skeletons, from the microscopic to the +divine." + +17.--Ingleby, C. M., Shakespeare's Bones, June, 1883, being the +foregoing essay. + + + +Footnotes: + +{1a} The corrigenda has been applied to this eBook. For example, +in the book this phrase is "and its ancient tombs" but is corrected +in the corrigenda to "and our ancient tombs". DP. + +{1b} See The Times, July 14 and August 8, 1881. + +{2} Jordan's Meeting-house, near Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks. See +The Times, July 20, 1881. + +{19} The Life of Milton. London: 1699. P. 149. + +{20} Morning Chronicle, March 18, 1799. + +{21a} See Notes and Queries, 1st S., xi, 496, and xii, 75. + +{21b} See Notes and Queries, 1st S., xi, 496, and xii, 75. + +{22} An Account of what appeared on opening the Coffin of King +Charles the First in the vault of Henry VIII, in [the Tomb House,] +St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on the First of April, MDCCCXIII. + +{23} It appears that the examiners omitted to utilize this unctuous +mask for the purpose of taking a plaster cast: a default which, as +we shall see, has been paralleled by those who conducted other +examinations of the kind. + +{24} Works of Robert Burns: Bohn, 1842. + +{26} Prefatory Notice to Cunningham's larger edition of Ben +Jonson's Works, pp. xviii-xx. For other examples, see God's Acre, +by Mrs. Stone, 1858, chapter xiv, and Notes and Queries, 6th S., +vii, 161. + +{27a} 2nd S., viii, 354. + +{27b} Ibid, ix, 132. + +{29} The case of Dante has been recently alluded to, as if it were +one of exhumation. But despite the efforts of the Florentines to +recover the remains of their great poet, they still rest at Ravenna, +in the grave in which they were deposited immediately after his +death. + +{31} Traditionary Anecdotes of Shakespeare., 1883, p. 11. + +{32} Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare. 3rd edition, 1883, p. +223. + +{33} Life Portraits of Shakespeare. 1864, p. 10. + +{34} Shakespeare: The Man and The Book. Part I, p. 79. + +{35} As to this, see an article contributed by me to The Antiquary +for September, 1880: also the Shakespeare Jahrbuch, vol. x, 1875, +for Dr. Schaafhausen's views. + +{37} There is no engraving by "Dunbar": that name was Friswell's +mistake for Dunkarton. Boaden's "absolute fac-simile" and "no +difference whatever," (Inquiry, 1. p., page 137) are expressions not +borne out by the engravings. My old friend, the Rev. Charles Evans, +Rector of Solihull, who possesses the almost unrivalled Marsh +Collection of Engraved Portraits of Shakespeare, at my request +compared Cooper's engraving of the Croker portrait with those by +Dunkarton, Earlom, and Turner, of the Janssen: and he writes: "In +the Cooper the face is peaked, the beard more pointed, and the ruff +different in the points." After all, such differences may well be +the creation of the engravers. I would fain know where the Croker +portrait now is; and also that which belonged to the late Dr. +Turton, Bishop of Ely. + +{39} A Study of Shakespeare's Portraits. 1876, p. 23. + +{45} This is exactly as it stands upon the existing gravestone, not +as it is reproduced by the writer in the Atlantic Monthly: the like +as to the two lines of the epitaph in No. 6. The manuscript of +Dowdall, referred to on p. 31 ante, is unfortunately modernized in +Traditionary Anecdotes. He has, indeed 'friend,' and 'these,' as in +the pamphlet version, but also 'digg,' and 'inclosed.' Dowdall, +however, was a very inaccurate copyist. See fac-simile in Mr. J. O. +Halliwell's Folio Shakespeare, vol. i, inserted between pp. 78 and +79. The Dowdall manuscript does not give the epitaph in capitals, +except the initials. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SHAKESPEARE'S BONES *** + +This file should be named shbn10.txt or shbn10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, shbn11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, shbn10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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