Bristol News

Disinterment of King Charles the First—Strange and Truthful Sketch.

In some remarkable instances, where the location of the burial places of celebrated personages has been in dispute, the work of identification has been accomplished by the discovery of what were plainly perceived to be the remains of the individual in question. In other instances the body has been completely identified by the close resemblance of the face of the corpse to existing pictures, busts, or coins. The identification of the remains of Henry IV., in Canterbury Cathedral, after the lapse of nearly four centuries and a half, is an example of the first-class of cases.

The remains of Charles I. were completely identified by the striking resemblance of the countenance, notwithstanding its disfigurement, to its portrait, and by the fact that the neck was found smoothly divided across. We have the following particulars of the excellent condition, after 165 years, of a body suddenly deprived of life, embalmed, and interred in lead:

On removing part of the lead coffin an inner coffin of wood, much decayed, was exposed, and within this the body, wrapped in cere-cloth, into the folds of which an unctuous matter mixed with resin had been poured to exclude the air. The coffin was quite full, and on removing the covering from the face the skin was found dark and discolored, the forehead and temples well preserved, the cartilage of the nose gone, the characteristic pointed beard perfect, the left ear entire, and the left eye open and full, though it vanished on exposure. The head was found loose, and was easily taken out and held to view. It was heavy wet with a liquid which gave to writing paper and linen, a greenish red tinge, the textures of the neck were solid, and the back part of the scalp was perfect and of a remarkably fresh appearance. The hair of the head was a beautiful dark brown, that of the beard of a redder tint. The divided muscles of the neck had retracted considerably, and the smooth surface of the divided vertebra was visible.

In the same vault in which Charles I. was interred, Henry VIII. was deposited. The leaden coffin, which had been enclosed in a thick elm case appeared to have been beaten in, so as to leave an opening large enough to expose a mere skeleton of the King, with some beard upon the chin. The body of the King had then been interred 266 years. To the preservation of bones it is impossible to set any limit of time. The bones of King Dagobert, disinterred from the church of St. Denis after 1,200 years others from Pompeii after 1,800 years and others—as parts of Egyptian mummies—full 2000 years old attest their permanence.—Philadelphia To-Day.