Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/98

92 NOTES AND QUERIES. [IS s. i. JAN. s* me.

I coffin was actually opened. Among those present were Capt. Alexander, R.E., M. de Rohan Chabot, the Abbé Coquereau, Dr. Remi Guillard, Col. Hodson, and Darling, the undertaker of St. Helena. The official report afterwards issued was written by Dr. Guillard, and contains the following minute description of Napoleon's appearance at the opening of the coffin after nineteen years' interment:—

"The soldering was slowly cut, and the lid cautiously raised; I then perceived a white covering which concealed the interior of the coffin, and hid the body from view; it was of wadded satin, with which the coffin was also lined. I raised the covering by one end, and rolling it from the feet to the head, there was presented to view the body of Nopoleon, which I immediately recognized, so well was the corpse preserved, and so much truth of expression did the head possess.

"Something white, which seemed to have detached itself from the satin, like a light gauze, covered all the coffin contained. The head and forehead, which adhered strongly to the satin, were very much covered with it; but little was to be seen of the lower part of the face, the hands or toes. The body of the Emperor lay in an easy position, the same in which it had been placed in the coffin ; the upper limbs laid at their length the left hand and lower part of the arm resting on the left thigh the lower limbs slightly bent. The head, a little raised, reposed on the cushion ; the capacious skull, the lofty and broad forehead, were covered with yellowish integuments, hard and strongly adhering. The same was the case round the eyes, above which the eyebrows still remained. Beneath the eyelids were to be seen the eyeballs, which had lost but little of their fullness and form. The eyelids, completely closed, adhered to the cheek, and were hard when pressed with the finger ; a few eyelashes still remained on the ledges. The bones of the nose, and the integuments which covered them, were well preserved ; the tube and the nostrils alone had suffered. The cheeks were swollen ; the integuments of this part of the face Were remark- able for their soft and flexible feeling and their white colour; those of the chin were slightly bluish ; they had acquired this tint from the beard, which appeared to have grown after death. The chin itself had suffered no change, and still preserved the type peculiar to the face of Napoleon. The lips, which had become thinner, were parted ; three incisor teeth of extreme whiteness appeared under the upper lip, which Was a little raised at the left side. The hands left nothing to desire, they were not altered in the slightest degree ; though the muscles had lost their power of motion, the skin seemed to have preserved that peculiar colour which belongs only to life ; the nails were long, adherent, and very white. The legs were enclosed in boots, but the sewing of the feet had burst, and the four smaller toes of each foot were visible. The skin of these toes was of a dull white ; the nails were preserved. The anterior region of the thorax was much fallen in the middle, the sides of the stomach sunken and hard. The limbs appeared to have preserved their form beneath the clothes that covered them ; I pressed the left arm, and found it hard and diminished in size. The clothes themselves had preserved their

colour ; thus the uniform of the chasseurs d cheval was perfectly to be recognized by the dark green of the coat and the bright red of the facings,, the grand cord of the Legion of Honour crossing the waistcoat, and the white pantaloons partly concealed by the small hat which rested on the thighs. The epaulettes, the gold work, and the two orders on the breast had lost their bril- liancy, and were blackened, with the exception of the crown surmounting the cross of an officer of the Legion of Honour, w*hich preserved its colour. Some of the silver vases lay between the legs ; one, surmounted by an eagle, between the knees; I found it uninjured and closed. As these vases adhered rather strongly to the adjoin- ing parts of the body, by which they were par- tially covered, the King's commissary thought it better not to displace them for nearer examina- tion."

The above report is printed in Norwood Young's ' Napoleon in Exile at St. Helena,' vol. ii., 1915, pp. 306-8. In the same work there is a reproduction of a very striking drawing by Jules Rigo of ' The Body of Napoleon as it appeared on Exhumation, Oct. 15, 1840.' In the wonderful collection of Napoleonic material made by Mr. A. M. Broadley, which is at present at The Knapp, Bradpole, Dorset, there are two illustrations in a " Grangerized " copy of Lord Rose- bery's ' Last Phase ' : (1) ' The Opening of the Coffin at St. Helena ' ; (2) ' The Exhuma- tion of the Body.' There are numerous illustrations of the second funeral in the same collection. Thackeray's famous nar- rative must not be forgotten, although it contains nothing not accessible through other means. Janisch, who went out to St. Helena with Sir Hudson Lowe, and acted as clerk, wrote an account of the exhumation, which was published at St. Helena in 1840.

COL. FYNMORE says that he has seen in a catalogue of second-hand books ' An Account of the Body of King Edward I. as it appeared on Opening the Tomb,' &c. This was written for the Society of Anti- quaries by Sir Joseph Ayloffe, and read by him to them on May 12, 1774. The actual opening of the tomb took place on May 2. ten days earlier. A few copies of this valuable narrative were printed separately, ' but the whole of it may be found in Archceo- logia, vol. iii. pp. 376-431.

As is well known, very special means were adopted to preserve the body of Edward I. when he died, and the curiosity of antiquaries, and specially of Daines Barrington, was roused in the eighteenth century to see whether the wax and other preservatives had availed to do what was expected. Ayloffe's story is very long, but most interesting. I will quote only that