Page:The Queens of England.djvu/580

 526 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. in which they proceeded up the Elbe to Stade, where the firing of guns and tolling of bells announced their arrival. At every place the funeral was received with respect and sympathy. At Zell the authorities went out to meet it, the bells tolled, soldiers lined the streets, and young girls strewed flowers before the hearse. Singularly enough, the coffin when carried into the great church of that city was placed on the tomb of her almost equally unfortunate aunt, Matilda, Queen of Denmark, sister of George the Third. The coffin of Caroline was finally de- posited at Brunswick, in the vault of her ancestors, at mid- night. As it passed along the aisle one hundred young ladies of noble birth, dressed in white, stood on each side, and scat- tered flowers on it. The ducal family vault was, on the melan- choly occasion, hung with black, and illuminated with wax lights. The platform was raised two feet from the ground, and at its side was the coffin of the celebrated Duke of Brunswick, while that of her gallant brother, killed at Quatre Bras, rested at its foot. No funeral service was performed, but a solemn and affecting prayer was offered up for her eternal welfare by the Rev. Mr. Wolf. The words, "May her released soul enjoy the peaceful and blissful tranquillity which this world cannot grant ; and may thy grace, thou all just and most righte- ous Lord, recompense her in that state of perfection, for what was deficient here on earth," must have had a painful effect on the hearts of all' present, who fe4t and mourned her wretched fate. The names of Alderman Wood, of Lady Anne Hamilton, Dr. Parr, the Rev. Robert Fellowes, and others, who by their atten- tions and loyalty softened the bitterness of woe, and whose fidelity survived the tomb of their beloved queen and mistress, is written on a page of England's history, never to be erased; while the sufferings and sorrows of Caroline of Brunswick remain deeply imprinted on the hearts of the feeling and sympathizing English public.