Exhumations of Noted Persons.
By E. B. MITCHELL.
Curiosity and a Frenzied Spirit of Vengeance the Principal Causes for the Desecration of the Tombs of the Great—Dead Pope Placed on Trial—A Skeleton Crowned as Queen.
An original article written for The Scrap Book.
Good Frend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To digg the Dust enclosed Heare:
Blest be ye Man yt spares thes stones
And Curst be he yt moves my bones.
Epitaph on Shakespeare’s Tomb.
Possibly, on account of this epitaph which Shakespeare had inscribed above his grave in the church of Stratford-on-Avon and which it would need a bold man to disregard now, the ashes of the great dramatist have been more fortunate than those of many distinguished men. Despite our inherent horror of disturbing the dead and our respect for the grave as consecrated ground, changed conditions, and, in some cases, mere curiosity, have made the list of celebrities whose bones have been moved a long one.
History shows that in securing immunity for one’s grave, neither the lapse of centuries nor past greatness is of any avail. It is on record that in the chaos of the end of the ninth century a pope had the body of his predecessor dug from the tomb, dressed it in its pontifical vestments, and had it tried and condemned by a synod. The hideous mockery terminated only when the mutilated body was thrown into the Tiber.