Fig. 60.—Funeral of Earl Palmerston, in Westminster Abbey, Oct. 27, 1865.
Private mourning in modern times, like everything else, has been greatly altered and modified, to suit an age of rapid transit and travel. Men no longer make a point of wearing full black for a fixed number of months after the decease of a near relation, and even content themselves with a black hat-band and dark-coloured garments. Funeral ceremonies, too, are less elaborate, although during the past few years a growing tendency to send flowers to the grave has increased in every class of the community. The ceremonial which attends our State funerals is so well known that it were needless to describe them. We, however, give, as "records," illustrations of the funerals of Lord Palmerston, Lord Beaconsfield, Mr. Darwin, and of the much-regretted Emperor Frederick of Germany, a function which was extremely imposing, as the etiquette of the German Court still retains many curious relics of bygone times.
Fig. 61.—Funeral of the Right Honourable the Earl of Beaconsfield, in Hughenden Church, April 26, 1881.
ENERAL Court mourning in this country is regulated by the Duke of Norfolk, as Earl Marshal, but exclusively Court mourning for the Royal Family by the Lord Chamberlain.