Shortly after death, the body having been laid out, according to Catholic custom, with lights round the bed and flowers upon it, a sudden change was observed to have come over the face of the deceased, which assumed a totally different expression. All signs of sickness or pain seemed to vanish, and in one minute he had become like what he used to be in very early years. Readers who may perhaps have witnessed a change of the kind, which is not unfrequent, will understand the striking remark made by a friend on this occasion: 'It is sometimes given to the dead to reveal their blessedness to the living.'
The following particulars of the Requiem Mass for Mr. Hope-Scott, and of the funeral, are taken, with alterations and omissions, from newspapers of the day (the 'Tablet' of May 10; 'Scotsman,' May 6 and 8; and 'Edinburgh Courant,' May 8, 1873).
The Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of the late Mr. Hope-Scott, Q.C., took place at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, on Monday, May 5, at eleven o'clock. The coffin was removed, on the previous evening, from Hyde Park Place, and laid on a splendid catafalque in the church. The mass was celebrated by the Very Rev. Fr. Whitty, Provincial of the Jesuits, coram Archiepiscopo; and the sermon was preached by the Very Rev. Father (now his Eminence Cardinal) Newman (by whose kind permission it is placed in the Appendix to this volume). Cherubini's Second Requiem in D minor, for male voices only, was used. Weak with old age and sorrow, Father Newman had almost to be led to the pulpit, but the simple vigour of language and the lucidity of style so peculiarly his own remained what they had ever been. When, towards the conclusion of his discourse, he came to speak of the last hours of the deceased, Father Newman almost broke down, and for a moment it seemed that his feelings would prevent him from finishing. The solemnity of the occasion—the church draped in black, the old man come so far purposely to pay the last offices to his friend—produced such an impression on those who witnessed it as they are not likely to forget.
Among the clergy and laity present were—Mgr. Weld, the Hon. and Rev. Dr.
Talbot, Revs. E. G. Macmullen, C. B. Garside, Father Fitzsimon, S. J.,
Father Clare, and the Fathers, S. J., of Mount Street; Father Coleridge, S.
J., Father Amherst, S. J., Father Christie, S. J., Father Dalgairns, of the
Oratory, the Duke of Norfolk, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, the
Marquis and Marchioness of Lothian, Cecil, Marchioness Dowager of Lothian,
the Marchioness of Bute, Lord and Lady Howard of Glossop, Lord Henry Kerr,
Mr. Hope of Luffness, Mr. Edward S. Hope, Mr. Herbert Hope, Field-marshal
Sir William Gomm and Lady Gomm, Lord Edmund Howard, the Earl of Denbigh,
Lady Herbert of Lea, Lady Georgiana Fullerton, Mr. Allies, Mr. Langdale,
&c.
The Dowager Duchess of Norfolk and the Ladies Howard, Mr. Hope-Scott's daughters, the Hon. Mrs. George W. Hope and Misses Hope, and Lady Henry Kerr, occupied a separate tribune.
On Wednesday, May 7, the remains of Mr. Hope-Scott, Q.C., were interred in the vaults of St. Margaret's Convent, Bruntsfield, Edinburgh. The coffin had been conveyed from London on Tuesday, and was placed on a catafalque within the choir of the chapel, where several sisters of the community (Ursulines of Jesus) watched until the morning. The catafalque was draped in black, surrounded by massive silver candlesticks hung with crape, and lit up with numerous wax candles. The altar, sanctuary, organ, and choir gallery were hung with black cloth. The east aisle of the chapel was occupied by the relatives and friends of the deceased; the west aisle by the young ladies of the convent school, about fifty in number, dressed in white, and with white veils, and the household servants from Abbotsford; whilst at the south were persons who had received special invitations. In the stalls of the choir were the clergy, and the sisters of the convent in their accustomed places.
The ceremonies commenced at eleven o'clock, when a procession, consisting of the cross-bearer and acolytes, the clergy in attendance, and the Right Rev. Dr. Strain, Bishop of Abila, V.A. of the Eastern District of Scotland, entered the chapel at the great south door, and marched slowly up the centre of the choir to the sanctuary, the organ sounding whilst the bell was heard tolling in the distance. The Bishop was attended by the Rev. George Rigg, St. Mary's, and the Rev. Mr. Clapperton. The Rev. W. Turner acted as master of the ceremonies; the Rev. Father Foxwell, S. J., said the Mass, which, by the express desire of the deceased, was a Low Mass, although accompanied by music (Father Foxwell, stationed at Galashiels, frequently said Mass at Abbotsford). During the Mass, among other exquisite music sung by the choir, was the Dies Irae. The Rev. W. J. Amherst, S. J., Norwich, a great personal friend of Mr. Hope-Scott's, preached the sermon (which, by his kind permission, is placed in the Appendix to this volume).
Bishop Strain then read the Burial Service in front of the bier, and concluded by giving the absolution. The procession was then formed, and during the singing of the Dies Irae emerged from the church, and walked to the vault, in the following order:—cross-bearer and acolytes, the young ladies of the convent school, the religieuses of the community of St. Margaret's, the clergy and Bishop, then the coffin, borne shoulder-high, and attended by the pall-bearers, the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Henry Kerr, Mr. H. W. Hope of Luffness, and Dr. Lockhart of Milton Lockhart. The ladies who followed the coffin were Miss Hope-Scott, the Hon. Mrs. G. W. Hope, Lady Henry Kerr, and Mrs. Francis Kerr. Then followed the relatives and friends, servants, and tenant-farmers of Abbotsford.
The procession marched slowly from the quadrangle in front of the chapel northwards to the entrance to the vaults, the sisters of the community chanting the psalm Miserere. It opened up at the mortuary door, and the coffin was borne into the vault, and placed in the recess assigned to it beside the coffin of his first wife, and under those of his two children. A short service here took place, the Benedictus was sung, and the funeral service terminated.
The outer coffin, which was of richly polished oak, bound with brass ornaments, had a beautiful crucifix on the lid, and beneath, a shield, bearing the following inscription:—