Students of De Quincey will remember his tale of the "clock-case mummy." This was none other than the embalmed corpse of a Miss Beswick, which for many years posed as an exhibit in the Manchester Natural History Museum. When in the flesh, during the middle of the last century, this lady had been attended medically by a Dr. White, to whose skill she had owed much alleviation of her sufferings from chronic neuralgia. Accordingly, she left him a bequest of £25,000, but with the condition annexed to it that she should be embalmed, and that once a year Mr. White, accompanied by two witnesses of credit, should withdraw the veil from her face. To render this easy, Mr. White placed his benefactor in an ordinary grandfather's clock case, with the usual glass face. The doctor died in the year 1813, and the greater part of his museum was divided among the Manchester hospitals and museums, the mummy finding its way to the old Natural History Museum. When, however, the contents of this museum were transferred to Owens College, the authorities had the mummy buried.
EXTERIOR OF THE TRIPLE GRAVE IN THE DULWICH COLLEGE PICTURE GALLERY.
In 1783, the remains of Margaret, widow of Richard Coosins, of Parrock, Gravesend, were deposited in Cuxton church, near Rochester. Under a pyramidal mural monument is a vault with a glass door, covered with a green silk curtain, with a lock having a key standing inside. Here, resting upon tressels, is a mahogany coffin with gilt furniture, the lid of which is not screwed down. This coffin contains the body of the above lady, attired, so it is said, in a costly dress of scarlet satin, according to her wish.
In 1766, Richard Hull, a native of Bristol, bencher of the Inner Temple, and an ex-member of the Irish Parliament, resided at Leith Hill Place, Dorking. In that year, having obtained permission of the lord of the manor, Sir John Evelyn, of Wotton, he erected a tower on the summit of Leith Hill, both for the benefit of the public and to form his own cenotaph. Dying on January 18, 1772, his body was deposited within the east wall of the building, where a tablet of Portland stone marks the spot.
The subsequent history of this tower is rather curious. For many years it remained open to the public, but as this privilege was abused and the tower became a harbour for smugglers, gypsies, and other lawless characters, a subscription was raised in 1795 among the gentry in the locality to make it uninhabitable. The whole of the interior was then filled up with stones and cement, and remained in this state until a dozen years ago, when the present holder of the property announced his intention of reopening it to the public.
So solid was the cement, however, that it was found impossible to reopen the old entrance and interior staircase. Accordingly, a staircase tower was built by the side in order to make it available for the original purpose. A splendid view is to be obtained from its commanding situation—on a clear day the sea is even visible—but few of the holiday folk frequenting it are acquainted with its real history.
THIS SUMMER HOUSE IN RUINS HAS BEEN USED FOR NEARLY A HUNDRED YEARS AS A MAUSOLEUM.
Another well-known case of eccentric burial is that of the Rev. Langton Freeman, of Whilton, Northamptonshire. This gentleman, by his will, dated September 16, 1783, left the following singular directions for his interment. Five days after death his body was to be wrapped in a strong, double winding-sheet, and to be conveyed to a summer-house in his garden, where it was to be laid in the bed he had slept in during life. This being carried out, the doors and windows of the fragile mausoleum were to be locked up and bolted, and the building planted around with evergreen plants, and fenced off with oak pales, painted a dark blue colour.