Part 11

It is supposed, that the perpetuity of these lamps, was owing to the consummate tenacity of the unctuous matter with which the flame was united, being so proportioned to the strength of the fire, that, like the radical moisture and natural heat in animals, neither of them could conquer or destroy the other. Licetus, who is of this opinion, observes, that in order to preserve this equality of proportion, the ancients hid these lamps in caverns, or close monuments: and hence it has happened, that on opening these tombs, the admission of fresh air to the lamps has produced so great an inequality between the flame and the oil, that they have been presently extinguished.

Mr. Addison in his Spectator, relates the following story of the lamp of Rosicrucius.

“A certain person having occasion to dig somewhat deep in the ground, where the philosopher Rosicrucius lay interred, met with a small door, having a wall on each side of it. His curiosity, and the hopes of finding some hidden treasure, soon prompted him to force open the door. He was immediately surprised by a sudden blaze of light, and discovered a very fair vault: at the upper end of it was a statue of a man in armour, sitting by a table, and leaning on his left arm. He held a truncheon in his right hand, and had a lamp burning before him. The man had no sooner set one foot within the vault, than the statue erected itself from its leaning posture, stood bolt upright, and upon the fellow’s advancing another step, lifted up the truncheon in his right hand. The man still ventured a third step, when the statue with a furious blow broke the lamp into a thousand pieces, and left his guest in a sudden darkness.”

Upon the report of this adventure, the country people soon came with lights to the sepulchre, and discovered that the statue, which was made of Brass, was nothing more than a piece of clock work; that the floor of the vault was all loose, and underlaid with several springs, which, upon any man’s entering, naturally produced that which had happened.

Rosicrucius, say his disciples, made use of this method, to shew the world that he had reinvented the ever-burning lamps of the Ancients, tho’ he was resolved no one should reap any advantage from the discovery.

Note.--Mr. Addison seems to have borrowed this story from the one related by Dr. Parsons. Vide p. 121.

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In the tenth year of Henry II. at the digging of a new foundation in the church of St. Mary-Hill, in London, there was found and taken up the body of Alice Hackney, she had been buried in that church a hundred and seventy-five years before, yet was she there found whole of skin, and the joints of her arms pliable; her corpse was kept above ground four days without any inconvenience, exposed to the view of as many as would behold it, and then re-committed to the earth.

Baker’s Chronicle.

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In the reign of King James, at Astley in Warwickshire, upon the fall of the church, there was taken up the corpse of Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset, who was there buried the 10th of October, 1530, in the twenty second year of King Henry VIII, and although it had been lain seventy eight years, in this bed of corruption, yet his eyes, hair, flesh, nails, and joints, remained as if he had been but newly buried.

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In the year 1554, there was found in Rome a coffin of marble, eight feet long, and in it a robe, embroidered with Goldsmith’s work, which yielded six and thirty pounds weight of gold; besides forty rings, a cluster of emeralds, a little mouse, made of another precious stone, and amongst all these precious magnificences, two leg bones of a dead corpse, known by the inscription of the tomb to be the bones of the Empress Mary, daughter of Stilicoe, and wife of the Emperor Honorius.

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Robert Braybrook, born at a village in Northamptonshire, was consecrated Bishop of London, January, 5th, 1381. He was after that Chancellor of England for six months. He died, anno. 1404, and was buried under a marble stone, in the chapel of St. Mary, in the Cathedral of St. Paul’s, London. Yet was the body of this Bishop lately taken up, and found firm, as to skin, hair, joints, nails, &c. For upon that fierce and fatal fire in London, September, 2nd, 1666, which burnt so much of St. Paul’s church, when part of the floor fell into St. Faith’s, this dead person was shaken out of his dormitory, where he had lain no less than two hundred and sixty two years. His body was exposed to the view of all sorts of people for divers days; and some thousands did behold and poise it in their arms, till by special order it was re-interred.

Fuller’s Worthies.

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In the Reign of King Henry II. anno. 1089, the bones of King Arthur, and his wife Guenevor were found in the vale of Avalon, under an hollow oak, fifteen feet under ground, the hair of the said Guenevor being then whole and fresh, of a yellow colour; but as soon as it was touched, it fell to powder, as Fabian relateth: this was more than six hundred years after his death. His shin bone, set by the leg of a tall man, reached above his knee the breadth of three fingers.

Baker’s Chronicle.

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The body of Albertus Magnus was taken out of his sepulchre, to be re-interred in the midst of the chancel in a new tomb for that purpose, it was two hundred years from the time wherein he had been first buried; yet was he found entire without any kind of deformation, unless it was this (says a celebrated historian) that his jaw seemed to be somewhat fallen.

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Mr. Brydone in his travels, speaking of a Sicilian Convent, says, the famous convent of Capuchins, about a mile without the city of Palermo, contains nothing very remarkable but the burial place, which is indeed a great curiosity. This is a vast subterraneous apartment, divided into large commodious galleries, the walls on each side of which are hollowed out into a variety of niches, as if intended for a great collection of statues. These niches, instead of statues, are filled with dead bodies set upright upon their legs, and fixed by the back to the inside of the niche. Their number is about three hundred. They are all dressed in the clothes they usually wore, and form a most respectful and venerable assembly. The skin and muscles, by a certain preparation, become as dry and hard as a piece of stock fish: and although many of them have been here upwards of two hundred and fifty years, yet none are reduced to skeletons. The muscles indeed, in some, appear to be a good deal more shrunk in some than in others; probably because these persons had been more extenuated at the time of their death. Here the people of Palermo pay daily visits to their deceased friends, and recall with pleasure and regret, the scenes of their past life. Here they familiarize themselves with their future state, and choose the company they would wish to keep in the other world. It is a common thing to make choice of their niche, and to try if the body fits it, that no alterations may be necessary after they are dead; and sometimes by way of a voluntary penance, they accustom themselves to stand for hours in these niches. The bodies of the princes and first nobility, are lodged in handsome chests, or trunks; some of them richly adorned. These are not in the shape of coffins, but all of one width, and about a foot and a half or two feet deep. The keys are kept by the nearest relations of the family, who sometimes come and drop a tear over their departed friends. Some of the Capuchins sleep in these galleries every night, and pretend to have many wonderful visions and revelations; but the truth is, that very few people believe them.

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In the philosophical transactions, we find the following account of a body found in a vault, in the church of Staverton, in Devonshire, by Mr. Tripe, Surgeon at Ashburton, in a letter to Doctor Huxham, dated June, 28th, 1750. There having been a great diversity of reports, says the writer, relating to a body lately discovered in a vault in Staverton church, I have taken the liberty of communicating to you the following particulars. As it does not appear by the register of the burials, that any person has been deposited in this vault since October, 5th, 1669, it is certain that the body has lain there upwards of four score years; yet, when the vault was opened, about four months ago, it was found as perfect in all its parts, as if but just interred. The whole body was plump and full, the skin white, soft, smooth, and elastic; the hair strong, and the limbs nearly as flexible as when living.

A winding sheet, which was as firm as if just applied, enclosed it from head to foot, and two coarse cloths dipped in a blackish substance, like pitch, infolding the winding sheet. The body, thus protected, was placed in an oaken coffin, on which, as it was always covered with water, was found a large stone, and a log of wood, probably to keep it at the bottom.

Various have been the conjectures as to the cause of its preservation; and it has been reported, though probably without foundation, that the person was a Roman Catholic; there have been some of that religion, who not having philosophy enough to account for it from natural causes, have attributed it to a supernatural one, and canonized him: and, in consequence of this, have taken away several pieces of the winding sheet and pitch clothes, preserving them as relics with the greatest veneration.

In my opinion, says Mr. Tripe, the pitch clothes and water overthrow the miracle, and bring it within the power of natural agents; from the former by defending the body from the external air; and the latter by preserving the tenacity of the pitch.