Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

every description, which were constantly showered upon them; many were severely wounded, and, after bearing with exemplary patience and fortitude these repeated assaults, (the riotact having been read,) the order was given to fire. The first discharge of carbines was over the heads of the people; but this not having the desired effect, it was found necessary to fire amongst the crowd; when one man was killed, and another mortally wounded. Barricades had been thrown across the road in such a manner as to render the transit of the procession, by its destined route, impossible. The authorities conducting it, therefore, abandoned their original intention, and made a detour into the Strand, whence they proceeded through the city and Whitechapel to Rumford, and finally to Harwich, where they arrived at half past eleven o'clock on the Thursday.

The Glasgow frigate, commanded by Captain Doyle, was appointed to receive and convey the last remains of her Majesty to Brunswick. It was an extraordinary coincidence, that Captain Doyle was the very midshipman who had handed the rope to her Majesty on her ascending the man of war that brought her to England.*

On the evening of the 24th her Majesty's remains reached Brunswick, and (as it had been previously arranged) were imdiately carried to the place of interment. The horses were then removed from the hearse, and the coffin was deposited in a magnificent open car, while about a hundred Brunswickers, well dressed, and having all the appearance of the respectable classes of society, placed themselves in front in the most regular and tranquil order.

The whole way from the outer to the inner barrier, a space

* The following was the arrangement for the different frigates which were to carry her late Majesty's household to Cuxhaven: - Glasgow frigate, 50 guns, Captain Doyle, having on board the royal corpse, Lord and Lady Hood, Lady Hamilton, Mr. Austin, Dr. and Mrs. Lushington, Mr. and Mrs. Wilde. - Wye, 28 guns, Captain Fisher, his wife and family. — Tyne, 28 ditto, Captain White, Chevalier Vassali, Captain Hesse, and Mr. Wilson. Garnet, 18 guns, Rev. Mr. Wood on board. - Rosario, 10 guns, Captain Simpson, Lieut. Hownam. ALderman Wood sailed in one of the regular packets for Cuxhaven.

of little less than a mile in length, and about the breadth of Blackfriar's-road, was lined with a dense mass of people, not merely from Brunswick, but from the neighbouring towns and villages: some families had followed the funeral cortége from Celle, and others even from Hamburgh. The front lines of this immense assemblage carried torches; and from the double rows of willows on each side of the road, were suspended lamps of various colours, green, red, and yellow. In the distance were seen the illuminated houses of Brunswick, adding by the fantastic variety of their architecture to the picturesque beauty of the scene, and by their undecayed antiquity, reminding man of the nothingness of his existence, in comparison even with the durability of the commonest works of his own hands. The procession moved slowly towards the town, and as the clock struck twelve reached the inner barrier. Here the mourners descended from the carriages, and the whole cortége proceeded on foot, with the exception of Sir George Nayler, who kept his state in the first carriage.

From the entrance of the town to the cathedral church the distance is about a mile, and the slow pace at which the procession moved, together with the various streets through which it passed, gave the whole population an opportunity of witnessing the grand spectacle without much inconvenience, and with scarcely any danger. To the people, however, was due the praise of the good order that prevailed. The only arrangement made by the authorities so great and so just was their confidence in the good disposition of the people — was an escort of about twenty constables. The Brunswick cavalry, that, to the amount of about 200, accompanied the procession, marched slowly by the sides, as state attendants, but took no part in directing the movements of the immense multitude about them, and guided their well-managed chargers through a countless crowd, in narrow streets, without alarming, much less hurting, a single individual. Outside the barriers, where the space was very extensive, women as well as men were seen in all parts of the assemblage; but in the streets of

Brunswick not a woman was to be seen. The men alone were in the streets, the women were at the windows of the houses; and there was not a house in any street through which the procession passed which had not every window crowded with spectators of the female sex, all dressed in black, and all expressing, by their anxious attention, the deep interest which they took in the solemn ceremony passing before them. In this manner the procession moved on to the church, the glare of a thousand torches making every part of it visible to the multitude.

At the church door the minister and municipality received the body: the coffin was lifted from the car, and carried by sixteen serjeants of the Brunswick cavalry, while sixteen majors bore the pall. The appearance of the church was solemn and imposing. Though a building of no striking beauty when seen by day-light, its lofty columns and long aisles hung with black, had by night an appearance of melancholy grandeur. Owing to orders, no service, not even a funeral chant, was to be performed. As the Queen had died abroad, it was to be considered that these rites had been already performed, and that the ceremony at Brunswick was merely depositing the body of the deceased in the family fault; a ceremony which was always performed without funeral service, as in the case of the Duke of Brunswick, the father of the late Queen.

As the corpse passed along the aisle into the place of sepul ture, a hundred young ladies of the first families in Brunswick, dressed in white, stood on each side, and scattered flowers before it. In a few seconds the coffin and the mourners had all arrived in the family vault of the illustrious house of Brunswick. The entire space is very large, and already contains fifty-seven coffins of different branches of that ancient family. A portion, about seven yards square, was separated from the rest by hangings of black cloth, and was illuminated with wax lights. In the middle of this section stood a platform, raised about two feet from the ground: on one side stood the coffin of the gallant father of the Queen, at the foot was the coffin

of her gallant brother; both heroes slain in battle when fighting against the tyranny of Buonaparte; and here, in this appropriate spot, was deposited the remains of Caroline of Brunswick.

When the mourners were all arranged in the vault, the minister of the cathedral church stood at the head of the coffin, and uttered a prayer in the German language. The funeral was over about two o'clock.

288

No. III.

SIR HOME RIGGS POPHAM,

A REAR-ADMIRAL OF THE RED; GROOM OF THE BEDCHAMBER TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, K.C.B. K. M. F.R.S.

FEW individuals, of the present age, have ever experienced greater or more sudden vicissitudes of fortune than Sir Home Popham: at one time we find him oppressed with poverty, at another, rolling in wealth; at one time under the ban and interdict of the admiralty; at another, and that too, at no great distance, employed by the Lords' Commissioners, on the most important, and delicate services.

Home Popham was born at Gibraltar, during his father's Consulship at Tetuan, in Morocco, on the 12th of October, 1762. His family originally came from Bandon, near Cork.

Mr. Popham's father was, we believe, several times married. His mother, who unfortunately died in childbirth with him, had a very numerous progeny, of whom he was the one-andtwentieth child! His father is said to have had no less than forty-four children by his several wives.

To his second brother, the late Mr. Stephen Popham, of Madras, a man of great talent in the law, was the subject of this memoir indebted for his education. When very young, he was sent to Westminster school; and, at the early age of thirteen, on account of the extraordinary progress which he had made in his studies, (a progress far beyond his years,) he was readily admitted into the University of Cambridge.

Mr. Popham had made one or two short trips to sea, but did not finally embrace the naval service until after he had been twelve months at Cambridge. He commenced his career,

« ПредишнаНапред »