346

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP.

XX.

]G'9I.

all traffic impossible. The two Houses with their maces followed-the hearse, the Lords robed in scarlet and ermine, the Com-mons in long black mantles. No preceding Sovereign had everbeen attended to the grave by a Parliament: for, till then, theParliament had always expired with the Sovereign. A paper hadindeed been circulated, in which the logic of a small sharp petti-fogger was employed to prove that writs, issued in the jointnames of William and Mary, ceased to be of force as soon asWilliam reigned alone. But this paltry cavil had completelyfailed. It had not even been mentioned in the Lower House,and had been mentioned in the Upper onlyto be contemptuouslyoverruled. The whole Magistracy of the City swelled the pro-cession. The banners of England and France, Scotland andIreland, were carried by great nobles before the corpse. Thepall was borne by the chiefs of the illustrious houses of Howard,Seymour, Grey, and Stanley. On the gorgeous coffin of purpleand gold were laid the crown and sceptre of the realm. The daywas well suited to such a ceremony. The sky was dark andtroubled; and a few' ghastly flakes of snow fell on the blackplumes of the funeral car. Within the Abbey, nave, choir andtransept were in a blaze with innumerable waxlights. The bodyw'as deposited under a magnificent canopy in the centre of thechurch while the Primate preached. The earlier part of hisdiscourse was deformed by pedantic divisions and subdivisions:but towards the close he told what he had himself seen andheard with a simplicity and earnestness more affecting than themost skilful rhetoric. Through the whole ceremony the distantbooming of cannon was heard every minute from the batteriesof the Tower. The gentle Queen sleeps among her illustriouskindred in the southern aisle of the Chapel of Henry theSeventh. *

* L’Hermitage, March T \. -jV 1.695; London Gazette, March 7.; Teni-son’s Funeral Sermon.; Evelyn’s Diary.