{23} At length the whole face was disengaged from its
covering. The complexion of the skin was dark and discoloured. The
forehead and temples had lost little or nothing of their muscular
substance; the cartilage of the nose was gone; but the left eye, in
the first moment of exposure, was open and full, though it vanished
almost immediately: and the pointed beard, so characteristic of the
reign of King Charles, was perfect. The shape of the face was a
long oval; many of the teeth remained; and the left ear, in
consequence of the interposition of the unctuous matter between it
and the cere-cloth, was found entire."
The head was found to be loose, and was once more held up to view;
and after a careful examination of it had been made, and a sketch
taken, and the identity fully established, it was immediately
replaced in the coffin, which was soldered up and restored to the
vault. Of the other two coffins, the larger one had been battered
in about the middle, and the skeleton of Henry VIII, exhibiting some
beard upon the chin, was exposed to view. The other coffin was
left, as it was found, intact. Neither of these coffins bore any
inscription.
In the Appendix to Allan Cunningham's Life of Burns {24} we read of
an examination of the poet's Tomb, made immediately after that life
was published:
"When Burns' Mausoleum was opened in March, 1834, to receive the
remains of his widow, some residents in Dumfries obtained the
consent of her nearest relative to take a cast from the cranium of
the poet.
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