It was once a depository for the bones of
Danish warriors killed before the Norman Conquest; it extends not
only beneath the chancel, as in most cases, but beneath both the
transepts. The vaulting (supported partly on low columns of
remarkable beauty and partly on the basement wall of the church) is
therefore of unusual extent. The external door in the churchyard is
now hidden by drifted sand and mould. Many years ago, to give place
to the tombs and coffins of my family, the bones of the old Danes
were piled together in various corners; and the thought of these
bones called up the picture of the abode of 'Nin-ki-gal,' the Queen
of Death,
Ghosts, like birds, flutter their wings there;
On the gate and the gate-posts the dust lies undisturbed.
Then my mind began to make pictures for itself of my father lying in
his coffin. I have, I think, already said that his body had been
embalmed, in order to allow of its being conveyed from Switzerland to
England. Therefore I had no dread of being confronted by that
attribute of Death alluded to by D'Arcy which is the most cruel and
terrible of all--corruption.
Pages:
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491