Every state of society
have its laws.'
'We must break the law wi' a few of the poor souls, however.
Come, buckle to,' said the master-mason.
And they set to work anew.
The order of interment could be distinctly traced by observing the
appearance of the coffins as they lay piled around. On those
which had been standing there but a generation or two the
trappings still remained. Those of an earlier period showed bare
wood, with a few tattered rags dangling therefrom. Earlier still,
the wood lay in fragments on the floor of the niche, and the
coffin consisted of naked lead alone; whilst in the case of the
very oldest, even the lead was bulging and cracking in pieces,
revealing to the curious eye a heap of dust within. The shields
upon many were quite loose, and removable by the hand, their
lustreless surfaces still indistinctly exhibiting the name and
title of the deceased.
Overhead the groins and concavities of the arches curved in all
directions, dropping low towards the walls, where the height was
no more than sufficient to enable a person to stand upright.
The body of George the fourteenth baron, together with two or
three others, all of more recent date than the great bulk of
coffins piled there, had, for want of room, been placed at the end
of the vault on tressels, and not in niches like the others.
These it was necessary to remove, to form behind them the chamber
in which they were ultimately to be deposited.
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