THE WONDERS OF THE GRAVE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 42, 15 February 1876, Page 4

THE WONDERS OF THE GRAVE.

THE BODY PRESERVED FOR FIFTEEN HUNDRED YEARS. The tomb of Edwdrd 1., who died in 1808,* wbb opened on January 2, 1770, after 463 years had elapsed; His body was almost perfect. Canute (the Dane), who crossed pyer to England in 1017, wasfdund in 1770 by the workmen wha repaired Winchester Cathedral, where his body had reposed nearly 750 years, perfectly fresh. In 1569 three Eomaa soldiers,, fully equipped with, warlike instruments, were dug out of a bed of peat in v Ireland, where they had lainpifobably 1500 ,y ears. Their bodies .per^ectiyffresn and plump. , In the reign of James 11. of England, after the fall of the church at Estley in Warwickshire^ there was taken up the corpse ;of TtpmasGrray,, Marquis of Pqirset, Vho was buried; there October idth, 1530, in the twenty-second year Of Heflry VIII., "and although ifhad lain there seventy: eight, years,., the eyes, nair/ ,flesh, nails, and joints remained, as though it had been newly buried. :' ■ Robert Braybrook, who was consecrated. Bishop of London 13.81,, and wH6 dieU in'liOi arid was buried in St Paul's, was taken out of his tomb after the great fire in 1666, during the repairs of the cathedral, and although he had. been . there no less than 262 years his body was found .firm as to the skin, hair, joints, ( and nails. Pieiro Rodriguez, a Portugese jeweller, while pursuing: his occupation in thc> O.ity.pl, Mexico, was in 1590 accused:'before .'^be tribunal of the Inquisition, arid after sutfering a variety of tprtures : was condemned to be buried alive in a vault in the Convent de St. Domingo, in that city. He was then thirty-eight years' old. The Convent de St. Domjngo was lately, demolished m search' of treasure. , supposed to be; concealed there, and the body of Rodriguez taken out of. the yaiult exactly as ■when placed there 270 years before. His daughter, two arid a half years of age, was lying uuder her father's feet, and as i 'perfectly' preserved as himself. These last-mentioned bodies are now in the above city. The evidences of torture on the body of the jeweller are fearfully apparent. In one respect, however, the", appearance "does not coincide with, the record which we have given. The miserable man must have died in the bands of his tormentors, j The position of his bands show that he be was suspended by the body and neck until he died. Marks of the cord and burning iron are deeply recorded on , various ,^ parts of the body. His hair and beard are firm, his skin natural in hue and texture, without the slightest trace of decomposition in any part.