FUNERAL OF THE DOWAGER LADY LOVAT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 181, 15 September 1876, Page 8

FUNERAL OF THE DOWAGER LADY LOVAT.

The funeral of the late Dowager Lady Lovat took place on Friday, 2nd June. There was a very large attendance from all parts of the country. The tenants on the Lovat estate turned out almost to a man, and numbers gathered from the neighboring properties. From an early hour in the day carriages were proceeding from j Inverness in the direction of Beaufort, while a large number of | citizens proceeded by train to Beauly, and then drove or walked to i the castle. The weather was delightful during the early part of ! the day, but became rather sultry towards the evening. By half- i past ten in the forenoon, the time fixed for starting, a large concourse of people had gathered on the green in front of the castle. \ Here refreshments were served out to some friends in the castle j and to some of those outside. A few minutes later the coffin containing the remains of the deceased lady was borne out surrounded < by the bereaved family. It was of plain polished oak, and contained a second one of lead, and an inner one of pine. On the lid , was a plate with the inscription : — i THE EIGHT HONORABLE i CHABLOTTE GEOEGINA LADY LOVAT,' ELDEST DAUGHTER OF GEORGE WILLIAM, Bth BARON STAFFORD, WIDOW OF THOMAS ALEXANDER, Ist and 14th BARON LOVAT, ' Born October Bth, 1800. Died Mat 2Sth, IS7O. R.I.P. i The pall-bearers were Lord Lovat, Lord Stafford, Colonel Alister j Fraser of Lovat, Colonel Henry Fraser of Lovat, Sir Pyers Moys- ■ ton, Mr. G. Moyston, Mr. B. Scott Murray, Mr. Fitzherbert, and ' Mr. Corbaldis, Kilmuir. The coffin having been placed in the hearse, the pipers struck up the solemn dirge of Cutuha na cloinne : (The Children's Lament), and the melancholy procession slowly < proceeded through the castle grounds. The pipers in attendance j were Pipe-Major Maclennan, Inverness ; Tulloch's piper, and Lord | Lovat's own piper. The laments played in the course of the jour- j ney were Cumna nam marbh (Lament for the Dead), Cuinha an i aonamhic, (only Son's Lament), Cuniha Ghlinne-Garraidh (Glen- J garry's Lament), an Rioban Gorni (The Blue Ribband), and when , entering the chapel grounds, Cumha na cloinne again. ! At different points of the route the cortege was joined by parties who had been unable to come to the mansion house, until j the total number of those who walked on foot could not be less i than a thousand. Behind those who accompanied the hearse on foot came a long string of about a hundred carriages, containing the chiefs and gentry of the neighbouring districts. Including the ! carriages the procession must have been considerably over a mile I in length. A -walk of about four miles brought them to Eskdale ; Chapel, wherein is the family vault of the Lovats. Arriving at i the chapel the mourning carriages drew up to the door, where they were received by Bishop Macdonald, of Aberdeen, and most of the clergy of the diocese. The coffin having been taken out of the ' hearse and placed on a table draped in black cloth with a large i white cross in the middle, it was borne into the chapel. At the j door the Bishop sprinkled it with holy water, and then it was , carried down the centre aisle and laid before the altar. Here it was covered with a gorgeous ciimson pall surmounted by the ! coronet of the family The galleries, railings, and pulpits were ! draped in black, and the altar was similarly covered, but relieved I with a large white cross. On the black drapery of the gallery were I worked in white the letters "R.1.P." In the gallery were the daughters and other lady friends of the deceased. Around the coffin the chief mourners took their seats, each with a caudle in his hand. Six tall candles in muffled candlesticks burned around the coffin, and the altar was similarly illuminated. As soon as the mourners had taken their seats, the crowd outside made a rush to

jet in, and Mr. Murray, who was in attendance ■with some policemen, had enough to do to preserve decorum. By-and-bye, however, they got in and seated. The Burial Service of the Roman Catholic Church was then gone through. The Bishop of Aberdeen presided. The service consists of the Latin versions of Psalms cxxix. and l. " The Canticle of Zachary," Luke i, and appropriate anthems, responsories, and prayers. Mass concluded, the Rev. Mr. Grant ascended the pulpit, and delivered a feeling and appropriate address, taking as his text Proverbs xxxr. verses 10, 11, 12, 20, 23, and 28 — " Who can find a virtuous -woman.? For her price is far above rubies," &c. Mr. Grant said' -A twelvemonth has not yet passed since I had to address you at the funeral of the father, and now I have to perform the «ame duty for the moth.gr, of the first family amongst us. It is a good thing to know thatTft~ either case death was not unexpected or unprepared for. The lady, whose dust we receive to-day, was of a noble family in England, who can trace their lineage back to Canute. Members of that family have made the name renowned in Engb'sh. history. The lady early left her English home and united with one of the fir^fc families here. Her life and her death were such as to cast lustre on her own family, and that of which she became a member. She was honored, and loved, and respected by all, and evil-spoken of by none. Gifts of body and of soul are all from God, and ought to raise our thoughts to Him who gave them. The greater these gifts are, the greater the scandal if they are ill-employed, and the greater the blessedness if they be well employed. In addition to the gifts of a high and influential position, God had bestowed on her a dignity of person, aspect, and grace, a noble and thoughtful countenance. " Strength and beauty clothed her, and she shall laugh in the latter days " During half a century her noble example had been an encouragement to all good and vLrtuous actions ; nnd withal she had a prudence, a true, calm, energetic judgment, which was always a guide to tliose whom she loved. Her family, and those in her own.^eighborhood, looked up to her and reverenced her. What good has she not done among her people ? What I good has she not done among her people ? What enmities has she not reconciled ? " She hath opened her hand to the nepdy, and stretched out her hand to. ihe poor." God loves the merciful. ! " Blessed are the merciful *for they shall obtain mercy." How much misery there is in the earth ? The whole -world is full of i sorrow. But if afflictions are many, the charities of Christians are las many. In her charity she had a quiet, thoughtful, purposeful ! way which was often mistaken for indifference. But if she was i silent to the petition of the poor it was because she was thinking , out some plan by which their troubles could be alleviated. Even i when on her sick-bed her thoughts went out to the poor and sufferj ing ; and now her deeds speak for her before the throne for a better resurrection. Even when people gave Ca.use for wrath, her voice was always for forgiveness or mitigation. In a large choice garden one cannot partake of all the fruits ; so I can but glance at some of I the virtues of the departed lady. Were I speaking only to my own 1 people, I would speak of her piety, her love for the sacraments, and i her frequent communions. Yet her faith, so full for herself, never ; overflowed to the hurt of others. Her heart went out especially for the young, and she raised for us the schools and churches, which a poor commuuion like ours, who had lost our all, required. We have now offered up the Holy Mass, and prayed for her soul, and we will continue to pray for her, and ask you to do so also. It is by reason of the holiness of God that no soul who is in the least tainted with ' sin can enter heaven, and who is so marvellously holy as to be altogether faultless ? I speak not to instruct yoii, but to exhort you. I believe that those who are near and dear on earth, God 1 will place near in heaven. She has been to her husband a true and | loving wife while he lived, and in death they were not long ! divided. In all the busy cares of lif ehe had her true steady sof ten1 ing strength to support "him. When she felt her strength failing she thanked God that He had left her as long as he had lived, i Only one of her children predeceased her. Those -who grew up to i years of knowledge revered and loved her. When she came to die, I she had a comfort which many mothers have not, the cheering and | comforting presence of dutiful children. Thus when her old age ; came, with her many merits, cheered by the love of God, and suri rounded by her loved ones, her soul went out on that journey which I is sure to have a blessed end. \ The coffin having been again sprinkled with holy water, and | the pall removed, Mr. Fraser, cabinet-maker, Union-street, who was undertaker, came forward with a band of efficient assistants, 1 and bore the coffin down into the vault. There it -was followed by I the priests and chief mourners. After a stay of a few minutes, Mr. Grant returned and intimated that the ceremony -was now over, and ' that any parties wishing to see the coffin might come into th^- ! vault. This invitation was taken advantage of by most of those I present. The coffin lay aside that of the late Lord Lovat ; and in ; the same chamber were the coffins of George Stafford Fraser, their | infant son ; Mrs. Fraser, of Strichen, and of Simon Joseph, son of the present Lord Lovat. After coming out of the chapel, refreshments -were served out 'to the people on the meadow in front of the church These ari rangenients were under the charge of Mr. Deway, Tenacoil, who I with a band of attendants got the crowd arranged in ranks, and in ' a short time had them all 'supplied. The burial service was con- ' eluded about two o'clock, and by four o'clock the people had dis- ! persed. — ' Inverness Highlander.'

' Monsignor Colet, Archbishop of Tours, has presented the Church ' of the Sacred Heart with a crucifix, carved from the wood of a large , branch of the hawthorn-tree, planted by Sb. Francis cle Paula. This branch was torn from the tree by a recent tempest, which visited the chateau ol Plessis-les-Tours, in the gardens of which St. Francis had planted ihe young sapliru, on the oi-easion of his visit there, the saint I having been summoned by Louis XI., in order that bis prayers might 1 avert the King's impending death.