The Measured
Pace Of Thought With Which I Had Entered The Cathedral Changed Into
A Trip; And I Bounded On The Terrace, To See The Royal Family, With
A Number Of Ridiculous Images In My Head That I Shall Not Now
Recall.
The Norwegians are fond of music, and every little church has an
organ.
In the church I have mentioned there is an inscription
importing that a king James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, who
came with more than princely gallantry to escort his bride home -
stood there, and heard divine service.
There is a little recess full of coffins, which contains bodies
embalmed long since - so long, that there is not even a tradition to
lead to a guess at their names.
A desire of preserving the body seems to have prevailed in most
countries of the world, futile as it is to term it a preservation,
when the noblest parts are immediately sacrificed merely to save the
muscles, skin, and bone from rottenness. When I was shown these
human petrifactions, I shrank back with disgust and horror. "Ashes
to ashes!" thought I - "Dust to dust!" If this be not dissolution,
it is something worse than natural decay - it is treason against
humanity, thus to lift up the awful veil which would fain hide its
weakness. The grandeur of the active principle is never more
strongly felt than at such a sight, for nothing is so ugly as the
human form when deprived of life, and thus dried into stone, merely
to preserve the most disgusting image of death.
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