ed with an account of what,
transpired. I shall, therefore, copy a paper which is authentic:

"On completing the mausoleum which his present majesty has built in the
Tomb House, as it is called, it was necessary to form a passage to it
from under the choir of St George's Chapel. In constructing this
passage, an aperture was made accidentally, in one of the walls of the
vault of King Henry VIII., through which the workmen were enabled to
see, not only the two coffins which were supposed to contain the bodies
of King Henry VIII. and Queen Jane Seymour, but a third also, covered
with a black velvet pall, which, from Mr. Herbert's narrative, might
fairly be presumed to hold the remains of King Charles I.

"On representing the circumstance to the Prince Regent, his Royal
Highness perceived at once that a doubtful point in history might be
cleared up by opening this vault; and, accordingly, his Royal Highness
ordered an examination to be made on the first convenient opportunity.
This was done on the 1st of April last, 1813,--the day after the funeral
of the Duchess of Brunswick,--in the presence of his Royal Highness
himself; who guarantied, thereby, the most respectful care and attention
to the remains of the dead during the inquiry. His Royal Highness was
accompanied by his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, Count Munster,
the Dean of Windsor, Benjamin Charles Stevenson, Esq., and Sir Henry
Halford.

"The vault is covered by an arch half a breadth in thickness; is seven
feet two inches in width, nine feet six inches in length, and four feet
ten inches in height, and _is situated in the centre of the choir,
opposite the eleventh knight's stall, on the sovereign's side_.

"On removing the pall, a plain leaden coffin, with no appearance of
ever having been enclosed in wood, and bearing an inscription, 'King
Charles, 1648,' in large, legible characters, on a scroll of lead
encircling it, immediately presented itself to the view. A square
opening was then made in the upper part of the lid, of such dimensions
as to admit a clear insight into its contents. These were an internal
wooden coffin, very much decayed, and the body carefully wrapped up in
cerecloth, into the folds of which a quantity of unctuous or greasy
matter, mixed with resin, as it seemed, had been melted, so as to
exclude, as effectually as possible, the external air. The coffin was
completely full, and, from-the tenacity of the cerecloth, great
difficulty