roof, and no opening of any kind but the doorway which was filled up
with a grating. The interior was a gloomy space of about fourteen
feet either way. In the centre was a trap-door which gave access to
a hollow space beneath.

"As the gravediggers raised the coffin, the clouds suddenly parted,
and the moon shed her light on all that was earthly of Schiller.
They carried him in: they opened the trap-door: and let him down
by ropes into the darkness. Then they closed the vault. Nothing
was spoken or sung. The mourners were dispersing, when their
attention was attracted by a tall figure in a mantle, at some
distance in the graveyard, sobbing loudly. No one knew who it was;
and for many years the occurrence remained wrapped in mystery,
giving rise to strange conjectures. But eventually it turned out to
have been Schiller's brother-in-law Wolzogen, who, having hurried
home on hearing of the death, had arrived after the procession was
already on its way to the churchyard.

"In the year 1826, Schwabe was Burgermeister of Weimar. Now it was
the custom of the Landschaftscollegium, or provincial board under
whose jurisdiction this institution was placed, to CLEAR OUT the
Kassengewolbe from time to time--whenever it was found to be
inconveniently crowded--and by this means to make way for other
deceased persons and more louis d'or. On such occasions--when the
Landschaftscollegium gave the order 'aufzuraumen,' it was the usage
to dig a hole in a corner of the churchyard--then to bring up en
masse the contents of the Kassengewolbe--coffins, whether entire or
in fragments, bones, skulls, and tattered graveclothes--and finally
to shovel the whole heap into the aforesaid pit. In the month of
March Schwabe was dismayed at hearing that the Landschaftscollegium