Shakespeares Bones | Page 5

went on from twelve
o'clock till about three, for three successive nights, at the end of which
time twenty-three skulls had been found. These the Burgermeister
caused to be put into a sack and carried to his house, where he himself
took them out and placed them in rows on a table.
"It was hardly done ere he exclaimed, 'THAT must be Schiller's!' There
was one skull that differed enormously from all the rest, both in size
and in shape. It was remarkable, too, in another way: alone of all those
on the table it retained an entire set of the finest teeth, and Schiller's
teeth had been noted for their beauty. But there were other means of
identification at hand. Schwabe possessed the cast of Schiller's head,
taken after death by Klauer, and with this he undertook to make a
careful comparison and measurement. The two seemed to him to
correspond, and, of the twenty-two others, not one would bear
juxtaposition with the cast. Unfortunately the lower jaw was wanting,
to obtain which a fourth nocturnal expedition had to be undertaken. The
skull was carried back to the Gewolbe, and many jaws were tried ere
one was found which fitted, and for beauty of teeth corresponded with,
the upper jaw. When brought home, on the other hand, it refused to fit
any other cranium. One tooth alone was wanting, and this was said by
an old servant of Schiller's had been extracted at Jena in his presence.
"Having got thus far, Schwabe invited three of the chief medical
authorities to inspect his discovery. After careful measurements, they
declared that among the twenty-three skulls there was but one from
which the cast could have been taken. He then invited every person in
Weimar and its neighbourhood, who had been on terms of intimacy
with Schiller, and admitted them to the room one by one. The result
was surprising. Without an exception they pointed to the same skull as
that which must have been the poet's. The only remaining chance of
mistake seemed to be the possibility of other skulls having eluded the
search, and being yet in the vault. To put this to rest, Schwabe applied
to the Landschaftscollegium, in whose records was kept a list of all

persons buried in the Kassengewolbe. It was ascertained that since the
last 'clearing out' there had been exactly twenty-three interments. At
this stage the Burgermeister saw himself in a position to inform the
Grand Duke and Goethe of his search and its success. From both he
received grateful acknowledgments. Goethe unhesitatingly recognised
the head, and laid stress on the peculiar beauty and evenness of the
teeth.
"The new cemetery lay on a gently rising ground on the south side of
the town. Schwabe's favourite plan was to deposit what he had
found--all that he now ever dreamed of finding--of his beloved poet on
the highest point of the slope, and to mark the spot by a simple
monument, so that travellers at their first approach might know where
the head of Schiller lay. One forenoon in early spring he led Frau von
Wolzogen and the Chancellor von Muller to the spot. They approved
his plan, and the remaining members of Schiller's family-- all of whom
had left Weimar--signified their assent. They 'did not desire,' as one of
themselves expressed it, 'to strive against Nature's appointment that
man's earthly remains should be reunited with herself;' they would
prefer that their father's dust should rest in the ground rather than
anywhere else. But the Grand Duke and Goethe decided otherwise.
"Dannecker's colossal bust of Schiller had recently been acquired for
the Grand Ducal library, where it had been placed on a lofty pedestal
opposite the bust of Goethe; and in this pedestal, which was hollow, it
was resolved to deposit the skull. The consent of the family having
been obtained, the solemnity was delayed till the arrival of Ernst von
Schiller, who could not reach Weimar before autumn. On September
the 17th the ceremony took place. A few persons had been invited,
amongst whom, of course, was the Burgermeister. Goethe, more suo,
dreaded the agitation and remained at home, but sent his son to
represent him as chief librarian. A cantata having been sung, Ernst von
Schiller, in a short speech, thanked all persons present, but especially
the Burgermeister, for the love they had shown to the memory of his
father. He then formally delivered his father's head into the hands of the
younger Goethe, who, reverently receiving it, thanked his friend in
Goethe's name, and having dwelt on the affection that had subsisted

between their fathers vowed that the precious relic should
thenceforward be guarded with anxious care. Up to this moment the
skull had been wrapped in a cloth and sealed: the younger Goethe