A Queer Funeral

I heard also from my grandmothcr í remarkable story about her husband's funeral. He died at Brougham in December 1782. Ncither my father nor his brothcr was thon in Westmorel&nd. Charles Duke of Norfolk, was then living at Grogstoke iu Cumberland, and being a mos intímate friend of the family uttendee the funeral as representing tho chie: mourner. ín that character his place was at the head of the of the table at tho funeral feast, where ho was supported by al! the gentlemen of the county. After dinner the Duke rose and addressed the guests as follows : " Friends and neighbors, bofore I give you the toast of the day, the memory of the deceased, I ask you to drink the health of the family physician, Dr. Harrison, the founder of the feast ! " Many toasts followed. Tho guests drank long and deeply. The funeral then proceeded on its way to the parish church of Brougham, called Nine Churches, (a corïuption of St. Ninan to whom it is dedicated,) a distance of three talles, the road winding along the gteep banks of the river Eamort. Arrived at the church, the hearse was met by tho rector, but the coffin had disappeared! The shock was onough to sober the merry mourners. On searching Vjack, the coffin was discovered in the river, into which it had fallen, pitched down the steep bank at a place where the hearse, driven by the dvunken coachman, had probably luiohed againsta rock. The oak outer coffin was brokon to pieces, but the lead remained intact at the bottom of tho river, too heavy to be carried down by the streani. The shock and scandal proáuoed by all this had tho effect not only of sobering everybody, but of putting an end to such disgraceful orgies in tho ranty for the futuro. The accuracy of my great grandmother's story was strongly confirmed by an event which happened jnany yoars afterward. InOctober, 1846, the wall of our vault in the chancel of Nine Churches had givcn away ; on the vault being oponed to make the nccessary repairs, I mysolf saw the lead coffiin of my grandfather, battered and bnLjed fröin its tumblu down the rooky bank of