Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1895 — Bequests of Hearts. [ARTICLE]

Bequests of Hearts.

Bequests of hearts have been by no means uncommon. Richard Coeur de Lion bequeathed his heart to the canons of Rouen Cathedral, and in July, 1838, this remarkable relic was once again brought to light after the lapse of six centuries; the heart, wnich is said to have been surprisingly large, was inclosed in boxes of lead and silver, and withered, as it was described, to the semblance of a faded leaf. Bruce’s heart was by his dying wish intrusted to Douglas, to fulfill a vow, which he had been unable to execute in person, of visiting the sepulchre of Christ. Douglas, “tender and true,” promised to fulfill his sovereign’s last request, and after Bruce’s death, having received the heart incased in a casket of gold, set forth upon his mission. Proceeding to Spain, however, he fell in the thick of a fight with the Moors, having previous to his final charge cast .the heart of Bruce from his breast, when he carried it into the ranks of the infidels, crying, “Onward as thou wert wont, Douglas will follow thee!” Bruce’s heart was afterward recovered by Sir Simon Lockhart, by whom it was brought to Scotland and buried along with the bones of Douglas in the Abbey of Melrose. When the remains of Bruce were disinterred at Dunfermline, in 1819, the breastbone was found sawn through so as to permit of the removal of the heart.