3. Excerpt from "The Order for the Burial of the Dead," The Book of Common Prayer(1552)

[In act 4, scene 2, when Belarius, Guiderius, and Arviragus believe that Imogen is dead, the two young men prepare for the interment by using a familiar variation on the traditional Church of England rituals: the corpse is made ready, the liturgists speak or sing appropriate words, and the body is committed to the earth. In Cymbeline (as at Ophelia's funeral in Hamlet), Shakespeare also draws upon a convention that is not prescribed by The Book of Common Prayer, which is that the onlookers place flowers on the corpse; "The Order for the Burial of the Dead" does allude to flowers, however, in the line, "He cometh up and is cut down like a flower," and despite its moments of levity, the song "Fear No More" offers an interesting counterpoint to the familiar liturgy.]

When they come at the grave, whiles the corpse is made ready to be laid into the earth, the priest shall say, or the priest and clerks shall sing:

Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live and is full of misery: he cometh up and is cut down like a flower, he flieth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay{stands still}. In the midst of life we be in death. Of whom may we seek for succor but of thee, O Lord, which for our sins justly art displeased? Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy and most merciful Savior, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death. Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts: shut not up thy merciful eyes to our prayers but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Savior, thou most worthy judge eternal; suffer us not at our last hour for any pains of death to fall from thee.

Then, while the earth shall be cast upon the body by some standing by, the priest shall say:

Forasmuch as it hath pleased almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be like to his glorious body, according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.

Then shall be said or sung:

I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me: write, from henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the lord. Even so sayeth the spirit, that they rest from their labors.