' i : 1
L‘ ' i{
ing to Diodorus, in the desire of the we^thy to b®
template, in the midst of luxurious appointments, the f ® a t / ® ® “
their ancestors. Several times a year the mummies were brought
out of the splendid chambers where they were kept; i j e n s e w s
burnt over them, and sweet-scented oil was poured ov j
and carefully wiped off by a priest called ‘j;
Herodotus has given us a description of the frg^Tjan memoa
^ b a lm n g i - x L brains having first been extraaed thronsh the
u^/tr Is b l means of a curved iron probe, the head was filled wito
drugs. Then, with a sharp Ethiopian stone, an
in the side through which the intestines were drawn out, and the
ravitv was E w^^^ powdered Myrrh, Cassia, and other per-
lum S F r a n k ln c lr e excepted. Thus"^ prepared, the body was sewn
u T k e ’pt in natron (sesquicarbonate of soda) for seventy days and
S lin s^ aAed in d e ifnen, smeared with gum, 6 - % placed
in a wooden case made in the shape of a man. “ ® °®^j
unH most exoensive style’ of embalming. A cheaper moae con
sistefTin injecting oil of Cedar into the body, without removing
the intestines, whilst for the poorer dasses the body « » s “ erety
cleansed; subjecting it in both cases to a natron bath, w“ “ ® °
1 4- 1 flpQh The Tews borrowed the practice oi
embalming from the Egyptians ; for St. M a J r e c o r J
the death of our Saviour, N ijd em u s ‘ ‘ brought a mature of M^^^^
and Aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took ttiey me
body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as
manner of Jews is to bury.
© f iL iJu n e r a f ©Uiijrom/.
In England, there long prevailed an old custom
garlands before the bier of youthful beauty, which were afterwards
ftrewed over her grave. In ‘ Hamlet,’ the Queen, scattering
flowers over the grave of Ophelia, sa y s:
“ Sweets to the sweet. Farewell!
I hoped thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid.
And not have strewed thy grave. ’
The practice of planting and scattering flowers over graves is
noticed by Gay, who says:
“ Upon her grave the Rosemary they threw,
The Daisy, Butter-flower, and Fndive blue.
Rosemary was considered as an emblem of faithful remembrance.
Thus Ophelia says; “ There’s Rosemary for you, that s for remembrance
• pray you, love, remember.” Probably this was the mason
that the plant was carried by the followers at a fun j a l in former
days: a custom noticed by the poet in the following lines:
“ To show their love, the neighbours far and near
Follow’d with wistful look the damsel’s bier ;
Sprigg’d Rosemary the lads and lasses bore.
While dismally the parson walked before.”
It is Still customary in some parts of England to distribute Rosemary
among the company at a funeral, who frequently throw
sprigs of it into the grave.
Wordsworth introduces in one of his smaller poems an allusion
to a practice which still prevails in the North of England:—
“ The basin of Box-wood, just six months before,
Had stood on the table at Timothy’s door;
A coffin through Timothy’s threshold had passed,
One child did it bear, and that child was his last.”
It is Stated in a note that—“ In several parts of the North of
England, when a funeral takes place, a basin full of sprigs of B ox wood
is placed at the door of the house from which the coffin is
taken up; and each person who attends the funeral ordinarily takes
a sprig of this Box-wood, and throws it into the grave of the
deceased.” Pepys mentions a churchyard near Southampton,
where, in the year 1662, the graves were all sown with Sage.
Unfortunate lovers had garlands of Yew, Willow, and Rosemary
laid on their biers; thus we read in the ‘ Maid’s Tragedy’ :—
“ Lay a garland on my hearse
Of the dismal Y ew ;
Maidens, Willow branches bear ;
Say that I died true.
My love was false, but I was firm
From my hour of birth.
Upon my buried body lie
Lightly gentle earth.”
It was an old English custom, at the funeral of a virgin, for
a young woman to precede the coffin in the procession, carrying on
her head a variegated garland of flowers and sweet herbs. Six
young girls surrounded the bier, and strewed flowers along the
streets to the place of burial. It was also formerly customary to
carry garlands of sweet flowers at the funeral of dear friends and
relatives, and not only to strew them on the coffin, but to plant them
permanently on the grave. This pleasing practice, which gave
the churchyard a picturesque appearance, owed its origin to the
ancient belief that Paradise is planted with fragrant and beautiful
flowers—a conception which is alluded to in the legend of Sir
Owain, where the celestial Paradise, which is reached by the
blessed after their passage through purgatory, is thus described:—
“ Fair were her erbers with floures;
Rose and Lili divers colours^
Primros and Parvink,
Mint, Feverfoy, and Eglenterre,.
Columbin and Mother-wer,
Than ani man may bithenke
It berth erbes of other maner,
Than ani in erth groweth here,
Though that is best of priis;
Evermore thai grene springeth,
For Winter no sooner it us cloyeth,.
And sweeter than licorice.”