RITES OF FUNERAL Ancient and Modern, IN USE Through the Known WORLD.  
Written Originally in French by the Ingenious Monsieur MURET.  
And Translated into English by P. LORRAINE.  
LONDON, Printed for Rich. Royston, Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty, at the Angel in Amen-Corner, 1683.   


Mens cujusque is est Quisque.  
SAM PEPYS C●● ET JAC ANGL REGIE ●●●CRETIS ADMIRALIA    

To the Honourable SAMVEL PEPYS Esq;.  
SIR,  
TO apologise for this Dedication under the worn pretence of a desire of Protection, were at once to do violence, both to the Character of my Author (whose Fame has raised him above the need of any) and my own Modesty, who am too conscious of what the best performances of this kind amount to, not to know, That Pardon only (without Protection) is Indulgence sufficient to the frailties of a Translation.  
THAT then which alone emboldens me to the inscribing this to YOUR REVERED NAME, is a belief I have, that the Copy cannot be disagreeable to YOU of an Original, in whose diversities of Entertainment and Reading, You have been sometimes pleased to own so much satisfaction, especially upon a Subject of such singularity as this, touching the different Rites of Funeral in practice with Mankind.  
OF which Rites, however entitled YOUR VIRTUES have long since rendered YOU to those of the most Solemn, or YOUR severer PHILOSOPHY may nevertheless make YOU partial to others of the less studied Methods mentioned in this Treatise; GOD grant Your arrival at either may be as late for the benefit of Others, as YOUR KNOWN INTEGRITY and FORTITUDE render impossible its coming too soon with regard to YOURSELF. Which is the most fervent Prayer of,  
HONOURED SIR, Your most Faithful and most Obedient Servant, PAUL LORRAINE. Novemb. 6. 1682.   

THE TRANSLATOR TO THE READER.  
THE Wisest of Kings tells us, that 
* Eccl. 7. 4.  it is better to go to the House of Mourning, than to that of Laughter; And those who have well considered the grounds he had for this his Judgement, will not by the Title of this Book (as melancholy as it appears) be affrighted from the perusing it. I might indeed acquaint the Reader, that in the translating thereof, I have consulted nothing more than his pleasure and diversion (which he cannot miss of, amidst so great a variety of Relations, concerning the magnificence of Sepulchers, with other Honours bestowed upon, and manners of disposing of the DEAD) but I will not insist on this, my design being rather to profit, than delight; for else it would have been more proper for me to have ushered my Reader to a Theatre, than a Churchyard among Graves and Charnel-Houses. I must confess that a Skeleton, how neatly soever hung and wired together, is not an Object so entertaining as a Venus drawn by some Masterly Hand; but withal it must be granted, that as much as Delight carries it on this side, so much does Advancement of Knowledge overbalance it on the other; the one feeds our Vanity, the other composeth us to Sobriety, and teaches us the best of Lessons, To know ourselves. What we read to have been, and still to be the Custom of some Nations, to make Sepulchers the Repositories of their greatest Riches, is (I am sure) universally true in a Moral sense, however it may be thought in the Literal; there being never a Grave but what conceals a Treasure, though all have not the Art to discover it. I do not here invite the covetous Miser to disturb the Dead, who can frame no Idea of Treasure distinct from Gold and Silver; but him who knows that Wisdom and Virtue are the true and sole Riches of Man, as he is an intelligent Creature, and the Image of his Glorious Creator. Is not Truth a Treasure, think you? Which yet Democritus assures us, is buried in a deep Pit or Grave; and he had reason; for whereas we meet elsewhere with nothing but paint and deceit, we no sooner look down into a Grave, but Truth faceth us, and tells us our own. It was not by chance that the Primitive Christians joined their Coemeteries to their Temples, or Places of Divine Worship; they well understanding that the Instructions communicated to them through their Ears in the one, were enforced by those they took-in from their Eyes in the other, and that both tended to the same blessed end, of rendering them Wise and Religious. Of which Truth Plato was so convinced, as to define Wisdom the Meditation of Death; ratified by the Divine Oracle in that Pathetic Wish, 
* Deuter. 32. 29.  Oh that they were wise, that they would consider their latter end! And with no slight confirmation given it also by the Wisest of Preachers, even where the Libertine seems least to apprehend it, namely, in his declaring 
‖ Eccl. 9 10  no Wisdom to remain in the Grave whereto we are going; for as much as in so cautioning us against a too late expectation of finding it (when dead) in our own, he directs us the more forcibly to the seeking for it (while living) in the Graves of others.  
WHICH having said with regard to the valuableness of the Subject, I shall only add, for the Reader's fuller information, my having taken the liberty of retrenching one Chapter of this Book, under the Title of [The Funerals of Heretics] as finding the same little less or more, than an Invective against Protestants, in reference to their Rites of Burial. Nor can I think my so doing will be judged any unblamable imposure upon my Catholic Author: For as much as by covering the Mistakes whereto the partiality of his Zeal has too visibly betrayed him in this particular, I shall be found to have best consulted the general Credit of that Truth, which the Reader will observe him a most strict Pursuer of, through every other part of this his History.  
ADIEU.   

ERRATA.  
PAge 4. in the Margin, read Sext. Empiric, p. 11. l. 13. r. Place. p. 12. l. ult. r. Cypress. p. 14. l. 6. r. Tutelar. p. 22. in Marg. r. their attending. p. 32. l. 9 r. Veij. p. 42. l. 8 r. Offices. p 49. l. 22. r. Justinian. p. 72. l. 21. for of r. in. p. 77. l. 11. r. sounding on Trumpets. p. 86. l. 10. f. the r. an. p. 92. l. 2. r. take it. l. 8. r. may be. p. 123. l. 4. r. and. l. 5. r. him. p. 140. l. 8. r. extends. l. 10. f. were. r are. p. 146. l. 4. deal a. p. 147. l. 12. & 167. l. 2. r. Water. p. 161. l. 22. r. lament. p. 191. l. 12 r. there. p. 199. l. 24. f. by r. at. p. 203. l. 7. deal also▪ p. 226. l. 15. r. Crimes. p. 244. l. 10. f. shut r. stop. p. 293. l. 1. r. Scipio's. Throughout for Corpses read Corpse.   

THE CONTENTS.  
Chap. Pag. I. THE Funeral Rites of the Egyptians. 1 II. Grecians. 11 III. Romans. 20 IU. Persians. 45 V. Turks. 56 VI Chinese. 68 VII. Americans. 93 VIII. of some Islanders. 119 IX. of the Tartars. 139 X. Living Sepulchers. 148 XI. Fiery Sepulchers. 157 XII. Water-Burials. 167 XIII. Airy Obsequies. 171 XIV. Burials above Ground. 177 XV. The Funeral Rites of the Ancient Jews. 180 XVI. Modern Jews. 198 XVII. Schismatics. 234 XVIII. Christians. 243 XIX. A Discourse concerning the Right of Burial, and Laws on that behalf. 271   

THE FUNERAL RITES AND CEREMONIES OF ALL NATIONS.  

CHAP. I. Funerals of the Egyptians.  
I DESIGNING to treat of the Funeral Rites of all Nations, shall begin with those of the Egyptians, because that People has always been acknowledged for the most ancient; and from whom Laws, Arts, Sciences and Ceremonies were first derived to other Countries. Assoon as any one was dead amongst them, 
* Diod. lib. 2. Hist. Officers employed by the Egyptians at their Funerals.  the Funeral Officers, which were three, viz. the Clerk, the Anatomist, or Dissector, and the Embalmer, presented themselves to the Kinsmen and Relations of the Departed, and after they had agreed upon the price (for according to the expense they were willing to be at, they diversely treated the Corpse) the Clerk set down upon a paper, or marked on the Body itself, the Parts that were to be opened, viz. the Flanks on the left side. Then the Anatomist made the incision, and forthwith ran away; because the standers-by did most commonly fling stones at him, as abhorring to see him exercise this seeming cruelty upon their Friend or Relation. At last the Embalmer drew forth all the Entrails, but the Heart and Kidneys; and after he had washed the Body very well, he inwardly anointed it with a composition of all sorts of sweet-scented drugs and spices, except Frankincense, because that was by them consecrated to the Gods; and most commonly the chief ingredients of this ointment, were Myrrh and Cassia. This done, he with an Iron-hook pulled out all the brains through the Nostrils, and filled up the void space with Aromatical drugs.  
AS for the remaining Duties, they were performed by the kinsmen of the Deceased; who assoon as these 
* Mela l. 1. ch 9 The manner of their Burying and Embalming.  Public Officers had done their part, and withdrawn themselves, took the Corpse and laid it in Salt, where they let it abide for the space of seventy days: at the end of which they washed it very carefully, and then neatly sowed up again the incision which the Anatomist had made; afterwards they anointed it outwardly all over with a certain Gum; wrapped it in swathing-bands of very fine linen, which by reason of the foresaid glutinous ointment, stuck close to the body; and so they shut it up in carved and painted wooden frames, which were made for that purpose.  

Their common Sepulchers  NOW these Corpses thus ordered and embalmed (which we call Mummies) some kept in their houses, others shut them up in some Repositories under ground, made in the fashion of little vaulted rooms, into which the descent was through a round or square hole, like unto that of a Well; over which they erected a large 
* Lucian de luctu. Their mourning and lamentations for the common sort.  stone in manner of a pillar, loaded it with many garlands, and embraced it a thousand times, giving the Deceased their last Adieus.  
I HAD almost forgot to mention, that in carrying the Body to the grave, both men and women made very 
‖ Sixt. Empyric. l. 3.  horrid lamentations and outcries, tearing their clothes, and uncovering their breasts, which they bruised with many reiterated strokes. But these bewailings were far more extraordinary upon the Death of any of their Kings; 
For their Kings.  the mourning continuing no less than seventy two days, during which time all manner of rejoicings and festivals were forbidden; they all bedawbed their faces with mire and dirt; walked in troops together along the streets, without any thing but a linnen-cloth wrapped about them, mixing the Name of their deceased Prince with their sighs and out-cries: They abstained from wine and delicate meats; denied themselves the use of baths and perfumes; they did not so much as make their beds, nor accompany with their Wives, and expressed all the signs of an extraordinary affliction.  

Public Examination of the Lives of their Princes after their Death.  BUT it is to be observed, that before they paid him these Funeral Obsequies, they caused all his actions to be very narrowly scanned and examined by the Judges, and that in the presence of the People: and in case their doings were adjudged bad and unaccountable; they deprived him of Burial, which they never granted their Prince, in the manner as before mentioned, but when by a general consent his Government and Conduct were approved of as good. For than they erected a sumptuous Monument for him, or laid him in that which he had prepared for himself, whilst yet alive; 
Royal Sepulchers.  upon which monumental Structure they lavished a prodigious treasure, as the remains of their Pyramids do abundantly testify; which at this day are matter of astonishment to all that behold them, and were not without great reason by Antiquity reckoned amongst the Wonders of the World.  
INDEED they were such Buildings as were never elsewhere to be found: Neither is it at all likely, that any King at this day could go to the charge of them; since besides three hundred and seven thousand men, who for the space of twenty years were employed in building one of them, and eighteen hundred Talents spent only in Turnips and Onions, the invention of those Engines whereby they hoist up so vast stones to such an incredible and prodigious height is quite lost.  
MOST of these 
* Bellon. Sing. Observat. l. 2. Their Figure and vast Dimensions.  Mausoleums, or costly and magnificent Structures, are made in the fashion of Pyramids, and are no less admirable without, than within. There is one of them that is mounted by two hundred and eight steps, and is six hundred and fourscore and two foot broad, and six hundred and twenty foot high: In a word, it is so high, that though the top of it be sixteen foot square, yet it does show to those that are beneath, as sharp as the point of a needle. The entrance into it, is through a little door three foot and six inches high, and three foot and three inches broad: Next, you advance through a passage of the same dimensions, where first you meet with a descent of sixty steps, and after that again an ascent of about an hundred; at the end of which you enter into a little Gallery, and through that into a Hall, in the midst of which stands the Tomb, all of one piece, and of a stone as fair to look upon, and as hard, as Porphyre, the whole Hall being lined with the same. These things might seem incredible, were they not confirmed by all them that have traveled into those Parts. The Inhabitants of that Country call these huge Buildings Pharaoh's Mountains, by reason of their prodigious height; being no less wonderful for the immenseness of their Bulk, than for the richness of the Matter of which they are made.  

The Sepulchre of a young Princess.  HERODOTUS tells us that one of their Kings, 
* Herodot. l. 2. hist.  Micerin by name, caused a Tomb to be made for his Daughter, which was no less astonishing than the foregoing. He having no children but her, and seeing himself by her death deprived of Heirs, spared nothing which might express how sensibly he was touched with this loss, and endeavoured to immortalize her memory by the most superb and sumptuous structure he could possibly devise. Instead therefore of a Monument, he ordered a Palace to be erected for her, with a great Hall in the midst of it, adorned with abundance of Figures and Statues, all bespangled with precious stones: After this he caused her Corpse to be laid up in a frame of incorruptible wood, fashioned into the likeness of a Cow, which was covered all over with plates of Gold, and a Purple-mantle cast over it. The figure of this Cow was kneeling, and had a Sun of massy gold between her horns, and was enlightened by a Lamp whose flames were fed with a most odoriferous oil, hanging before it, and round about the Hall nothing was seen but perfuming pans and Censers, which continually cast out clouds of sweet scents and perfumes.  
BY these instances we may perceive what honours the Egyptians of old were used to confer upon their Dead; and for conclusion of this Chapter I shall only further add, that there were 
Three sorts of Burials.  commonly three sorts of Bury in use amongst them, which were distinguished into sumptuous, indifferent, and mean or poor. The charges of the first were a Talon of Silver, and of the second twenty Mines; the expenses of the last being very inconsiderable.   

CHAP. II. Funerals of the Grecians.  
THE Grecians have not always disposed of their Dead the same way: 
Burying and burning of the Dead in use among the Grecians.  For at the first they used Burials, and after that, the custom of Burning prevailed amongst them: Of both which ways we have several instances from very credible Authors. Thucydides tells us, that 
* Thucyd. l. 1. Divers Examples of Burials.  Themistocles being dead at Magnesia (where he was Governor) was buried in the great Palace of that City, and that some time afterwards they took his bones from thence, and carried them to Athens, his own Country, where they were interred a second time. A like account he gives of Brasidas, viz. That this brave General being dead of the wounds, which he received in the Victory by him obtained over the Athenians, at Eon, was publicly carried by the Chief Officers of his Army, upon their shoulders, to the place where a Monument was prepared for him, in the midst of the Great Market, and that there they buried him. He further acquaints us, that some time after, those of Antibe offered many Sacrifices at his Tomb; instituted Games in honour of him, and ranked him amongst the number of their Gods. The same Thucydides informs us, that they had a special care to pay all due honours to such as died in the Wars in defence of their own Country: And to that purpose tells us, that all those who were killed at the several Battles fought in Morea were most honourably buried in the manner as follows. First, for the space of three days they left their Bones in a Tent, where every one of their friends made them Presents of what they liked most when they were yet alive: Afterwards they laid them, together with the foresaid gifts, in Cyprus-Chests or Coffins, and every Tribe having placed the bodies of those that belonged to them, on Chariots, they were drawn by men to the place of Burial; being followed by an infinite number of Citizens, who filled the air with lamentable wailing and out-cries. Moreover the same Historian observes, that besides those forementioned Coffins, they carried some empty ones, in honour of them whose Bones they could not find.  

Funeral Eulogies and common Place of Soldier's Burial.  NEVERTHELESS they most commonly 
* Demosth. cont. Eubulid.  buried the Soldiers in the very same place where they had fought and were slain, rendering them their last honours, where they had purchased their greatest glory; and employed one of the most honourable and eloquent of their Magistrates to make a Funeral Oration in commendation of them.  
AS for 
‖ Plut. in Solon. Senec. in Oedip. Act. 1. Place of Burial for such who died on their beds.  those that died on their beds, they were buried in the Suburbs. It was their custom never to inter the Dead within their Cities, because they considered them as cut off from the society of other men; 
Privilege of Heroes.  their Heroes only enjoying that privilege; whose Bodies they kept in public Places, as so many Tutelar▪ God and Defenders of their Country. 
Laws that excluded Spendthrifts from the Buryingplace of their Fathers.  Every Family had their own Tomb, and he only was deprived of this right, who had spent his Patrimony; the Laws appointing him to be buried elsewhere.  
THE same 
* Gruther. Kirckman. Guichard. Laws that directed the manner of Burials, and laying of the Corpse.  Laws ordered and restrained the manner of their Burials, that they might not be too sumptuous and prodigal. Demetrius Phalereus established a Magistrate to have an eye to the regulating of them, and put a Fine upon those that exceeded such a sum. The same Lawgiver ordered that no other Monument should be erected over the place where the Corpse was interred, than a Pillar of three cubit's height, or an Urn of the same dimensions, and that the face of the dead should be turned towards the East. Nevertheless, this custom was not alike observed throughout Greece, for the inhabitants of Phoenicia laid the dead with their faces Westward; and those of Megara buried them with their faces downwards; and in this manner it was that Diogenes would be buried; he giving this reason for it, that seeing all things were (according to his opinion) to be turned upside down in succeeding Ages, he by this means should at last be found with his face upwards, and looking towards Heaven.  

Their Mourning, the manner of burying their Dead, and attending at Funerals very various, according to the different Countries of Greece.  THEY likewise differed very much amongst themselves, in the Honours they conferred on the Dead, before they carried them to their Graves, as also in the way and manner of their Mourning. Some washed them with clean water, and others with wine. Some poured upon them a thousand sweet perfumes, and others did only cover them with Olive-leaves. Some clothed them in Crimson, others in White with abundance of Garlands, and others (as the Galatians) put a Letter very well sealed into their hand, that they might make known their intentions to them in the other World, and that they had well acquitted themselves in performing their last duties to them.  
THEIR Mourning lasted seventeen days: And therefore they commonly cut off a finger from the Dead Body, and on the same conferred all the Funeral honours they thought due to the Party Deceased. In Lycia, men during all that time wore woman's clothes. At Argos they dressed themselves in White, and made great Banquets, and offered many Sacrifices in honour of Apollo: In the beginning of these Ceremonies they put out their fire, and afterwards kindled it again. At Delphos they sacrificed unto the Dead themselves. At Delos they cut off their own hair, and laid it on the Grave. The Plateans did after many joyful meetings, which lasted all the time of Mourning, at last make a kind of Funeral pomp, in which a Trumpeter marched first, who was followed by some Chariots loaden with Bay and Myrtle-leaves; and after these Chariots, came several persons, carrying bowls full of milk, and wine, which they poured out upon the Sepulchre. The Lacedæmonians crowned themselves with Smallage, and sung Hymns in praise of the Dead; and the Athenians made great and solemn lamentations over them. From all which customs it plainly appears, that some rejoiced, and others mourned at the Death of their Relations and Friends.  
IN this point only they all agreed, viz. in burying 
* Thucyd. l. 1. The Duty of Burying inviolable amongst them.  their Dead; which Duty was accounted so sacred amongst them, that the Athenians condemned several great Captains to death, because they had cast the Bodies of some that were killed in a Sea-fight into the Sea. Upon this score it was, that their General Nicias caused his whole Army to make a halt till they had interred two private Soldiers, who died in the march. And the Illustrious Cimon, son of Miltiades, made no difficulty to give himself up a prisoner into the hands of his Father's Creditors, who had after his Death seized his Corpse, to deprive it of the honour of Burial.  

Example of Wood-piles, or burning of the Dead.  'TIS matter of wonder, that Burying the Dead having been for some time in so great veneration amongst them, they should all on a sudden abolish that custom, and instead thereof commit their Corpse to the devouring flames: For it was they who invented that hideous ceremony of 
* Homer. Iliad.  Wood-piles; and were the first that turned those into Ashes, after their Death, whom they had during their lives most dearly beloved. This we learn from Lucian, who laughs at that custom; and Homer in many places of his Iliads abundantly confirms it, who, to give us a perfect Idea of those Ceremonies, sets down very particularly the Honours that were done to the body of Patroclus: Telling us, that Achilles having ordered the whole Army to be ranged in battle-array round about the Wood-pile, caused twelve young Gentlemen, Trojans, to have their heads cut off; besides a vast number of Oxen, Horses, Sheep, Dogs, and other beasts, which were butchered, and their bodies confusedly laid about the Corpse of his Friend; and last of all he himself having cast his Hair, which he had cut off with his own hand, into the flames, all was consumed amidst the lamentable cries of the whole Army.   

CHAP. III. Funerals of the Romans.  

Burying and Burning of the Dead used amongst the Romans.  THE Romans having succeeded to the Grecians in the Empire of the World, as they received from them many of their Laws and Manners, so most of their Ceremonies: But to the end we may not swerve from our Subject, we shall only observe how they were Imitators of the Grecians in the disposing of their Dead; for both of them at the first buried, afterwards burned them; and at last abhorring those horrid Solemnities, they introduced again the custom of interring them. 
* Herodot. Dion. Herod.  Their History acquaints us, that the former Burials lasted from Romulus (who was the Founder of their City) to the tyrannous Dictatorship of Sylla, 
‖ Liv. l. 12.  who having caused the Bones of his Enemy Marius to be digged out of his Grave, and fearing that the like affront might be done to him after his Death, he by an express Law made for that purpose, and many pompous Ceremonies, engaged the People to burn their Dead to ashes, which were afterwards gathered and shut up in Urns. This Law was observed until the Empire of the Antonin's, who being Philosophers and Virtuous Princes, could not endure that this kind of cruelty should be any longer exercised upon Humane Bodies; and therefore did abolish the use of Wood-piles, and restored the former way of Burying.  

* Varro L. 4. de Lin. Lat. Ceremonies observed at their Departure.  WHEN the sick was at the point of Death, his nearest Relation drew nigh unto him, waiting till he gave the last gasp, which he received with his open Mouth; and then shut his Eyes, provided he were not a Son of the Deceased; for the Manian▪ Law forbade Children to close their Father's eyes. And the same Kinsman did open them again, after that the Funeral Officers had done their duty; that is to say, after they had washed him well, clothed him with his own clothes, and laid him in the Tomb, or on the Wood-pile. Some say, that the reason why they closed the Eyes of those who were a dying, was, that they might not see the affliction which they caused to the standers-by; and that they opened them in the Grave, to the end they might behold the Beauty of Heaven, which was the abode they wished them to all Eternity.  

The manner and magnificence of the attending the Corpse to the Grave.  THE manner of accompanying the Corpse of one of the common People to the Grave, was very plain and simple; but when the Person was of great Quality, the pomp and state they used was very extraordinary. The march usually began with a long row of the Statues of his Ancestors, dressed in their Apparel and Robes of State; viz. in Consular Robes, if they had been raised to that Dignity; in the Pretexta, if they had commanded in the Army; in Purple, if they had been 
* Herod:  Censors; or in Cloth of Gold, if they had ever enjoyed the highest honours of Triumph. After these Statues of his Ancestors, followed his own; with all the marks and signals of the Employments he had discharged or Honours he had obtained, viz. Bundles of Rods & Axes, Garlands of Laurel or Oak, and those Coronets which were called Muralis and Civica; the former of which being given as a mark of honour to those who had first scaled a Wall and entered the City; the other to them who had preserved a City from the power of the Enemy, or saved the Life of any Citizen. And to all these they sometimes added the representations of the Cities or Provinces they had conquered. Next came all his Domestics in mourning, and were followed by Musicians, who played to a sad and doleful Tune; the Instruments being divers, according to the age of the Persons; for they made use of Pipes only for young People, and of Trumpets for the ancient. 
Officers that carried the Bodies to the Grave.  These Instruments went immediately before the Corpse, which was carried by the Vespillo's (so called, because they never buried the Dead but in the dusk of the Evening or at Night) and was followed by a throng of the Relations and Friends of the deceased, who had a company of young Boys and little Girls at the head of them; the former of which had their heads covered with a black Veil, and the latter went bareheaded with all their Hair spread about their Ears: All these marched in great order, through the care which was taken by the Designators, or Masters of Ceremonies.  

Burying in Houses used amongst them, and afterwards forbidden.  IN the beginning of their State they were wont, after they had attended the Corpse abroad, to bring them into their Houses, and there interred them 
* Varro. l. 4 ; from whence arose that great veneration they had for their Penates or Household-gods, which were nothing else but the Ghosts of those that belonged to their Family. But this custom did not last very long, not only because of the horror, which the continual presence of the Dead caused to the Living, but also by reason of the infection and ill scents arising from them. Which gave occasion to a Law, whereby it was enacted, that thenceforth no Dead should be buried in the City, much less kept in their Houses, as they did before; that Privilege being only granted to Vestals, to Emperors, and those who had been Triumphators. 
Privilege of the Heroes and Vestals.   

Buryingplace.  THE common place of Burial was the Via Flaminia or Latina, that is, the Flaminian or Latin Road: 
* Tacit. l. 1.  Where, as soon as they were arrived, one of the Relations standing in the midst of the company, who made a ring about him, pronounced the Funeral Oration in praise of the Deceased: Afterwards they laid him in the Grave with an ever-burning Lamp, and some small Vessels full of several sorts of Drink and Meats (not forgetting to put in also a piece of money to pay Charon, for wafting them over in his Ferry) and some Woollen Garlands, that they might with decency and honour appear in the Elysian Fields.  

* Pliz. l. 7. c. 44.  AS soon as the Grave was shut up, the Weeping-women, which they called Praeficae, 
Mourning-Women.  (who had no other employment, but to lament at Burials, and were usually to that purpose hired for money) cried aloud Ilicet, that is, Every one may now be gone. Upon which the Company three several times answered with a mournful voice, Vale, Vale, Vale, giving the deceased Party their last Adieus, and so withdrew.  

Laws that ordered the manner of Burying of the Dead.  THEIR Tombs were ordered and limited by the Laws, the workmanship about them being expressly forbid to exceed what ten men might finish in three days time 
‖ Cic. l. de Legib. , or five at the most; neither were they suffered to be larger than was necessary for the engraving of an Epitaph. It was upon this account, that Licinius was declared an infamous Person, for having caused a stately Sepulchre to be erected for him, wherein he had much exceeded the aforesaid bounds. At first, the custom was to write their Epitaphs in Verse, which never exceeded two Distiches: But afterwards they found Prose to be the better way, because it left them more at liberty, not only to express the Name of the Deceased, with that of his Family and Tribe; but likewise the honourable Offices and Employments he had discharged, his Profession, and the Legacies he had bequeathed. They began these Epitaphs by consecrating the Monuments they had erected, to the Dii Manes, that is, the Ghosts or Spirits of the Dead, or to the Infernal Deities; and sometimes to Diana, Hercules, or any other Divinity, for which they had a more particular devotion; and ended the same with mentioning the Legacies the deceased had given by his last Will, which consisted either in Feasts, or sums of money to be distributed to the people, and sometimes Oil, Biscuits, and such like viands; which the Executors were bound every year to perform at the Tomb of the Deceased, the same day they died, or else on their Birthday.  
Neither did they that outlived them (in acknowledgement of benefits received) forget any thing that might conduce to the preserving of their memory. 
* Plin. l. 7. c. 44.  For presently upon the Death of any person of quality they ordered his Statue to be made to the life; which after it had graced his Funeral pomp, was brought home, set in a Niche, and was used to be taken thence (in case he had been a Magistrate) upon days of great Solemnities, to accompany the public Processions; 
Statues of the Dead kept in their Relations houses, and in public places.  and if he were a private person, they adorned it in its Repository with Garlands, and several other gallantries. Moreover, if he that was dead had done any considerable services to the Commonwealth; then besides the Statue which his Relations kept of him in their houses, there was another erected at the charge of the public in some eminent Place of the City, in order to its being exposed to the sight of all men. This honour they gave to Scipio the African, whose Statue they set up in Jupiter's Temple in the Capitol. Whence it was, that when his Posterity the Cornelii entered that Sacred Place to offer any Sacrifice, they first approached his Statue, and asked his advice, as if he had been there alive. Thus also the Statue of Cato was placed in the Senate-house, and that of Trajan was fixed upon a Pillar: As afterwards they erected such another Pillar on which they placed the Statue of Antonine, who was an Emperor so generally beloved, that he was accounted infamous that had not in his house some Pourtraicture or Figure of him, either in colours, embossed Work, or at least in Medal.  

* Ap. de Bel. Punic. Games instituted in honour of the Dead.  BESIDES these Statues, they did, in order to celebrate their memory, institute combats of Gladiators: which they did in imitation of the Grecians, who appointed Games at Nemaea in honour of Archemorus; and celebrated annual sports and exercises at Jolcos' in Thessaly, in honour of Acastus. We read likewise in History, that in memory of Sciron they decreed solemn Games, which they called Isthmia, from the place where they were celebrated. Those Games were chiefly Tilting, running at the Ring, Wrestling, Fencing, besides combats and skirmishes both by Sea and Land.  

Their mourning.  AS to the time of Mourning, it was either longer or shorter, according to the Quality of the person; though commonly it lasted not above nine days, as appears by their Novendial, or nine-day-Sacrifices, which they offered to the Manes or Ghosts of the deceased. Nevertheless, the more scrupulous sort of people amongst them, who were willing to observe religiously the Institutions of the Ancients, did continue the mourning much longer. By the Laws of Numa women were to lament the Death of their Husbands; and Children their Parents, a whole year; that is (according to the computation of those times) the space of ten months: But it was not lawful for Husbands to do the same at the Death of their Wives, or Children when they died before they were three years old; but from three years to ten, Parents were allowed to mourn for them as many months, as they had lived years.  

* Varrol. 4. Public and private concerns that put an end to their Mourning.  IT is also to be observed, that their Mourning oftentimes was broke off before the time appointed by Law, and that upon the account of public, as well as private occasions. The public were, either the intervening of their Lustrum, or Year of Expiation, which was kept every five Years, at which time a Tribute was levied, and the City expiated by Sacrifices; or for the performing of some solemn Vow made by the Generals of their Army, as was that of Camillus, for the taking of the City Veji; that of Papirius; upon his Expedition against the Samnites: Of Marcellus, for the Booty taken from the Carthaginians at Nola, and such like: Or because of the occurring Festival solemnities of the Goddess Ceres: As upon this account it was, that the Mourning, begun for the slain in the bloody Defeat at Cannae, lasted but thirty days. But yet it was only to Men that this was forbidden; for as to Women, they had leave to continue their mourning all the year round.  
THE private causes were either the Birth of a Son; or the arrival of some near Relations, come out of prison, or freed from bondage; or else the marriage of a Daughter. In all which occasions they ceased to mourn for the Dead, that they might not deny such reasonable rejoicings to the living.  

The manner of their Burning of the Dead.  THE same Ceremonies before mentioned were used to those they Burned, that is, as to their attending the Funerals, their Epitaphs, and Mourning: The difference was only in the manner of their Wood-piles. These were made of very dry wood, and very often of such as was aromatical and sweet-scented, besides an abundance of Perfumes and odoriferous Oils that were poured out upon it, (after the Corpse was laid down thereon) and a great many Presents brought by their Relations and Friends. The Body was wrapped up in an Asbestin-cloth, made of the stone called Amiantoes, which resists the force of Fire; and so kept the Ashes of the Corpse from being mixed with those of the Wood The nearest kinsmen put fire to the Wood-pile, turning their eyes from it; and when all was consumed, they gathered up the Ashes themselves, and put them in an Earthen-pot, which they laid in a Tomb.  
AND to make this Discourse the more complete, we must not forget to insert, amongst these funeral honours, which were in some sort sufferable, those which superstition did afterwards introduce, by ranking them amongst the number of the Gods, whom they themselves but a little before acknowledged to be but men, and subject to all the infirmities of this life; which apotheosis or Deifying Ceremonies and Consecrations were by them chiefly conferred on their deceased Emperors. 
Mourning and funeral Pomp for their Emperors.   

* Herod. Plut. in Marcel.  AS soon as any one of these was Dead, they caused his Image to be made of wax, and dressed in his own clothes; afterwards they laid it upon a Bed of State in the entrance of the Palace, where all the Senators and great Ladies came to attend it, some of them being clad in Mourning, and others all in White, but very plain, and without the least ornament. The Senators having taken their places on the left hand, and the Ladies on the right, they continued there the whole day, without speaking one word; and for the space of seven days ensuing they put on a very sad countenance. During which time one of the most proper and handsome youths, that could be found, attended constantly at his Bolster, to drive the Flies away with a Fan of Peacock-feathers: His Physicians also visited him every day, felt his Pulse, still saying, that he grew worse and worse; and at last having declared him Dead, all the Shops throughout the City were shut up immediately, every one ceasing from his work, and striving to outvie one another in expressing their grief and sorrow. At last several young Noblemen of the highest Quality took this Bed (together with the Corpse of the deceased Emperor) on their shoulders, and first carried it to the Place, where they were used to elect their Magistrates: Here they set it on a Throne, which was erected in the midst, the Senators taking their seats round about it, and the Ladies having placed themselves in certain Galleries, two Quires began a mournful concert, whereof the one was composed of Boys, and the other of Girls, who sang by turns the Praises of the late Emperor from two scaffolds on each side of the Throne. 
Their Funeral Elegy.  These concerts were followed with an eloquent Oration, uttered by his Successor, which after having been oft interrupted, by the applause, as well as lamentations of the Auditors, ended at last in a general mourning, accompanied with most doleful out-cries.  
NO sooner was this noise over, but the Funeral-pomp began to advance. The first that set forth were those that carried the Statues of all the Great Men, that had commanded in the City, viz. of their Kings, Dictator's, Consuls, and Emperors. These Statues were accompanied with the representations of plain embossed work on Brass, of all the Provinces and principal City's subject to the Empire: After these came several that bare Standards; there being as many of them, as there were different Provinces under the Roman Government.  
AFTER all these illustrious marks of their Grandeur, followed the several Companies of Tradesmen, every one in their rank and order. Then came the Archers; and after them the Regiments of the Guards, with their Trumpeters: And in the rear of all came a Cavalcade, consisting of young Noblemen, and last of all many Chariots loaden with all the Ornaments, Perfumes, and precious things that were to be spent and consumed at the Funeral.  
WHEN all this train was passed by; the Priests, and the Magistrates elect, did again lift up the dead Body with the Bed of State on which it was laid, and delivered the same to some Roman Knights, who as soon as they had taken it up on their Shoulders, the whole Company began their march out of the City towards the Field of Mars, some of the Senators walking immediately before the Bed of State, and others behind it. In the midst of this Field there was a kind of Square Tower of Wood erected, and on the top of it were four little Towers made Taper or Spirewise, every one of them less than the other, and all of different heights; and on the top of the second of these Towers they placed the Corpse. After which all the Persons of Quality having seated themselves upon several Scaffolds, erected there for that purpose, beheld the Tilt and Races, that were run about the Wood-pile; the sight of which was very pleasant and delightful: For besides the activity and nimbleness of those on Horseback, and the several exercises of Footmen, there were many Triumphal Chariots, which they did drive with the greatest swiftness imaginable, and then turned them about in their full career. At length these Games, which they called Pyrrhica, being ended, the new Emperor attended by the chief Magistrates, came down from his Scaffold, and all of them having with their Torches set this wooden Tower on fire, an Eagle flew out of the top of it; which was the mark of the Divinity of the Deceased. 
The Apotheosis, or Canonization of their Emperors.  For they did persuade themselves, that this Eagle carried his Soul into Heaven, there to take his place amongst the Gods: And from that time forwards they gave him the compellation of Divus, which signifies a Demy-God; they dedicated Temples and Altars, consecrated Priests, and ordained Sacrifices in honour of him.  

* Val. Max. The Canonization of Empresses.  THE Apotheosis of Empresses was the same in all circumstances, except that instead of an Eagle a Peacock was made use of, to mount their Souls to Heaven, as we learn from the Medals of 
‖ Liv. l. 12.  Livia, Maximina, Faustina, Paulina, and several others, with this word on the backside of them, [Consecratio] which is the same with Apotheosis, or Canonization.  

Canonization of private Persons.  NEITHER were the Emperors only ranked amongst the Gods, but private Persons also (as History acquaints us) have had the same Honours done to them. And without speaking of the two Gracchis, to whom the People dedicated a Temple, because they had lost their lives in their Service; don't we read that the Emperor Adrian did the same to that beautiful Antinous, whom he so extravagantly loved? For he did not content himself to confer on him the honour of being Canonised after his Death; but he also built a City, which he called by his Name, thereby to immortalize his Memory.  

The common way of Burying their Vestals.  NOW a word or two must be spoken of the Ceremonies used at the Burial of the Vestals. In how great esteem and veneration these Virgins (to whose care the keeping of the Sacred Fire was committed) were amongst the Romans, is well known. For they not only rendered them the highest marks of honour they could possibly express, whenever they chanced to meet with any of them in the Streets; but also gave them the first places in all Assemblies, both in their Temples and Theatres. They had always a Gentleman-Usher going before them; yea so great deference was given to their presence, that if they accidentally met with a Criminal, led to the place of Execution, he could not then be put to Death; this happy encounter procuring the poor wretch his Pardon.  
THERE was also the greatest care imaginable taken in the choice of them: They never consecrated any to this high charge, but from Six Years of Age to Ten. Moreover they were to be without any blemish, neither stammering, deaf, crooked, lame, nor maimed; Their Parents also were to be free, having never been bound in any sort of Servitude, or employed in base and mean Offices, for their Father was to have been either a Priest, Augur, or Epulo. The Girl, who had all these advantages, was by her Relations conducted to the Porch of the Temple of Vesta, where she was received by the High Priest, who consecrated her for the space of thirty Years to the service of that Goddess; during which time she was to keep her Virginity inviolable. Men were not suffered to speak with them, except in the Daytime; and very severe punishments were decreed against those, who entered their Lodgings by Night.  
WHEN they happened to Decease in this state of Virginity, they were not only Buried with great Pomp; but had also the peculiar privilege allowed them (as well as Heroes) of having their Tombs within the City.  

Manner of Burying unchaste Vestals.  BUT on the contrary, when any of them was found guilty of breaking her Vow, by incontinency and whoredom, as it was looked upon as one of the greatest misfortunes that could befall the City, so was she likewise severely punished for it, by the most shameful Burial in the World. They laid her all at length on a Bier, as if she had been Dead, covered all over with many clothes, which were tied fast and close about her, that she might be neither seen, nor heard. And being thus swaddled about, she was carried from the Temple of Vesta to the Gate called Collina, attended by her Relations and Friends, all in tears; after them came the Priests with sad and dejected looks, without speaking one word. Hard by this Gate, within the Walls, there was a little hillock, and underneath it a very deep Cave, which served for a Grave to the 
‖ Plin. l. 7.  unchaste Vestals. As soon as they were arrived at this place, the poor wretch was loosed of her Swadling-cloaths, and nothing left her save a great Veil, which covered her Head and Face, that she could not be seen: Then she was taken down from the Bier, and the High Priest having muttered a few words with his back towards her, she was taken by the Executioner, and let down by a Ladder to the bottom of this Grot or Cave, where was set ready for her a Bed, a burning Lamp and a little Bread, with three Pots full of Water, Milk and Oil; and having stopped the hole, there they let her perish without any pity; for it was not lawful for them to shed their blood: And so solemn was the Mourning on these Days, that none durst either work, or divert themselves; neither was any thing to be heard throughout the whole City, but sighing, cries, and lamentations.   

CHAP. IV. Funerals of the Persians.  
IT is matter of astonishment, considering the Persians have ever had the renown of being one of the most civilised Nations in the world, that notwithstanding they should have used such barbarous customs about the Dead 
* Diod. l. 17.  as are set down in the Writings of some Historians; and the rather because at this day there are still to be seen among them those remains of 
‖ Procop. De Bel. Pers. l. 1. Agath. l. 2.  Antiquity, which do fully satisfy us, that their Tombs have been very magnificent. And yet nevertheless, if we will give credit to Procopius and Agathias, the Persians were never wont to bury their Dead Bodies, so far were they from bestowing any Funeral Honours upon them: 
The Persians exposed their Dead in the open field instead of burying them.  But, as these Authors tell us, they exposed them stark naked in the open fields, which is the greatest shame our Laws do allot to the most infamous Criminals, by laying them open to the view of all upon the high ways: 
Their foolish Opinions.  Yea in their opinion it was a great unhappiness, if either Birds or Beasts did not devour their Carcases; and they commonly made an estimate of the Felicity of these poor Bodies, according as they were sooner or later made a prey of. Concerning these, they resolved that they must needs have been very bad indeed, since even the Beasts themselves would not touch them; which caused an extreme sorrow to their Relations, they taking it for an ill boding to their Family, and an infallible presage of some great misfortune hanging over their heads; for they persuaded themselves, that the Souls which inhabited those Bodies being dragged into Hell, would not fail to come and trouble them; and that being always accompanied with the Devils, their Tormentors, they would certainly give them a great deal of disturbance.  
AND on the contrary, when these Corpses were presently devoured, their joy was very great, they enlarged themselves in praises of the Deceased; every one esteemed them undoubtedly happy, and came to congratulate their relations on that account: For as they believed assuredly, that they were entered into the Elysian Fields, so they were persuaded, that they would procure the same bliss to all those of their Family.  
THEY also took a great delight to see Skeletons and Bones scattered up and down in the fields, whereas we can scarcely endure to see those of Horses and Dogs used so. And these remains of Humane Bodies, (the sight whereof gives us so much horror, that we presently bury them out of our sight, whenever we find them elsewhere, than in Charnel-houses or Churchyards) were the occasion of their greatest joy; because they concluded from thence the happiness of those that had been devoured, wishing after their Death to meet with the like good luck.  

Sick Soldiers exposed to the wild Beasts.  THE same Historians inform us, that when any private Soldier was sick in their Armies, and in outward appearance past recovery, they carried him to the next Wood or Forest, leaving with him only a piece of Bread, a little Water, and a Stick, that he might, as long as he should have any strength, defend himself from the wild Beasts, which most commonly devoured 
* Herodot. l. 3.  these poor wretches; and if it chanced that any one of them escaped, and came back to his own house, all the people ran away from him, as if they had seen some Ghost or Devil; and did not suffer him to converse with any body, till after he had been purified and expiated by the Priests; as if having been so near Death, he were thereby (according to their opinion) become unfit to live any longer; for they supposed that he must needs have had great converse with Daemons, since notwithstanding his extreme sickness he had been able to defend himself against the wild Beasts, and recovered his strength, without any man's help or assistance.  
AND howsoever barbarous and inhuman these customs may seem to us, yet were 
* Just. l. 19  they amongst them so strictly observed, that they condemned to Death one of their most Illustrious Captains called Seosez, only because he had interred his Wife; 
Exposing of Dead Bodies most strictly observed by the Persians.  Burial amongst them having (as they said) always been contrary to the Religion of their Country. And for further confirmation of what hath been said, the Historian Menander 
‖ Menand. in Excerpt. de Legat.  assures us, that one of the Principal Conditions in the Treaty of Peace, concluded between the Emperor Justian, and Cosrhoez, one of their Kings, was that the Christians of his Kingdom should be permitted to bury their Dead.  

Burning of the Dead abhorred by them.  NEITHER did they less abominate the Burning of the Dead, which was the cause, why in the beginning of that Monarchy, King Cambyses 
* Just. l. 19  had well nigh made his People to rise in Rebellion against him, for having caused the body of Amasis' King of Egypt, to be digged out of his Grave, and afterward Burnt with great pomp and ceremony; they openly declaring, that this was to give a very dangerous example to Posterity; since instead of being a Conservator of 
‖ Strab. l. 15. Cic. l. Tuscul. l. 1.  the Laws of the Land, which did not allow either of Burials or Burning, he was the first that broke them.  
HOWEVER (not to dispute the veracity of the forementioned Historians) certain it is, that this inhuman custom of exposing the Dead was never long in use amongst the Persians: 
Burying in use also amongst them.  For besides that stately piece of Antiquity, called the Forty Pillars, whereof the magnificent Remains are seen in these our days, in the very same place, where the famous Persepolis once stood; we read in Cicero's Tusculan Questions, as likewise in Strabo and Herodotus, that in time past these People were wont to cover the Corpses with Earth only, without any other ceremony or expense; or else (after they had covered them over with Wax, to preserve their shape and figure) shut 'em up sometimes in Caves and hollow places of Rocks, and sometimes in Tombs. And Xenophon 
* Xenoph. l. 2.  puts us out of all doubt concerning this matter, when he tells us, that Cyrus expressly forbade his Children to put up his Corpse in any rich Coffin, but barely to commit it to the ground. The same thing is confirmed to us by Justin and Quintus Curtius, speaking of old Darius' Son to Hystaspes, and Father to Xerxes, who (says he) having subdued the Carthaginians, abolished the Custom they had of Burning their Dead; and instead thereof ordained That of Burials. The other (viz. Quintus Curtius) in the exact Description he gives of the Defeat of the latter Darius, and the Conquest of his Country by Alexander the Great, tells us, that this incomparable Conqueror having totally routed and destroyed the Persian Army at the Pillars of Amanus, upon the News he received, that the King was killed there, presently dispatched Leonatus, one of his principal Courtiers, to his Mother and Wife, to condole with, and comfort them; and that these Princesses in the trouble and confusion wherein they were, by reason of their extreme affliction, thinking at first that he was sent thither to dispatch them, fell down at his feet, and with tears besought him, not to slay them, before they had buried the Body of that poor unhappy Prince. Which Opinion is the more confirmed, because Alexander having afterwards delivered Bessus, who had killed Darius, into these Princess' hands, they thought they could not inflict upon him a more cruel punishment, than by causing his Body to be cut into a thousand pieces, and scattered abroad in the Fields. We also learn from Appian and Plutarch, that Artaxerxes having made the Chief of the Grecian Commanders his prisoners, who had taken the Party of his Brother Cyrus against him, caused them to die a shameful death, and exposed their Corpses to the devouring Beasts. So that we must needs conclude, that at least in those days the casting abroad of Dead Bodies was accounted a Punishment, and not an Honour amongst them.  

Their Mourning.  DURING the time of their Mourning they wore clothes of a brown colour; and not only the Men and Women were shaved, and had their hair cut off, but generally all their Beasts and Cattle were shorn too. 
Ceremonies of the Persians at this day.  But as they have in these latter Ages, embraced the Law of Mahumet, so have they altered their Customs and Ceremonies. They can bury no Body, except they have first demanded, and obtained the King's Leave for it; or if they be too far from the Court, the Lord Lieutenant's, or Principal Magistrates; which ask of Leave is but a Formality, it being never denied. Assoon as this is granted, if the Party be never so little considerable, they carry some Standards before his Corpse, which are followed by Saddle-horses, charged with their Arms, viz. Swords, Darts, Arrows and Turbans. Those that lead these Horses are naked to the Wast. Then come their Friends, who besides their nakedness, give themselves large gashes, out of which the blood runs from all parts. They all march before the Body, round about which their Priests are, singing Dirges, or Prayers for the Dead, which are interrupted and blended with the sad lamentations of the deceased parties Relations, who follow after the Corpse, at the head of a great throng of people, who have all their Turbans untied, and hanging loose on their shoulders. In this order they proceed, till they come to a River, or any other place where much water is, and there wash the Body, having first placed it under a Tent. Then they march on towards the place of Burial, which is most commonly a Mosque, in case the Person deceased be of Quality, or if of a low rank, the next Churchyard. As for their Kings, they are all entombed by themselves, in a particular Mosque, which is covered without with green Tiles, and within with plates of Silver; their Tombs being ranged all along the wall in a most curious order, and over-laid with the most rich Silk, Stuffs, and cloth of Gold, that can be had.   

CHAP. V. The Funerals of the Turks.  
HAVING just now spoken of the Mahometans, with respect to their Ceremonies about the Dead, we shall now (to avoid confusion) proceed to the Funerals of the Turks, who are the principal Sect among them.  

Their bewailing of the Dead.  IT is not a hard matter with them to know how many dye in a City; For as soon as any one is Dead, the Women begin with loud cries to bewail them, and by this sad noise they gather their Neighbours together, who continue the same doleful Lamentations, relating with tears in their Eyes, the good and noble Actions of the Deceased. 
* Thevet's Voyage.  And these Lamentations which may be heard very far off, are continued to the very Place where the Corpse is designed to be buried: Which mourning solemnity, some do recommence at the Years end, and so continue the same by intervals for several Years together, proportionably to the Love they bear to the Party deceased. They carry also many good things, and varieties of Meats to the Grave, which they distribute to those that pass by, that they may mourn with them; and do hire Weeping-women, to make this Ceremony the more doleful.  

Their way of Burying the Dead.  AS to their way of Burying, it is no less singular. They wash the Corpse, and shave all its Hair off; Then they wrap it in a Linnen-cloth, which they have besprinkled with Soap-suds, and afterwards with Rose-water; and thus lay it down stretched out at length in a Coffin, (which they expose to the view of all comers, in the Entry of their House) not lying on its Back, or Belly, but on its right side, with the Face turned to the South, as if looking towards Mecha; a City, which they have a great veneration for; it being the Native Place of their Prophet. This Coffin is covered with a Canopy of divers Colours, according to the different Rank or Quality of the Person. If it be for a Soldier, it is red; if for a Priest, green; and if the Party was neither of these, than they make use of a black covering.  
IT is likewise to be observed, that when they wrap their Dead in a Winding-sheet, they let their Feet & Heads be at liberty, that they may the better, and with the more ease kneel down, when the Angels come to examine them; leaving them a lock or tuft of Hair on the top of their Heads, that the Angels, who make them kneel whilst they interrogate them, may by that Lock lay hold of them: 
Their foolish Fancies touching the Examen of Souls.  For they are of opinion, that as soon as the Dead is in the Grave, his Soul comes into his Body again, and that two Angels in a dismal, horrid and frightful shape, presenting themselves to him, ask him these Questions, Who is thy God? What is thy Religion? Who is thy Prophet? To which he ought to answer thus; My God is the true God; My Religion is the true Religion, and my Prophet is MAHUMET. This is the only answer, that can secure him at this pinch; and the very same (as they say) which all those, who have lived well, do return to the Angels. Now as soon as he hath given this answer, a lovely Creature is brought to him (which are his good Deeds) and remains with him, to comfort and delight him until Dooms Day, when they shall both enter into Paradise.  
BUT if the dead Person know himself guilty, he is so possessed with fear, that he cannot give so just and satisfactory an Answer; and thereupon is presently severely punished; for those black Angels (as they say) strike him with a fiery Club; and that with such violence, that the fierceness of the stroke makes the ground to sink under him, where he is so extremely pressed and squeezed, that all the Milk he hath sucked from his Nurse, runs out through his Nose. After all this comes to him an ugly Creature (which is nothing else but his evil actions) and abides with him, to torment him until the Day of Judgement, when both of them are to be cast into Hell, there to endure greater Punishments. Wherefore, to the end the deceased may be delivered from these Black Angels, their Friends, that come to weep and lament at their Graves, do encourage them, crying continually with a loud voice, Be not afraid, but answer boldly.  

Their foolish Opinions concerning Good and Bad.  ANOTHER distinction no less ridiculous than this, do they make between good and wicked Persons. They say, that at the day of Doom 
* Georg. eprer. Turc. c. 5.  Mahumet shall come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, to see whether JESUS CHRIST shall judge Men in Righteousness; and that after Judgement past, he shall be changed into a white Sheep, in whose Fleece all the Turks shall be hidden, as so many small worms; and that those who shall fall off at his shaking of himself, shall be damned; but that such as shall stick close to him, shall be saved; because he'll carry them along with him into Paradise.  

Their attending the Corpse to the Grave.  AS for what concerns their manner of accompanying the Corpse to the Grave, it is very plain and simple. They carry it out of the House, the Head foremost; the 
* Lonicer. Chron. Turc. lib. 2.  Priests go before it, singing Hymns or Prayers; and the Relations and Friends follow after, bitterly wailing and lamenting. At their return, they feast the Priests, and reward them with a Piece of Money, if the Party deceased was rich; but if he were poor, they go through the Streets and other public Places, and beg of the People what's due to them on this account.  

The Graves of great Persons, and the manner of their Burials.  AS for great Personages, they differently make choice of their Sepulchers, according to their various inclinations and fancies: Some of 'em cause themselves to be buried in curious and pleasant Gardens, planted with abundance of Trees, and embellished with 
* Leunclav. Hist. Musul.  Flowers; which Gardens they encompass about with strong Walls, that no Beasts may enter them, walk over their Graves, or annoy and defile them with their dung; this seeming an insufferable thing to them, even after their death, as if they supposed themselves to be sensible in their Graves. Besides, they build great Almshouses near the place where they intent to be buried, and bequeath large Revenues to the same, for the relief and maintenance of the Poor.  
OTHERS order their Coffins to be carried into 
‖ Bellon. 3. Singul. Chron. Turc. l. 2.  Mosques, where they are placed on the ground, covered with their Canopy and Turban, with several Lamps, continually burning about them. After this manner are the Graves of all their Emperors most commonly adorned, and particularly that of Mahumet himself at Medina. True it is, that his Coffin has no Alcorans fastened to it, because he being looked upon as their Prophet, they don't think it necessary to pray for his Soul, since it is he that saves others; 
* Elias Grammar.  though those Books are always affixed to all other Tombs, for the convenience of them that come to pray there; and some of these are continually attended by people, who out of the said Books read prayers by turns, both day and night; for which they are paid out of a large revenue the deceased Prince has appointed for that purpose, to the end the Prayers for the Rest of his Soul might never cease.  

The place and manner of Burying the common sort.  AS to the common sort, holes are digged for them in their public Burying-places, wherein they being laid down, and covered over with Earth, two small Pillars, or two pieces of Wood, are 
* Bar. Dec. 1. l. 1.  erected upon their Graves; the one being set at their feet, and the other at their head. But there are some, who being desirous to distinguish themselves from others, and able to be at some cost, have Tombs made for them, much after the fashion of Altars, in the said public places.  

Their respect for all manner of Graves.  AND so great is the Veneration they have, not only for their own Sepulchers, but those also of all other Nations, that the robbing, or violating of any of them, is held amongst them the highest Crime a man can commit: 
‖ Georg. ep. rer. Turc. c. 7.  As we may plainly see in Thevet's Cosmography, who tells us, that one of their Ottomans, called Selim, in his Expedition against Egypt, from whence he returned Victorious, and Master of the whole Country, caused several of his own Soldiers to be severely punished in Syria, only for having opened the Grave of a Jewish Physician, upon the hopes of finding some treasure there; fourteen of which were hanged; three empaled, and the rest put to death by divers Torments.  

Several instances to this purpose.  BESIDES, the same Emperor seeing many Graves of the 
* Eulog. l. 1.  Christian Princes in Jerusalem, who under Godfrey of Bovillon did recover the Holy Land from the hands of the Turks, and who had been the cause of so great defeats they had received in several bloody Battles, did nevertheless, under great penalties, prohibit the touching, or disturbing of them: For (said he) all Graves, even those of our Enemies, are esteemed in our Religion as Sacred things. In short, they are so tender and nice in this Point, that they will not suffer any body on horseback to ride through their Churchyards. Which was the reason why Monsieur de Villamonté hardly escaped being stoned to death in the same City; because he had rid through a Place where some poor Turks were formerly Buried; the Place being still accounted Sacred by them, though there was not the least sign of any Grave there.  

To be deprived of Burial accounted a great misfortune amongst them.  MOREOVER, they account it one of the greatest misfortunes that can possibly befall them, to be deprived of Burial. Thus we read, that that famous General Zubienzar (who continued the siege of Constantinople for seven years together) being shot with an Arrow, and finding himself ready to give up the Ghost, charged his Soldiers courageously to continue the Attaque, till they had laid his Body so deep in the ground, that his Foes might not be able to discover, and find out the place where he was Buried. And it was upon the same account, that Solyman dying in the territories of the Christians, into which he was advanced with a potent Army, designing to spoil and make havoc of them, strictly commanded his Captains to convey his Body into his own Dominions, that the Christians might not offer any injury to his Tomb.  
BUT what does fill me with greater wonder, is the respect which one of their Princes, Noradine by Name, had for the Sepulchre of Baudovin, the Third King of Jerusalem; for he being dead at Beryte, and his Body with great pomp carried from thence to the Burying place of his Ancestors, some advised him to take that opportunity, to invade the Christian Countries, and avenge himself of the many affronts he had received from them. But so far was he from acquiescing in their advice, which seemed very promising and advantageous, that he reproached them with the little respect and consideration they had for the Dead; adding, that for his part he had rather lose the Empire of the World, than disturb the Grave of any one whatsoever.   

CHAP. VI Funerals of the Chinese.  
NEVER were any People in the World so nice and scrupulous in this Matter, as the Chineses: For 
* Pint. Voyag.  they not only (every one of them) keep in their houses a Book containing all the Rites and Ceremonies used at their Burials, which they read over as oft as any one is Dead, 
Their mourning.  to the end they may the more exactly pay every the least punctilio of Duty and Honour due to the Deceased; and rather love to exceed what is prescribed in the said Ceremonial, than to omit any the least circumstance therein set down: But though their Mourning be very long and tedious, it lasting no less than three years, and very troublesome, as tying them to the strict observation of most severe Laws; yet none amongst them has, to this day, ever complained of their rigour; but on the contrary, they think themselves most happy, if they can but return their Parents an acknowledgement suitable to the pains they have taken for them in their infancy; in bewailing them the space of three whole years, because during the same term of time they took so much care of their education, in their most tender and helpless years. They cut off part of their Hair, and dress themselves in a course linnen-cloth; they are never seen at public Sports, and solemn rejoicings; they cease from prosecuting their Adversaries, and suing for Judgement against them; and if they be Magistrates, they lay down their Office, during the whole time of their Mourning; and he would be esteemed a most base and infamous person, who should omit the least of these circumstances. Besides, Children are not permitted to marry, before they are out of Mourning; and if any during this time contract a marriage in private, and it come to the Justice's knowledge, besides the fine laid upon them, the Marriage is declared void. Neither is it lawful for those that are married to lie with their Wives, there being penalties appointed by the Law against such Women, as are found with Child within the foresaid interval. In short, all manner of rejoicing is, during all that time, so strictly forbidden, that they who ride on horseback are not permitted to use a Collar of Bells, wherewith they adorn their Horses, though they be so much in fashion there among Travellers, that neither rich nor poor do ever ride without them.  

* Marin. relat.  AS for the Father's mourning for their Children; Brothers for Brothers, and Nephews for Uncles, it does not last so long. But the mourning of a Husband for his Wife, or Wife for her Husband, is as long and tedious, as is that forementioned of the Children for their Parents.  

Feasts for the Deceased.  THE first Duty they pay to their Deceased Relation, after they have closed his Eyes, is to furnish two Tables with all sorts of Meats, and the best Wine; one whereof they set near the Bed, on which the Dead is lying, his Kinsmen and Friends discoursing him, and inviting him to eat and drink with them, as if he were still alive; and the other in the Antichamber, which is no less well decked and provided, for the entertainment of those that come to condole with them. But true it is, that these Viands that are equally dainty, are eaten in a very different manner. Some hours after the Table spread for the Relations of the Deceased is taken away, little of the Meat being touched; because these poor Creatures, in the midst of their affliction, and at the sight of so sad and doleful an object, find more ease and satisfaction in weeping, than in eating; whereas the other, though plentifully and splendidly furnished, is scarce sufficient for the Guests; who for the most part are smell-feasts, and good-fellows that repair thither, rather to make good cheer, and stuff their bellies, than to express any sorrow for, or share in the affliction of the Family.  
THEY keep the same Feasts also, though they be far from their own Country, as soon as they are informed of the Death of any of their near Relations: Upon the first news they receive of it, they cause the Name of the Dead to be written on a board; to which they address themselves, and speak, as if the Body were present, and make all the haste they can to recover home, in order to acquit themselves in their Duty. And in case it happen, that for a long time they receive no news from their Relations abroad, insomuch as they have reason to suspect their death, if after they have advised with Soothsayers, and made all possible inquiries, they can't procure their Bodies (being Dead) than they make an Image of Plaster, and pay to it the same Honours, which they would have paid to the Corpse itself.  

Their Singing and Praying for the Dead.  AS soon as these Feasts are over, the Bonzes, which are their Priests, are called in, to rehearse the usual Prayers, which they do in so sad and mournful a tune, and withal so extremely harsh and frightful, that one would rather think it to be the howling of Devils, than the singing of Priests. This done, they appoint the day and hour of the Burial; after which, every body being withdrawn, they leave the Corpse in the hands of such, who are to take care of preparing it, in order to its Interment.  

Their way of Burying Corpses.  THESE do wash it with sweet waters, dress it in his finest clothes, and put it up in a Coffin, 
* Nic. Trig. de reb sing.  with several precious things, which are given to the Deceased by his Relations. And to the end that neither Devils, nor Men should dare meddle with them, they also put into the Coffin some horrid and frightful shapes, which they say are very sure Guardians, and scarecrows against all manner of Robbers. How great Riches are consumed and spent in these Funerals, is almost incredible; for besides that these Coffins are often of Gold or Silver, many Jewels and precious Stones of great value are together enclosed with them.  

Their Superstition about the time of their Burials.  NOR do they ever bury their Dead in those Years where the last number is the same with that of the Year of their birth. For example, 
* Idem ibid.  if the Party were born in one thousand six hundred and five, or fifteen if you will, and he happen to die in the Year one thousand six hundred thirty five, forty five, or in any of a like denomination; they keep the Corpse all that Year over, being in continual expectation, that as his Soul came first into his Body in a Year of that number, so may it the same Year return and be reunited again with it. And this foolish belief doth so far prevail with them, that when ever it happens so, they dare not inter the Body but the year after.  

Their foolish fancies touching the return of the Dead.  WITH a like ridiculous and vain Opinion do they entertain their fancies, concerning the return of the Dead into their Houses once a Year, which they imagine comes to pass in the very last Night of the Year; and to the end their deceased Friends and Relations may, without any more ado enter-in as soon as they come, they leave their Doors open 
* Pint. relat.  all that Night. In the mean time they make their Beds ready for them, and set a Basin full of Water in the Chamber (to wash their feet) and whatsoever else they may have occasion for. Thus with great stillness and silence they expect their coming till Midnight, when supposing them arrived, they compliment them, by telling them how glad they are of their Company; and thereupon light several Wax-Tapers, that are placed on an Altar, which they have for that use; on which they burn a composition of sweet-scented Drugs, with a thousand like Perfumes; then they with great reverence bow themselves to them, praying them to remember their Children, Nephews or other Relations that Year; that by their means they may obtain of the Gods, health, strength, and a long and prosperous Life, with plenty of worldly Goods. Now though this may seem a ridiculous custom, yet the neglecting or omitting of the same, is reckoned amongst them a most high and unpardonable crime; and of which, if any should be guilty, they would not fail to lie under a continual apprehension, that the Dead would some time or other avenge that impiety, and severely punish them for the same.  
BUT to return from this digression; we'll now speak of the end and upshot of their Funeral Ceremonies. 
The manner of their attending the Corpse to the Grave.  The day on which the Corpse is to be Buried, they early in the Morning give public notice of the Hour, when it is to be carried to its Grave, to have the greater concourse of People to attend it. 
* Didac. relat.  In the front of all this Procession, march Colours and Standards, which are followed by Men playing on Instruments, some on Drums, others on Ho-boys, others on Bagpipes, and others on Trumpets; after these come up a Company of Dancers, who are dressed in mighty strange and antic habits, like Stage-players, leaping and dancing all the way in a very ridiculous manner. After this third Company, comes another, that is no less singular in its kind: They are a number of Men, armed with several sorts of Weapons, some with Symetars, others with large Shields and Bucklers, and others with Clubs, whose massy end is stuck full of Iron-spikes; these are seconded by others that carry Fire-arms, which they continually discharge; and the Priests, who come next after them, do cry and bawl as loud as ever they can; which noise though very great, is still increased by the sad and sonorous lamentations both of the Relations and People attending; insomuch, that if there ever was a mad concert, this may well be called so; besides that, this antic mixture of Players, Dancers, Soldiers, Musicians and Mourners, makes it the most ridiculous show in the World.  
AS to the Bodies of the Rich, they are most commonly carried into the Country; every one of them making choice of a place of Burial for himself in his own ground; by reason they hope to enjoy their Estates in another life, and accordingly take possession of the same, by their being Buried there. Upon which account it is, that when a Grave is once made in any Land or Possession, the Kindred of the Dead are, from that time forward, devested of the liberty to dispose of it to others. And as during their Lives they spend much time and money towards the preparing of those Graves, which after their Death are yet further enriched and embellished by their Friends and Relations, so are they the most magnificent and stately structures that can ever be seen.  

Foolish and superfluous Expense about their Dead.  BESIDES all this, the Relations of the Dead, do put themselves to other great expenses, to 
* Id. ibid.  supply them with goods in the other world. In the midst of some public place they erect vast Buildings, whose Fabric is both curious and costly; and having written the Name of the Deceased upon them, they burn them to ashes, being of that belief, that the same pass to the other world, and that their departed Friends take possession of them, as if they were made over to 'em by a Letter of Attorney.  
IT remains yet, that we speak of two sorts of Burials which are in use among them, viz. of the meaner sort, and of their Kings. The former of which are interred in public Burying-places, without much ceremony or expense, their belief being, that they must be poor in the other World, as they have been in this.  

Peculiar Ceremonies used at the Death of their Kings.  AS for their Kings, though they be interred according to the way prescribed by the Religion of the Country, yet there are particular Ceremonies observed 
* Marin. relat.  for them, which are not used to any other, though they be of the highest rank. Assoon as they have given up the Ghost, they are with a great deal of pomp and splendour, laid on a Bed of State, placed in the midst of the great Hall of their Palace; for besides that the said Bed is made of the most rare and costly wood, it is all lined and garnished within with cloth of Gold, whose edges hang down to the ground. Then comes his Successor accompanied with his Brothers (if he has any) all of them clothed in Sackcloth, and girded with Ropes, with a small twisted Cord about their heads, who after they have, with humble obeisance, paid their reverence to the Corpse, and by their weeping and dejected countenances, declared how sensibly they are afflicted for the Death of so great, and so good a Prince, they presently withdraw, and cause their Hair to be cut off, by one of their chief Mandarins, or Courtiers.  
IN this mourning habit they return again the next day to the Palace, where having a second time, in the same manner as before, paid their duty to the Corpse, they transfer it themselves into a portable house, where they lay the Coffin on a Table gilded all over, round about which are set several pots of Flowers, that together with a great number of Censers, and Perfuming-pans, exhale a sweet scent all over the place, wherein nothing is wanting, that may render it every way admirable; there not being ought else to be seen, but the dazzling lustre of Gold, Silver, and precious Stones, intermixed with the light of many thousands of Virgin-wax-Tapers.  

Their Funeral procession, and attendance.  THAN the Funeral procession is appointed in order to the burying of the Corpse. But before it commenceth, the Princes call to them three Persons of the highest Quality in the whole Kingdom, whom they choose to attend the Body to the Grave (because they cannot do it themselves) and take their Oaths of them, that they shall not only discharge their duty therein, with all possible Glory and magnificence, but withal hide the place so carefully, that none but those of the Royal Family may ever come to the knowledge of it. Which Custom of concealing the Sepulchers of their Kings, is by them observed, because they apprehend the immense Treasures they bury with them, would otherwise be stolen away.  
THUS having by the solemn Oath of these Commissioners, provided against that fear, they cause the signal of the procession to be given by the confused noise of a great number of Drums. And the Soldiers of the Guard, both Musqueteers and Halberdiers, to the number of fifteen thousand, every one of them clad in a long dark blue Gown, with a Cap of the same, rank themselves into rows, making a lane down to the River, where the Corpse is to embark; for commonly the Bodies of their Sovereigns are transmitted into remote Countries. The ways being thus cleared of people, and open for a free passage, the Funeral March begins, with a Chariot charged with a great Column, around which the King's Life, Age, and Virtues, with the most remarkable of his Exploits, are written in Gold and Silver Letters, and on the top of it three Globes of Gold and Silver are set, one upon another. After this comes another Chariot, in a manner all of Gold, which carries the embossed picture of a City. Then advances a third, that bears the Royal Throne, all of Gold and Ivory, whereon is laid the Crown of the late King. But all these Machine's, though marvellous rich and costly, are not to be compared with that Mausoleum, or portable House, in which the Corpse is laid: Immediately before which, advances a great number of Musicians, who, without singing, play in concert to the sighs and lamentations of the Assembly; on either side of it, the Eunuches, and other chief Officers of the Crown do attend; and the new King, with the Princes his Brothers, dressed as you have heard before, walk after barefooted, having false Hair on their heads, and counterfeit white Beards, with a Pilgrim's Staff in their hand, as if they intended to signify by this poor equipage, that in losing their King they had lost all. The Queens and other Ladies of the Court, to the number of eight or nine hundred, clad all in White, with Vails of the same colour, accompany them, together with more than a thousand Mandarins, wh have a course linnen-cloth carelessly wrapped about their body, much like a haircloth; or else are apparelled with a covering made of barks or leaves of Trees. And last of all, four thousand Armed men bring up the rear of this great and pompous Procession.  
AS soon as the Body arrives at the River, it is saluted with the discharging of the Guns from three Galleys, which attend there on purpose, and with great volleys of shot from the band of Musqueteers. The chief of which, called the Galley Royal, that is appointed to carry the Corpse (besides that a great part of it is covered with hangings of Cloth of Gold) has all its Rowing-benches decked with the most rich Persian Carpets, and the Rowers in the most splendid garb imaginable, of divers colours. As for the other two, whereof the one carries the City, and the other the Mausoleum, they are both gilded all over without and within, from the Stern to the Prow.  
AS soon as these Galleys are put off, from shore, the King and all his Court vying to outdo one another, in demonstrations of the affliction they conceive for losing so great, and so good a Master, follow them with their Eyes, as far as they can, with all possible expressions of 〈◊〉 excessive sorrow; and when they are got out of sight, they return to the Palace, from whence the King issues out his Proclamation for the solemnising of a general Mourning throughout the Kingdom; which Mourning lasts three whole Years, during which time no body dares, either dance, sing, or play upon any Instrument.  
SOME time after, the King, to discharge himself of the obligation of a Present he owes his Predecessor, causes the representation of a whole Kingdom, or of an Army encamped under their Tents, or of a large City only, to be erected in the midst of some large place; and after having spent abundance of riches about the building and furnishing of these Machine's, they are by his order set on fire, to the end his Father or Predecessor may receive and enjoy them in the other World.  
AND what is yet more ridiculous in this ceremony, is, that before he thus foolishly cause the aforesaid Machine's to be set on fire, he formally buys the same of some persons that are on purpose appointed to be within them. The particular circumstances of which take as follows: The King advanceth to the door, and by his order, a Musician delivers himself with a tuneable singing voice to this purpose. There was some time ago a most rich, wise, and Puissant King, who having laid down his life in this World, to enjoy Immortality in the other, and consequently devested himself of all his Estates and Dominions, in favour of his Children, without reserving any thing to himself of all those immense Estates he possessed here: And it being noised abroad, that he is now solitary and wand'ring in a strange Country, without Soldiers to guard him, without Horses or Elephants, wherewithal to defend himself: Without a Train and Equipage suitable to his Grandeur, and without a Palace for the place of his abode; the report of this sumptuous Building has drawn us hither, with intention to purchase it: If therefore he be willing to part with it, whom it belongs to, he will very much consult his own interest in so doing, we being resolved to spare nothing to procure it, that thereby we may express the love we have still for our deceased Father. To which the people that are within answer in a like musical tone, that they are fully satisfied with the offer; and thereupon the price being agreed on both hands, the Prince makes his entrance into, and takes possession of it, in the Name of his Father. After this placing himself in the Tent Royal, if it be an Army encamped; or in the chief City, if it be a Kingdom; or in the Palace, if it be only a City; he there, together with his whole Court, hear kneeling the recital of the old King's Life, which being ended, he causes the Machine's to be set on fire, amidst the confused noise of Trumpets, and other Instruments.  

The magnificence of their Graves.  AS for the magnificence of their Graves, it is such, as cannot be sufficiently described. Nothing like or near it, has not only ever been seen in 
* Pint. Voyag.  Europe, or recorded in History; but it is even hard to imagine what we are told concerning it, by those that have seen them. Anthony de Faria, a Portugese, who in his Voyages accidentally discovered and landed in this concealed Isle, where their Royal Tombs are, has left us a most stupendious account of them. He calls the Isle Calempluy, which he says lies at the mouth of a large River, where it disembogues itself into the Sea, in the extreme parts of China Eastward; being a place, which by rocks is made, in a manner, inaccessible, and which the lofty Cliffs, that surround it on every side, do conceal from the Eye of those that sail by it; the swift current of the River contributing also very much to its secrecy. He adds, that that Isle is but a mile round, and is environed on the waterside with a wall of Jasper, flanked with a rampart of Earth; on the top of which there is a Walk, or Gallery faced with Balusters of bright shining Copper, with several intermixed Pillars of the same Metal, and behind them, at a convenient distance, the figures of abundance of Animals of molten Copper, almost of all the kinds that can be found, which make one side, as the Balusters the other, of a most curious and delightful Gallery. Within the precincts of which, you see nothing but little Groves of Orange-trees, and other the most delightful and sweet-smelling Trees, with several Temples and Hermitages.  
IT is in these Temples and Hermitages they deposit the Bones of their Kings, and other Princes of the Royal Blood; which are built not only of Marble, Porphyre, and Jasper, but with variety of other Stones, which with us are accounted precious, both because of their beauty and rarity. Neither are their Coffins less rich; the matter whereof they are made, being Gold or Silver, besides the vast Treasures enclosed in them. These Coffins are always attended by Hermits, who continually pray for the Dead, being themselves persons of the highest Quality; for none are sent thither, but great Lords, who seeing themselves arrived to a great Age, are glad to retire, and end their days at their Prince's Graves; thereby hoping to anticipate their favour, and procure for themselves to be their Courtiers in the other World, as they have been in this. There are also many young Gentlemen, who by some misdemeanours, being fallen into disgrace at Court, take for a great favour to have the liberty of going, and retiring themselves for ever in these delightful Hermitages, where they make it their business to supplicate those Illustrious Deceased, to make their peace with the King, that they be readmitted to his Grace and favour.   

CHAP. VII. Funerals of the Americans.  
THE Inhabitants of America always took a particular care to bury their Dead, because they believed, that on that Ceremony depended the rest of the Soul departed. They were all of them generally persuaded of the Souls immortality; though to this truth (which Nature taught them) they added a thousand Fables of their own invention.  

Their foolish Opinions concerning Souls.  THEY fancied almost as many different places for the Dead, as there were different kinds of deaths, as well as different sorts of crimes.  

* joan. Leri. hist. Americ.  For example, they were of opinion, that good and honest Men, as those that had been killed in Battles, or had devoted themselves to be a Sacrifice in honour of their Gods, went directly after their Death, to the House of the Sun, which they placed near that Luminary: This was the highest degree of happiness among them. As for the wicked, they said that they remained here below on the Earth, and were yet more unhappy there, than they had been during their lives: That those who had been Thiefs were continually pursued by Daemons, that never left them at quiet: That the Adulterous were scorched with the Flames of their unlawful Lusts; and though they had always many handsome Women before their eyes, yet they were the only Dead, to whom it was forbidden to marry again in the other World, because they had indulged, and given themselves too much liberty in this: That those who had killed their Fathers, their Wives, or Children, were eternally slain by the same Persons, and with the same kind of Death wherewith they had formerly destroyed them: That they who had murdered their Kings, met after their Death with a company of mad riotous fellows, with whom they were fain to fight incessantly, giving and receiving large wounds continually, without having so much liberty as to lay down their Arms for one moment, or stop the blood gushing out from all parts of their Body. And finally, That those who had put any of their Priests to Death, were perpetually praying to the Gods, without any hope of ever being heard.  
ANOTHER opinion they had concerning those that died without having committed any crime, and who otherwise were neither good nor bad. If they were young Children, who had lived but a short time, or died before they were weaned, they believed that they met with an invisible Mansion upon Earth, where they enjoyed that life they had been deprived of, and that there they attained to such an extreme old age, that they could no more tell their Years: And if they were old Men, their opinion was, that they began to grow young, as soon as they were arrived in the other World, and that at length they became so very young, that their former old age was by them wholly forgotten. If any died of a sudden death, they supposed him to go to a place, where he was most delightfully surprised, and struck with a ravishing admiration, to see in that Region every thing contrary to, or at least very different from what he had seen in this: in the admiring of which strange and agreeable Metamorphosis he was employed to Eternity. And lastly, if any were drowned, they fancied him to pass from the Water into a dry place, where he immediately voided the water he had let down, and where he was no more in danger of meeting with the same misfortune, the Gods having taken care to leave neither Sea, River, Brook, nor any Spring there, lest the sight of water should occasion any trouble to them who had miscarried thereby.  

Their manner of apparelling the Dead.  THEY had also several ways of decking their Dead, which were generally very rich and pompous, and suitable to the Place or Office they had discharged, or to that 
* Id. ibid.  which in their life-time, they were most taken with. For example, they put upon their Priests the Ornaments of the Idol they had ministered unto: Courtiers they arrayed in such a garb as their Prince most affected, and apparelled the common sort in such an habit, as was most agreeable to the condition, trade, or fancy of every one of them. These were their ordinary ways of dressing the Corpse. But they had others which were extraordinary, wherewith they set forth the Bodies of debauched and wicked fellows: for they clothed Drunkards in the habit of Ometotchtli, the God of Wine; and Adulterers in that of Tlaxolteutl, the God of Lust. They had also particular manners of apparelling those that perished by Shipwreck, or in Battle, dressing the former like to Tlacot, the God of Water; and the latter in the warlike Ornaments of Vitzilopuchtli, the God of War.  

Their Mourning.  NOR was their Mourning less different and various; 
* Bellef. in Cosmog.  it being more or less according to the age of the Party deceased; for they were extremely sorrowful for the Death of their Children, and almost not at all concerned for the Departure of aged Persons; insomuch that as they spared nothing to take care of the nourishment and education of the one, so they did much neglect the other. And what I find most remarkable therein, is this, That their Mourning for Children, was not only very long, but universal also, they being generally bemoaned by the whole City or Town in which they were born. On the day of their Death, no Body durst come nigh their Parents or nearest Relations, who carried themselves like furious and mad People, and made a most dreadful noise within their Houses, howling and crying like Persons in despair, plucking off their Hair, biting, scratching, and tearing their Flesh. On the next day they flung themselves down upon their Beds, and bathed them with their own tears. On the third day they began their lamentations, which continued the whole Year; during which time neither the Father, nor Mother of the Child, ever washed themselves; and the rest of the whole City, to condole with them for their loss, did weep three times a day, till the Corpse was carried to the Grave.  
AS concerning their Mourning for others, it was regulated according to the number of the Years they had lived; lasting eleven Months, if the Party had lived but five Years; ten, if he had lived ten Years; nine, if fifteen; eight, if he had attained to twenty Years of age; seven, if twenty-five; six, if thirty; five, if thirtyfive; four, if forty; three, if he was above forty-five; two, if he passed fifty; one only, if he was sixty; and (as I have said before) they scarcely mourned at all for such as were very old and decrepit.  

The richness of their Tombs and Monuments.  MOST commonly they buried the Dead; and 
* Thevet. l. 22.  some of them placed them sitting upright in their Graves, leaving with them some Water, Bread, Salt, and Fruits, together with the Weapons they used in their life-time. Others shut them up in most rich and curious Coffins, whereof some have been found at Cusco in Peru, of the value of above sixty five thousand golden Ducats. Others did bury them after a plain and simple manner, and erected on their Graves four Pillars (in the form of a gallows) whereon they hanged their Arms, Crests and Plumes of Feathers, together with a great number of Flagons of Wine and several sorts of Meats. Others after having let the Body lie in the ground, for the space of a whole Year, at the end thereof took it up out of the Grave; and paid a Duty or Service to it, which was so much the more ridiculous, because it was made up of weeping and laughter. 
Their Songs, Lamentations and Feasts.  And not to speak of other barbarous ceremonies which attended it, they first began these Obsequies with Songs, that contained a relation of the whole life of the Dead; which were oft interrupted with the doleful noise of wailing and lamentations. After which they sat down to eat the Provisions they had brought along with them; and having thus feasted themselves, they rose and danced a kind of Jig round the Corpse, which they concluded with huge cries, roaring out as loud as ever they could, stamping their Feet against the ground, and lifting their Eyes towards Heaven. At last they burned the Bones of the deceased, and gave his Head to his Widow, or nearest Relation, that they might keep the same as a Relic.  

Their opinion concerning the abode of Souls.  AND for the Souls, they believed that they 
* Johan. Leri. ibid.  retired themselves into a pleasant and plentiful Region, where they ate the best Meats, and drunk the most delicious Liquors; they also fancied that these Souls were the Echoes that answer People when they cry or speak aloud.  

Particular Ceremonies for Physicians.  NOR ought we here to omit some other ceremonies of theirs, which are no less curious and observable. Those among them that considered their Physicians as petty Gods, because of their procuring and preserving of health (which of all temporal blessings is the greatest) that they might show them a proportionable honour at their Death, did not Bury them as others, but burned them publicly with solemn rejoicings; Men and Women confusedly singing and dancing together round about the Fire; and when the Bones were burnt to ashes, every one endeavoured to get some part of them, to carry to his own House, which they afterwards drunk in Wine, as an Antidote against all manner of Diseases. Now, though these ashes did by the Law of the Country, belong to the Relict, or other nearest Relations of the Deceased, to the end they might by drinking the same, preserve his skill and knowledge in their Family; yet they, for the most part, had much ado to save them from the Rabble, especially if the Physician had been a Person of great repute for curing of Diseases: For as every one does naturally love his health, they believing that this was an infallible Remedy to preserve it, we need not admire that they used their utmost endeavour to procure some of these Relics, which they often snatched by force out of the hands of his Kindred and Relations.  

The ashes of the Dead, drunk.  NEITHER was this Custom of drinking the ashes of their dead Physicians, so peculiar to the Inhabitants of Panuco, for I find that alike Ceremony was commonly used in the Country of Venessuela, at the death of all manner of Persons, 
* Lep. Hist. Ind. Accost. Hist. Amer.  whose Bodies they generally roasted, cut them out into small pieces, and then brayed them till they came to the consistence of a thick Jelly, which they dissolved in Wine, and drank with great pleasure; this being accounted the most delicious drink among them, who fancied they could never make any splendid entertainment, but when they had some of this high Cordial to render it complete. Whence it was, that all the grief they had conceived from the death of their Relations, was soon washed away, by the delight they took in drinking the remainder of their Bodies.  

Corpses kept at home.  THE Custom of the People of Florida, seems somewhat more civil, though full of superstition; who keep the Bodies of all their dead Friends within their Houses, fearing that if they should come to lose one of those Relics only, some great mischief or other would befall them. Assoon as any one is dead among them, they place his Corpse near a great Fire, turning it from time to time, to the end it may be well dried; and when it is throughly dried, and the Flesh become stiff and hard, they deck it the most gorgeously they can, not sparing any thing that is costly or curious, as Cloth of Gold, Plumes of Feathers, and precious Stones to set it forth, and then enshrine it in a Niche or hollow, made in the Wall for that purpose; which they look upon as the greatest ornament of their Houses; those being reckoned the finest and most richly furnished, that have the longest rows of these Mummies; with which also they oft entertain several discourses, recounting all that they know of the Deceased. And so great a comfort is the presence of these Objects to them, that it soon makes their mourning to cease; for by having their Friends continually before their Eyes, they can scarcely believe, that they have lost 'em by Death.  

The dead Bodies of great Captains, car●●ed to ●●ttels.  ALMOST the same Custom is used among the inhabitants of Nova Granada, specially towards the Bodies of their great Captains, whose Mummies they carefully preserve, carrying them along with them in all their warlike Expeditions, as being persuaded that they can never be vanquished, whilst they have those Relics in their company; and if they chance to be so unfortunate, as to lose the day, they attribute it to the injustice of their cause, and with tears beg pardon of the Corpse of their General, for the shame they have exposed him to. But when they prove victorious, they offer many Sacrifices to him, in acknowledgement of his aid and assistance.  

Particular Ceremonies for the Kings of Mexico.  AND not to pass by the account of the Burials of their Kings, 
* Barth. de las Cases, Hist. Americ.  I shall (only) mention those of Mexico and Mechuacan, which are the two most considerable, and civilised Countries in all America; that thereby I may give the Reader an Idea of their most magnificent Funeral Pomps and Obsequies. And first of Mexico.  
AS soon as their King was fallen sick, they put a Mask upon the face of their principal Idol, and did not take it off, till he was either Dead, or perfectly recovered. If he Died, they presently published a solemn Mourning for him, not only in the City, but throughout the whole Kingdom; to every part of which Expresses were sent, to give notice thereof, to the end that all manner of rejoicings might immediately cease. Upon which notice given, all the great Lords repaired to Court, to attend his Funerals: and in the mean time his Corpse was well washed and embalmed. Now when the Court was full and complete, and all the Grandees were met together in the Palace, the Body of the Prince was taken out of his usual Bed, to be laid open to the sight of all, on a Straw-bed, in the midst of the Hall: And this sad object, which drew tears from the Eyes of all the standers-by, was in this manner exposed for the space of three days, during which time it was not lawful for any Lord to absent himself from the place; and to that purpose every one of them ordered their Necessaries to be brought thither to them, by their Servants and Vassals; nor did they take any rest, but in their Chairs.  
HAVING thus attended and watched him, they put on his face the Vizard of the Idol, for which he always had the greatest devotion; they stopped his mouth with a large Emerald, and covered him with seventeen very rich Carpets or Cover; upon each of which the name of the Idol, in whose Temple he had chosen to be Buried, was written. Then they cut a handful of his Hair, which they laid up as a precious Relic, saying, that the memory of his Soul remained in that Hair; and sacrificed a Slave to him, whose office it was, during his Life, to light his Lamps, and burn his Perfumes; that he might do him the same service in the other World.  

Humane Sacrifices in honour of their Kings.  THOUGH indeed this humane (or rather inhuman) Sacrifice was not solitary, but was attended by an infinite number of others, that were never a whit less cruel; yet this was the first of all that was slaughtered, to the end he might go before, and prepare all things for the reception of so great a Prince; for they believed, that his Soul did not depart this World, till his Body was burnt; and that whilst they were making preparation for his Funeral pomp, it stayed with the Body, to observe if they punctually paid their duty-to it. Upon which score they were careful not to omit the least circumstance thereof, for fear of being punished for it upon the spot.  

Their Funeral Pomp.  THIS first Sacrifice being over, some of the chief Lords carried the Corpse upon their shoulders, having round about them a multitude of others, who with feigned lamentations made a most dreadful noise; for those that were appointed to weep, were fain to do it, though never so much against their heart, unless they would incur the rigorous punishments, that were by the Law ordained in that case; insomuch as they thought themselves very happy, who could escape this Office; and to avoid all discontents, and disputes on that account, they before the Funeral March begun, cast lots, who should bear the Corpse, who should weep, and which of them should carry his Arms, and Presents ordained for him; which last marched in great numbers at the head of the Company, making a fine show of all sorts of Arms in use amongst them, and those of the best that could be; as Bucklers, Darts, Arrows, Bows, Clubs, Colours, Plumes of Feathers, and a thousand other things, no less beautiful and pleasing to the Eye, than rich and precious.  
IN this order they approached the Temple, where at the entrance of the Yard, or Court which compassed it, they were received by the High Priest, who with the whole Clergy, attended there for that purpose, having aforehand prepared a large Wood-pile in the same place, 
Their Wood-pile.  which being kindled, and the High Priest having, with a mournful accent, pronounced certain words over the Corpse, commanded it to be cast into the Fire, where whilst it was consuming, the whole Nobility drew near, in the same order in which they came, and threw their Presents into it. In the mean time the Priests were not idle on their part, being employed in butchering two hundred Slaves, both Men and Women (most of them being designed for particular services of their Sovereign in the other World) besides some Dwarves and Jesters, sor their Prince's diversion; the Hearts of all which persons they flung into the Fire, to the end that every one of those Servants they sent to accompany their Prince, by having their Hearts burnt together with him, and their Ashes mingled with his, might the more cordially be devoted to his service.  

The manner of their burying the Ashes.  THESE Ashes they gathered the next day, and laid them up in a vaulted Grot, all painted within, which after they had well closed, they placed upon it the embossed figure of their Prince, that they might still, from time to time, offer the like Sacrifices to him. For on the fourth day after his being Burnt, they Sacrificed fifteen Slaves to him, in honour of the four Seasons of the Year, that he might always have them fair and pleasant in the other World. On the twentieth they sacrificed five others, that he might to all Eternity enjoy the same strength and vigour, which a man has at twenty years of Age. On the sixtieth, three, that he might feel none of those three distempers that attend old Age, viz. Weakness, Cold and Dulness, or Heaviness. And at the end of the year, they sacrificed nine other Slaves to him; that number being the most proper to express Eternity, by reason that beyond it we still begin anew.  

Particular Ceremonies for the Kings of Mechuacamn.  AS for the Funerals of the King of Mechuacan, they were yet attended with more Ceremonies. As soon as he felt himself sick to death, he declared his Successor; and this new Prince 
* Id. ibid. , in acknowledgement of it, did immediately thereupon give order for putting all things in a readiness, to pay him his last duty, in the most pompous and glorious manner imaginable. In pursuance whereof, he, as soon as the old King had given up the Ghost, assembled all the Nobility of the Realm, and ordered them to bring rich Presents along with them. The Palace in the mean time was kept close shut, all the while the Corpse was embalming, which being done, they laid it upon a Bed of State, decked with all their usual ornaments, viz. with Feathers curiously stitched and plaited together upon a very fine linen Shift (wherewith his back and breast were covered) a pair of Kid-leather-shoes on his feet, a set of small Golden-bells a little beneath his Knees, Rings on his fingers, Bracelets about his arms, a Necklace of Turquois-stones about his neck, and Pendants in his Ears. They also laid by him upon the same Bed, on the one side of him, his Bow and Quiver full of Arrows, and on the other side a Puppet, or Baby all covered with precious stones.  
ALL things being in this order, the Gates of the Palace were set wide open, and the Nobility being entered, they all went and laid their hands upon the Corpse, making very great lamentations; and having be-sprinkled it with sweet water, they set down upon the Bed by him, the Presents they had brought along with them.  
IN the mean time all sorts of Officers were provided and made ready, to serve him in the other World; and among them seven young Virgins, the most beautiful that could be found; one of which was appointed to keep all his Jewels, another to be his Cupbearer, another to serve him with Water to wash his hands, another to reach him the Chamber-pot, another to be his Cook, another to take care of his clothes, and last of all, another to be his Laundress. And in order to the fitting of them for the Service they were severally designed to, they bathed and washed them well, shaved off all their Hair, fed them with variety of dainties for the space of many days, painted their bodies with a yellow colour, and adorned their heads with Chaplets or Garlands.  
ON the day of the Funeral solemnity, these poor wretches, together with all the rest designed for Sacrifice, marched in procession before the Corpse, some of them making a noise, by clapping certain Shells together, others playing upon Instruments, some whistling, and others singing after their manner. The Corpse was carried by the Prince himself, who was immediately followed by the principal Officers of the Crown, and others of the King's family; next after them came the Nobility, and last of all the common people.  

Their Funeral pomp.  NEITHER did they begin their Funeral March, till twelve of the clock at night; the blaze of many thousand burning Torches supplying them with light, and the Streets through which they were to pass, being carefully swept and cleansed. 
Humane Sacrifices in honour of their Kings.  As soon as they were come to the Temple, they went thrice around the Wood-pile; and then having laid the Corpse upon, and put fire to it, they with a Club knocked down all these poor unfortunate Victims, which were to accompany their Prince into the other World, and to that end were in the same Fire consumed with him. This Fire lasted till daylight, and then they took up the Ashes in a large Blanket, in which they brought them to the Gate of the Temple, where two Priests having consecrated them, a Paste was made thereof, which they shaped into the fashion of a great humane figure, adorning it with the most precious things they had, and afterwards buried it in a large Hole or Cave, all lined with Mats; 
The manner of their burying Ashes.  placing round about it, not only all manner of Weapons, and several Coffers full of Treasure; but also great variety of all sorts of most dainty Meats.  
IN this Ceremony they spent five whole days, during which all manner of Commerce and Trade ceased, none durst stir abroad, or be seen in the Street, and it was prohibited to light a fire in any house, but in the Palace and Temples. And as they accounted all those defiled, who had touched either the dead Body, or Ashes, they were very scrupulous of coming nigh them, till after they were purified. In a word, to make an end of this Chapter, the greatest part of the Nobility did both sleep and eat in the Court of the Temple, all the time this Solemnity lasted, expressing an extraordinary sadness and affliction in their countenances, without daring to speak a word.   

CHAP. VIII. Funerals of some Islanders.  

Affliction of the Japannees when their Friends are sick. and their joy when Dead.  THE Inhabitants of Japan seem to have Sentiments and Opinions quite contrary to those of all other Nations. For generally in other Places, as long as a Friend or Relation is yet alive, though he be never so sick, people endeavour to comfort themselves, because they are not without hope he may recover; neither do they wholly abandon themselves to sorrow, but when Death has cut off all these their pleasing hopes and expectations. But that which makes others give the reins to tears and lamentations, doth afford to these Islanders matter of joy and solace, who are as merry and cheerful at the Death of any of their Friends, as they were sad and afflicted, during his sickness. And indeed they commonly exceed in both these; for as they with an extraordinary dejected countenance and grief of heart lament him, when sick, sparing neither care nor charge to endeavour his recovery, when in danger of losing his life; so on the other side, when he hath lost it, they frame to themselves a thousand pleasing and flattering Ideas, to his advantage, omitting nothing that may express their joy and comfort on that occasion.  

Their mourning for the sickness of Persons of Quality.  IF the sick Party be a Person of great Quality, if he possess Lands, and be invested with Offices, all his Domestics and Vassals, or Tenants are bound to put themselves in Mourning, to keep long Fasts and tedious abstinences, and a thousand other expressions of sorrow, to declare the share they take in his misery, and how sensibly they are afflicted for his sickness. His Relations also would be looked upon as infamous and unworthy Persons, should they, during the whole time of his illness, take any the least pleasure or diversion; they being by the custom of the Country obliged to abstain from all manner of dainties, and some of 'em lie all that time upon the bare ground, whilst others are watching with and attending upon him; and to the end that nothing may divert them from this duty of waiting upon the sick, they cast off the care of all their other affairs.  

For common People.  WHEN the sick Person is of an ordinary condition, or of the common sort of People, his Shop is presently shut up; so as nothing of his Trade is driven all that while; and his whole Family are so sad and comfortless, that they even neglect themselves in their necessary repasts. They are always in tears, and wander up and down the Streets, enquiring for Remedies, that may give him some ease. They aggravate his sickness to those of his acquaintance they meet with in their way. They curse a thousand times the Malady, which is the cause of his sufferings; 
Their Complaints and Petitions against Sickness & Diseases.  they accuse it of injustice, and endeavour to prove from the actions of his life, that the never deserved to be so severely handled. For they fancy all Diseases are invisible Officers of a Sovereign Judge, whom they adore: Upon which account, they very often present Petitions against them in the Temples consecrated to that Supreme Judge: Which Petitions are generally answered with good success, and such as gives them all the satisfaction imaginable. For if the sick recover, they doubt not but that the said Officer hath been turned out of his Place, since he can no more exercise his cruelties by sickness upon their Friend; and if he die, as they are persuaded, that he is presently received into the rank and number of the Gods, they comfort themselves in hopes that he will highly revenge himself upon that petty fellow, who has been so bold to make him suffer unjustly, whilst he was in this life. 
Apotheosis, or Consecration of their Dead.  And 
* Franc. Solier. hist. Japon, l. 1. c. 14.  therefore as soon as their Friend hath closed his Eyes, their grief is at an end, and kneeling down they adore him.  
HAVING performed this Ceremony, they go and publish the good news of his Death throughout the City; and the Bonzes, which are their Priests, upholding them in these errors, do from that hour dispose themselves to come and take the Corpse away, and with great pomp carry it to their Burying-places; the Priests at their own charges providing a great number of Torch-lights, with a decent Coffin for to lay the dead Body in, and dressing themselves in their best and richest Ornaments, the better to grace the Solemnity. For all which trouble and cost they desire no reward from the Relations of the Deceased; because they would have the People believe, that there is not a dead Body but is to them an holy Relic, and for which they stand highly obliged to the Family.  

Funeral Ceremonies of the Maldives Islands differing from those of other Mahometans.  THE Inhabitants of the Maldives, being Mahometans, do observe the Law of Mahumet: but by reason their Country is far remote from Persia and Turkey, which are the two most civilised Nations of that Sect, it happens that not having the opportunity of being furnished with able Men, who might fully instruct them in the Doctrine contained in the Alcoran, they mix with it several inventions and particular Ceremonies of their own. But I shall here only mention such of them, as relate to Funerals, these alone being the subject of my present Discourse.  

Public Officers for burying of the Dead.  THEY have in every one of their Cities public Officers, that are appointed to bury the Dead, viz. six Men and six Women, who meddle with none but those of their own Sex. Which Office they buy of the King; and at their entrance upon it, they give (besides what it cost them) a Sum of Money to be distributed among their Brethren or Fellow-Officers. 
The manner of their burying the Dead.  Their Duty consisteth in washing the Body very well, and laying it up in a Coffin made of some sweet-scented Wood, with the usual Circumstances; which are, First, the laying his right Hand upon his Ear, and his left all along his Thigh, to intimate that if he has contracted any sin by his birth, 
Their reasons.  he has made it his business to purge and repent himself of it, by listening to the Voice, and observing the Commandments of God. Secondly, the preparing a Cotton-bed for him; which represents the sweet and pleasant rest, that he is to enjoy in the other World. Thirdly, the sowing him to this Bed, by means of a strong double Linnen-cloth wrapped about him, to signify that the Rest he is gone to take possession of, cannot be shaken, and that nothing thenceforth can disturb or interrupt it. Lastly, the making him lean on his right side, to show that he has not deserved to enter into this Rest upon any other account, but because he has supported all his actions with justice and equity, and has never taken pleasure in any unjust thing.  

How great an esteem and care they have of their interment.  THEY esteem this duty of burying the Dead of so great importance, that it is the first thing they take care of, as soon as they are come to an Age, in which they are capable of minding their own affairs. Wherefore when they are become their own Masters, and from under the tuition of their Fathers, either by being sent forth to shift for themselves, or by Marriage, their first business is, to look out a place where they intent to be Buried; and the next, to prepare a Stone on which their Epitaph (containing a short account of their Life) is to be engraven; as likewise to lay up in some Trunk or Chest the Garments, and other necessaries for their Funerals, together with such a sum of money, as they think fitting to allow for the charges thereof; which money is by them esteemed so sacred, that they dare not meddle with it, what exigency soever might afterwards seem to call for it.  

The manner of their accompanying the Corpse to the Grave.  SO great a concourse of people does always resort to their Burials, that it were needless to invite any body to them, since every one invites himself, even strangers, and the most unconcerned persons, joining themselves with the company, and in compassion of their affliction, muttering several prayers, whilst others almost kill themselves with striving, who shall weep most; and this for the space of three whole hours, for so long commonly this procession lasts; their custom being to carry the Body quite round the City, or if it be but a small Town or Village, they take a great compass in the fields; the Air all this while resounding with nothing but doleful cries and lamentations. They who march first, carry the Funeral Presents; some of them have bottles of sweet water, which they sprinkle upon those that pass by; others fling about a vast number of small Cockle-shells, 
* Relat. Pyraerd.  which is the most usual money of that Country, as Farthings are with us: And others (when they are arrived at the place of Burial) distribute Millet and Rice to the poor.  

Their Ceremonies at the Interment of the Dead.  AS soon as the Body is laid in the Grave, they cast a great quantity of white Sand upon it, together with a bottle of Water, thereby to signify, that they desire he may be cleansed from all sorts of filthiness; and the reason why they make use of Sand, rather than Earth, to cover the Dead is, that it might easily give way to his departure thence into Paradise. For the same cause they do also often change this Sand; for fear that if it should grow hard, it might hurt the Dead, and hinder him from rising again, when he should be called to the abode of the Blessed. Moreover they do surround the Grave with wooden Rails, to the end that no body might go over it; which among them is accounted the greatest irreverence imaginable.  

Prayers and Feasts for the Dead.  AS for the common sort of people, they hire Priests three Fridays after another, to say a great number of prayers for a whole day and night together; insomuch as they are fain to take their Meals there at the Grave; neither do they stir thence, till four and twenty hours be passed: After which they treat the Priests very splendidly, and return them their thanks, for admitting their Relations or Friends into Heaven.  
AND for what concerns Persons of greater Quality; their custom is for a whole Year together, to carry every day divers sorts of Meats to their Graves; with which the Priests having feasted themselves, the remainder is afterwards distributed among the poor.  

Their mourning.  LAST of all, for their Kings, they continue their Prayers and Alms during the whole Reign of his Successor, who wears no other Mourning, but that on the day of the burial of his Predecessor, he goes bareheaded, and without his Turban; which according to his example, is also imitated by the Nobility and People, who upon like occasions show the same respect to their Dead relations.  

Their custom when any dies at Sea.  IT is likewise to be observed, that when any of these MALDIVIANS die at Sea, they make a kind of open Coffin for them, of three boards fastened together, on which they lay the Body, that it may swim upon the Water, putting into one of his hands a Writing, which contains his Religion; and in the other a Purse with money, to pay the charges of his Funerals; and after they have done this, they are as well satisfied, as if they had Buried him themselves, they making no doubt but that duty will be discharged by the inhabitants of the first place, where the Body shall arrive.  

The manner of Burying among the Caribees.  THE Caribees, who inhabit the Antilee-Islands, do observe other Ceremonies, which are no less remarkable, as well for the manner of ordering the Body, as the laying of it in the Grave. After they have wept over the Corpse, they wash it carefully, than colour it red all over, rub his head with Oil, and comb out his Hair: This being done, they bind his Legs to his Thighs, and put his Elbows between his Legs, tying down his Face upon his Hands, much after the same posture as an Infant lies in the belly of his Mother, and thus they wrap it up in a linnen-cloth.  

Their lamentations.  TO their lamentations they add discourses, wherewith they entertain the Dead, which are the most ridiculous and nonsensical that can be imagined. They talk to him of the best Fruits their Country doth afford; telling him that he might have eaten of them, as much as he would. They put him in mind of the love his Family had for him, and the reputation he lived in, with a thousand such other things, reproaching him above all for dying, as if it had been in his power to prevent it. For example, they tell him, Thou mightest have lived so well, and made so good cheer; thou didst want neither Manioc, nor Potatoes nor Bananes, nor Ananas'; how is it then that thou diedst? Thou didst live in so great esteem with all men, every one did love and respect thee; what is the matter then that thou art dead? Thy Friends and Relations were so kind to thee, their greatest care was only to please thee, and to let thee lack nothing; pray tell us then, why didst thou think of dying? Thou wast so useful and serviceable to thy Country; thou hadst signalised thyself in so many Battles; thou wast our defence and security from the assaults and fury of our Enemies; why is it then, that thou art dead? Which last words is always the burden of their song, and the conclusion of all their complaints, which they repeat a thousand times; reckoning over all the actions of his life, with all the advantages wherewith he was endowed.  

The form of their Graves.  THEY make their Graves round like a Tun, four or five foot deep, in the bottom of which they place a small stool, 
Their Ceremonies at the Innterment of the Dead.  whereon they set the Corpse, leaving it there unburied for the space of ten days, during which they bring him Meat and Drink. At last seeing that he will not touch any of these Viands, nor return to life again, they fling them down upon his head, and having filled up the Hole, they kindle a great Fire over it, round about which all the standers-by, both Men and Women set themselves down kneeling, and begin to bemoan and lament the Deceased, with dreadful howl, whilst some of them cast all the moveables and householdstuff into the flames, which were used by him during his life. For example, if the Deceased be a Man, they burn, together with him, his Bow and Arrows, his Club, Crowns of Feathers, Pendants, Rings, Bracelets, Baskets, Vessels, and whatever else he was used to wear or serve himself with; all the company in the mean time not ceasing their cries and lamentations, till all the foresaid things be entirely consumed.  

Their mourning.  THEIR Mourning consists in shaving their Heads, and observing severe and strict Fasts, until the time they judge the Corpse may be putrified; which that they may be the more certain of, they often look into the Grave; and finding it so, they cover it again, and tread down the place 
* Hist. mor. & nat. Antil. c. 24.  with their feet, sighing and sobbing in a most sad manner. When all this is by them performed, they go and make themselves merry with feasting and drinking even to excess, that they may drown their sorrow, and drive it from their hearts.  
THE Inhabitans of the Fortunate Islands, as likewise those of Comagra had no such pity for their Deceased friends; 
rejoicings of the Inhabitants of the Canaries at the Death of their Relations.  for the Canarians, who inhabited the former, were so far from weeping, that they did nothing else but sing, dance, and divert themselves at the Interment of their Dead; and the latter clothed them with their richest wearing Apparel, 
A like practice of those of Comagra.  and congratulated them upon the account of the happiness that was fallen to their lot, in being freed from all the miseries of this life.  

Respect and Privileges given by those of Candia to their Sextons.  AS for the people of Candia, though they did not use any great Ceremonies at the Burial of their Dead, yet was that last duty looked upon by them as a thing so important and Sacred, 
* Plut. quaest. Graec. 21.  that those that were appointed to make the Graves for the Dead, and to lay them therein, enjoyed great Privileges amongst them, and were by every one reverenced and honoured, as much as the Priests themselves, above whom they had this advantage; That whereas the Candians did commonly rob one another, without being punished for it, not sparing even those that were consecrated to the service of the Gods; yet would they never meddle with any thing belonging to the public Funeral Officers, for fear they should in revenge have let them want a Grave after their Death, in case they had done them any wrong; which they dreaded as the greatest of all misfortunes, that could possibly befall them; insomuch that it was good being a Sexton amongst them, because that employment, which generally with others is very abject and contemptible, was the most privileged, and respected in that Country.  

The Burial of the Cyprians.  THE Inhabitants of Cyprus did first anoint the Dead with Honey, and then pasted them over with Wax; by which means they preserved their figure and shape several years together, during all which time the 
* Ael. l. 6.  corruption of the inward parts did not exhale the least ill scent: 
Their Graves.  And last of all, having carried them into Caves made in some Rocks, and set them up there as so many Statues, their Relations from time to time came and visited them, discoursing with them of things that passed in their Family, or other occurring matters. 
Reasons for these their Ceremonies.  An ancient Author makes this observation upon the forementioned Ceremony, viz. That they Buried their Friends in Honey after their Death, as they had given them Gall to taste at their Birth, and coming into the World; and that, because Gall is a very significant symbol of the miseries and afflicting sorrows of this wretched life, which is full of bitterness; as Honey is an Emblem of the sweet enjoyments and happiness of the other, wherein is found an infinite variety of ravishing pleasures and delights.  
IT will not be improper to add something here concerning the Custom of the Inhabitants of Greenland, which is the coldest Country in the World 
* Relat. Holland. ; that Island lying in the midst of the frozen Sea; and because the Ice never thaweth there, on that side that lies towards America, the Sun being not hot enough to melt it, it hath made some to conclude, that it was joined to the Northern part of the West Indies, and consequently that it was part of the Continent, and no Island. 
Burials of the Greenlanders.  Now the Inhabitants of this Country, take no other care of their Dead, than that they draw them out of their Caves, in which they live under ground, and expose them naked to the open Air, where they soon grow as hard as stones: And to the end they might not, by being thus left in the open Fields, be devoured by Bears, or other wild Beasts, they shut them up in great Hampers, which they hang upon Trees.   

CHAP. IX. Funerals of the Tartars.  
THESE People which were formerly called Scythians, and are still in our days accounted barbarous, by reason of their rude, savage and wand'ring way of living, having no home, or settled dwelling-place as others; but herding together 
* Relat. var.  in Woods and Fields, like Brute-beasts; sometimes in one place, and sometimes in another, according to the variety of Seasons, and conveniency of Pasture; I say these very People all wild and brutish as they are, have notwithstanding excelled many other Nations in the Piety they have shown, and duty they have paid to the Dead.  

Doubtful relations of the Cruelty the Tartarians use towards the Dead.  I KNOW that some accuse them of cruelty in this matter, saying that they either hang the Dead on Trees in the remotest and coldest places, to harden them thereby, or (what is much more horrid) devour them, after they have felled them down with their own Hands: though indeed the same Historians do tell us, that this their cruelty extends only to Persons of seventy years of age, and that they bury all that ●●re under those Years: Yet I do find that anciently the custom of burying the Dead was so universal, 
* Herodot. ●. 4.  that nothing was reckoned more sacred among them. And Herodotus informs us, that Darius' Son of Hystaspes, having made an Invasion into their Country with a most puissant Army, and seeing that they fled continually from him, resolved to send one of his Principal Officers to them, to know the reason of their cowardly running away, and whether they would not at length stop somewhere, and stand to a Battle, which he had so often fairly proffered them; To which they returned this answer, That they had no Cities nor Lands to defend: but that whenever they should advance so far as their Father's Graves, that then his Master would be aware with what courage and resolution they could fight for securing of any thing that was considerable or dear unto them. With which answer (as 
‖ Val. Max. l. 5.  Valerius Maximus adds) they forever cleared themselves of that foul blot of monstrous barbarity, which was before thought to be so natural to them; since a more pious reply could not possibly have been given by the most civilised People in the World. Which passage also proves that they were wont to bury their Dead, and that their Graves were in remote places, far from the commerce and resort of any that were borderers upon them.  
SOME of the 
* R●lat▪ Var.  most barbarous customs related of them in Histories, 
Barbarous Funeral Pomp.  are the Funeral Ceremonies, wherewith they, in ancient times, honoured their Kings; of which I find two several accounts, both equally horrid. As soon as any of their Princes was Dead, they opened his Body to take out the entrails, which otherwise might have corrupted it, and after having washed it well, they poured melted Wax all over it, both within and without. Then they filled it with Thyme, mixed with Chervil, Sellery and Anniseeds bruised together; and after that having sowed it up again, as neatly as possibly they could, they set it stark naked upon a Chariot, which was to carry it not only through all his own hereditary Provinces, but those also which he had subdued and made tributary. When they came to the Frontiers of any Country, those that had conducted, and attended it so far thither, returned back, and others of that Province received and took care of it, thus conveying it from hand to hand, till it had gone round the whole Kingdom. Now it was lawful for the Inhabitants of every Province to do what outrage or injury they pleased, to revenge those wrongs which the Prince in his life time had done them: So that some cut off his Ears, others his Hair, others his Nose, others struck him on the Forehead, others slashed deep and large gashes in his Arms, and others pierced his Hands with Arrows; every one insulting on that part, which he conceived he had been aggrieved or injured by. For example, those that could never obtain a hearing from him, revenged themselves upon his Ears, which had always been deaf to them; they that were scandalised with his debaucheries and luxury, tore off his Hair, that was his chief Ornament, and after they had shaved him, to make him look ugly and ridiculous, they made a thousand flouts at him. They that disliked his too great delicacy and effeminateness, slit his Nose for him, as supposing that he could never have been such, but because he loved and delighted too much in Perfumes and pleasant Scents. They that were offended at his Government, broke his Forehead, the place where all his Tyrannical Laws and Ordinances had been hatched. Those to whom he had done any violence, regarding his Arms as the Instruments of his strength, and the Executioners of their miseries, did with several blows break the very Bones of them. And they who had suffered by his covetousness, either because of the heavy Taxes and Subsidies he had levied upon them, or else because he had not rewarded their services, did slit open his hands, for having been too gripping or close fisted.  
IN the end, when all had thus wreked their spleen upon him, by punishing him according to their pleasure, and the wrong they had received from him, they brought him back to the place where he died, and having erected a great Wood-pile, they burned him, with one of the most beautiful of his Mistresses, or Concubines, together with his Cupbearer, his Cook, his Master of Horse, and the chief Groom of his Stable, with some Horses; besides fifty others of his Servants, all whose throats they cut, whilst his Body was a burning, and buried them about the Grave, wherein they laid his ashes.  

Barbarous Mausoleum, or Royal Tomb of the Tartars.  THE other Solemnity I am to mention, is yet more barbarous. When generally no complaints were heard of the deceased 
* Ibid.  Sovereign, they then took no care to embalm him, because there was no need to preserve his Body, in order to the taking a progress about the Kingdom. In this case, I say, they erected his Tomb in the midst of a vast Plain, and raised it upon great Pieces of Timber, to a very considerable height, after the manner of a Scaffold. This Tomb was nothing else but a very large Bier or Coffin; for besides the Body of the King, it was to contain all the Officers, and others abovementioned, which were flung into it, as fast as they were slaughtered. To which they added several Ornaments of the deceased Prince, with great store of Vessels of Gold; covering the whole with a large Carpet, upon which they, last of all, laid abundance of earth above three foot high.  
AT the Years end, they met in great numbers at the said Tomb, where they killed fifty Pages of the late King's with as many Horses; both which they stuffed up with straw, after they had unboweled them; and then they placed these Horses upon several wooden arches, as if they had been running a gallop, and fastened the Bodies of the Pages upon them; which was in their opinion, the most magnificent pomp they could fancy or think of, wherewith to honour the memory of their Kings; which indeed suited very well with their barbarous manners, as more becoming Beasts than Men.  
AND now we are speaking of such barbarities as these, it will not be a-miss to give an hint of several other Nations, which have left us very sad and amazing tokens of their cruelty in this behalf, though they were of opinion they could no better way express their respects to the Dead. Some did provide for them Living Graves, causing them either to be devoured by Beasts, or eaten by Men. Others gave them Fiery Sepulchers, by consuming them several ways by fire. Others Water-Burials, by casting them either into the Sea, Rivers or Lakes. Others made use of Airy Obsequies, by hanging them in the Woods, or in their own Houses; and others, Terrestrial ones, by letting them lie unburied on the face of the ground.   

CHAP. X. Living Sepulchers.  
WE need not have our recourse to Fables, to find out instances of Living Graves, or Sepulchers; nor with the Poets, to advance here the story of Satur's eating his own Children: Neither is it necessary to go as far as Caria in search of the famous Arthemisa, who being not able sufficiently to express the love she had for the King Mausolus her Husband, did not content herself to erect him a most magnificent Tomb, after his Death (which has been accounted for one of the wonders of the World, and from which the stateliest Monuments of all succeeding Ages have derived their name) but moreover mingled his very Ashes with her drink. 
Graves in the Bodies of Men.  There are so many Historians, that relate a thousand instances of greater cruelty, than these, that the truth of them 
* Herodot. l. 4. Strab. l. 11. Mela l. 2. Solin. c. 19  can scarcely be questioned. Herodotus, Strabo, Mela, and Solinus tell us, of several Nations of Asia, 
Cruel piety of some people.  that would have thought themselves guilty of the greatest impiety, should they have let their Dead corrupt in the Graves, and become a repast for worms. Wherefore as soon as any one was Dead amongst them, they did cut the Body to pieces; and mixing it with their usual Meats, Mutton, Beef, or the like, they ate it with a singular gust and devotion. Yea, the nearest relations of the Dead, made this a matter of much joy, and with a great deal of ceremony, invited one another to these Feasts, to eat the Body of such a one, much in the same manner, as we invite our Friends to attend the Funeral of a deceased Friend or Relation. In a word, to devour the Dead, was to pay him their last Duty, and the highest mark of the respect and affection they had for him; in which they out-vied the Doctrine of Pythagoras; that Philosopher maintaining only a Metempsychosis, or the transmigration of Souls into other Bodies, whereas these put in practice the transmigration of dead Bodies into living ones. Horatius 
* Horat. l. 1. Od.  tells us in his Poems, that the old Irishmen and Britain's used this inhuman cruelty only on the Bodies of Strangers: 
‖ Tertul. cont. Marc.  but Tertullian assures us, that this monstrous piety was universal among, and exercised by them upon all sorts of men; and as they used neither Interments, nor Burnings, they devoured the Bodies of their own Countrymen, as well as those of Foreigners, when they were Dead. So that what those forecited Historians do relate only of the Inhabitants of Pontus, of the Massagetes, Hyrcanians, Derbices, and several other asiatics, we find confirmed in Europe, to demonstrate, that however barbarous this Custom seems to be, yet it cannot well be doubted, but that such there have been. Nay, their cruelty went further in respect of old people; for as soon as they were come to seventy years of Age, 
* Zenodot. in Collect. Cent. 5.  without staying for Death's call, they rid them of the miseries of old Age, by knocking them in the head, or cutting their throats, and then made a Feast of them; and 
* Hieron. contr. Jovin.  what was yet more horrid, was, that the Children only were thought fit to discharge this bloody office, being obliged by the Laws of the Land to take a Knife and murder their Parents themselves: Neither were they wanting to defend and maintain this their extreme inhumanity, with many specious reasons and pretences. For example, they, to justify their impious murder, alleged, that Man's life, after seventy years of Age, being nothing else but a composition of pain and trouble, they were in duty bound to free those from it, who had brought them into the World, that they might thereby prevent their miserable languishing; and added, that after their Death they could give them no higher expression of gratitude and duty, than by feeding upon them; because by that means their Parents became one and the same substance with them, as they themselves were before they were born.  

* Hyg. Fab. 274.  THE Parthians and Medes, 
The bodies of wild Beasts made use of for Sepulchers.  as likewise the Iberians, and Inhabitants of the City Taxyla in the East Indies, had such an horror and averseness for the corruption of the Dead, and their being eaten by Worms, that they exposed them in the open Fields, to the end they might be there speedily devoured by the wild Beasts; accounting nothing more unworthy, and unbeseeming the excellence of man, than to rot and putrify in the Earth; and become the prey of such pitiful and loathsome Infects after his Death, who while alive could not suffer so much as one of them about him. Besides they believed, that if he were devoured by Beasts, he would not be totally extinct; and that being no more able to live in an humane Body, he would at least enjoy a life in the bodies of those Animals, that had fed upon him.  

Graves in Dogs bellies.  FOR this very purpose also the Bactrians 
* Sil. l. 23. Agel. l. 10. Just. l. 41.  fed Dogs, which they called Canes Sepulchrales (or Grave dogs) and took a very particular care of them, that after their Death their Souls might not want a healthful, strong and lusty Body to reside in. Oh unheard-of folly and madness! thus to cherish those Creatures, that were one day to tear and rend them with their teeth; and (what was more) to make much of them only upon that account! We naturally abhor an Hangman, because his sole employment is to butcher Men; how then (may we think) can those people look kindly on Creatures, that are to be their own Executioners? Or how can they with premeditated deliberation keep and feed them on purpose for this inhuman and barbarous piece of service? Nevertheless most certain it is, that they regarded this as a great point of their felicity: For Cicero tells us, that they made it no less their glory to feed those Dogs very high, in order to make them grow fat and lusty, than the Romans did to build sumptuous Tombs. And S. Hierom adds, that so great a veneration they had for this kind of Burial, that Nicanor, who by Alexander the Great, was made Governor over them, going about to suppress and abolish this inhuman custom of there's, had like, not only to have caused a revolt of the whole Province, but also to have been by them massacred, as an impious and sacrilegious person.  

Burying in the bodies of Birds.  TO which we may add the Custom of the Barceans, which seems no less extravagant; who 
* Aelian. l. 10.  were of opinion, that the most honourable Burial was to be devoured by Vultures: And that, not only because those Birds by their long lives did represent Eternity, but chiefly because they were consecrated to Mars, and that Nature appears to have appointed them for that very use; they being continually seen hover about dead Bodies: So that all persons of Worth and Quality, that either died amongst them, or fell in War, fight courageously for their Country, were immediately exposed in such places, where Vultures might readily come at, and make a prey of them. As for the common people, together with those that died on their Bed, of a Natural death, they were (in a manner) out of contempt, flung into a Grave, as not being esteemed worthy to have a Burial in the bellies of these sacred Birds.  
THE Hyrcanians, which I have above mentioned, made some distinction between Men and Women; for they did eat the former; whereas they buried the latter, as thinking them unworthy to have their bellies for their Graves. Though methinks these above all deserved that honour (supposing this barbarity might be so called) since they had but done the like for them, as having carried them nine months in their wombs.   

CHAP. XI. Fiery Sepulchers.  

People that used to Burn their Dead.  THE Grecians and Romans were not the only Nations that used to Burn their Dead; the Germans and 
* Caes. de Bel. Gal. l. 6.  Gauls were also wont to do the like. But we intent not to speak here of any, except of those people which we account Barbarians, because their Custom herein is much more cruel, than that of the forementioned. The Reader than may please to know, that some of them Burnt themselves, casting themselves alive into the Fire; others caused themselves to be stabbed before, upon the Wood-pile; and others were reduced to Ashes after their dead Bodies had lain a good while corrupting in the Fields, amidst a huge heap of other stinking and rotten Carcases.  

People that burned themselves. Tacit. de mor. Germ. Sidon. apol. Ap. 2. Sil. l. 10. Plut. de Placit. philos. Cic. quaest. acad. l. 4.  THEY who were wont to Burn themselves, were a certain Sect amongst the Indians; who therein imitated their Doctors, called brahmin's, who by an extraordinary courage and fortitude, or to speak more properly, by a kind of madness and frenzy, sought in the flames that Life of light, which they preached to the people, who seeing them thus desirous of Death, and with so great joy thrust themselves into the Fire, were soon won to this strange Doctrine and Opinion, That there was no greater happiness attainable, than that to which men were ushered-in through the flames.  

Their foolish Opinions.  THEY also believed that their participation of that felicity, was different, according to the more or less healthful condition they were in, when they thus sacrificed themselves; that is to say, That they were the most happy, and eternally enjoyed a 
* Quintil. Declam. l. 10.  most pure light, without the least mixture of darkness, who burned themselves in their youth and the full vigour of their age; whereas they that put it off, till a further date▪ did proportionably, as they grew old, and their strength diminished, lose some degrees of those enjoyments; that old people did only partake of a dim and obscure light; and that they who were Burnt after their Death, very seldom saw that light but asleep, and as it were in a dream. Whence it was, that in former times very few Aged persons were found among this People, most of them preferring the beauty of that Eternal Light, which they expected to enjoy in another Life, before the pleasures and contents of this; so that very few of them ever died in their beds: And when it accidentally fell out, that any did, if it was the Husband that died of sickness, his Wife, if he had but one, or his most beloved, if he had many, did burn herself alive with his Body; and if it were a Woman that was Dead, her Husband did the like. For which strange custom of theirs they alleged this reason, That as one of the two by burning himself alive, would enjoy a perfect happiness, and be continually with the other; so he might from time to time awake his yoke-fellow out of that deep sleep, which had seized him in this Life, and would as much as in him lay, make him consider and take notice of the variety of lustrous objects and pleasures of the Light. Which Duty, if one of the Couple refused to pay to the other, he was the rest of his days looked upon as an infamous and unworthy person, and scarcely admitted into any company.  
NOW as it would have been a great default, and very unbeseeming the felicity they had in their Eye, for any one to cast himself unwillingly, and with reluctance, into the Fire, or to utter any sighs or out-cries whilst they were burning; so their custom was to repair to the place where they were to devote themselves to the devouring flames, accompanied with the noise of musical Instruments, being embraced, hug'd, caressed, endeared and applauded by all the spectators, who made no other show, than as if they were jealous of their good fortune; earnestly praying them to be favourable to them in the other World. Besides, 
Means used to hide somewhat of the horror of this solemnity.  those Wood-piles on which they were to be consumed, were usually made in holes and deep places, and abundance of Wood was flung upon them, as soon as they had leaped into the Fire, amidst the applauses and rejoicings of the whole company; who with their loud shoutings, together with the depth of the place, and extremity of the fire, made that the party could not possibly be heard, whatever their out-cries or lamen things might be, when they felt the cruel flames invading of them.  

People that begged to be Burnt.  THE Herules, who in ancient times dwelled along the River Danubius, were burnt after another manner, when they were grown either old or sickly: 
Senec. de clem. Curt. l. 8.  For being of a Warlike humour, and not able to endure a languishing condition, they were wont to go and beg their nearest Relations to rid them of a life, which was become burdensome to them, and so put an end to their miseries and suffering. Which was never denied them, or gainsaid; but on the contrary, every one commended and applauded them, for having taken that resolution of themselves; because in that state of extreme old age or sickness, they were looked upon by all with scorn and contempt: Besides, if they had died in that condition, they must have been buried without any Ceremonies, as cowardly and base persons. Wherefore when any thus freely offered themselves, all their Relations met together with great joy, to appoint a day for the solemnising of these Living Obsequies, and in the mean time, made preparation of all things for it.  

The form of the Wood-pile, with its furniture, or setting-forth.  THESE preparations consisted of a Wood-pile (which was made after the fashion of a Bed) of divers dishes of such Meats, as the person to be sacrificed loved most, and in looking for a Godfather to take away his life; for it was not lawful for his Relations to do him that Office, but only to kindle the fire under him when he was Dead.  

Saxo. Gram. hist. Dan. l. 8.  AT last the fatal day being come, the party concerned was laid down on his side upon the heap of Wood, leaning on his Elbow; and then they served before him the several Meats he had desired, which whilst he was eating with pleasure, his Godfather took his aim so well, that running him through the heart, he killed him immediately. Which was no sooner done, but they made a great noise, hollowing and shouting for joy; and the Wood being set on fire on all sides, they in great merriment walked round about it, till all was burnt to Ashes, all the while discoursing of the particulars of his life, and extolling this his last courageous resolution to the skies.  

The Thracians nasty way of treating the Dead.  THE Thracians were not so crucel in this point; for they let people die of themselves: But they had a most filthy way of heaping great store of putrified Carcases upon the dead Bodies, before they burned them. As soon as any one was Dead, they carried him to the open Fields, where they left him all naked for the space of many days, without taking any care of him; that is to say, without washing or embalming him; 
Lact. l. 2. c. 10.  so that within a short time he began to stink. On the morrow, and following days, they came to see in what condition the Corpse was; and as oft as they came to view it, they sacrificed divers Creatures, whose bodies they flung upon that of their deceased Friend; insomuch that the place became at last so noisome and stinking, by means of all those putrifying Carcases, that there was almost no coming near it. Then the Friends and Relations of the Deceased brought Faggots, and other combustible matters, and heaping the same upon the forementioned Bodies, they burned them all to Ashes, which they afterwards buried in a Grave, they had to that end digged hard by.  

Their reasons for so doing.  SOME say, that the reason why they let them thus putrify, and added to their own corruption that of other stinking and loathsome Carcases, was to show, that fire cleanseth, and takes away all manner of filthiness and impurity from Man, as well as other Creatures. But the chief and main reason of all those, who burned their Dead, was grounded upon Heraclitus' opinion, who held the Fire to be the Principle of all things; so that consequently, to the judgement of that Philosopher, by burning the Dead, they only returned them to that very original from whence they proceeded at first. Others were of opinion, that because the nature of Fire is to mount upwards continually, until it insensibly vanisheth away in the Air, it carried the most Spiritual and Volatile parts of the Body with it to Heaven.   

CHAP. XII. Water-Burials.  
THOUGH the custom of casting the Dead into the 
* Diod. l. 5. Plin. l. 4.  Water be no less barbarous than the former, yet has it been practised by several Nations, as the Hyperborcans, or those who inhabit near the Arctic Pole, the Pannonians, some Inhabitants of Ethiopia, called Ichthyophagi, because they lived altogether upon Fish, as also they of Chios; who nevertheless differed among themselves, as to the place: for some of them flung their Dead into Lakes; others into running Waters, and others again into the Sea; every one of them having, for his so doing, particular reasons.  

Particular reasons of those that cast the Dead into the Sea. Rivers or Lakes.  THEY that cast them into the Sea, did it, that they might the longer be preserved by the Salt and sharpness of that Water. Those 
* Laert. l. 9  that flung them into Rivers, would thereby intimate, that as by the current of the Water they were carried into the vast Ocean, so by the whole course of their lives they had been passing towards Eternity, into which they were now at last launched by Death. And they who committed them to Lakes, which are standing Waters, intended thereby to express the rest and repose the Dead meet with in the other World, after all the tempests and traverses of this, which is nothing else but a boisterous and raging Sea.  

Universal reasons for their casting the Dead into the water.  BESIDES those particular reasons, they had some that were more general and 
* Mela. l. 3.  common. The first of which was, that seeing the Dead turn to corruption, and become very loathsome and filthy, they persuaded themselves they could make no better provision against the said noisome putrefaction, than by casting them into the water, because that washeth and cleanseth every thing. Another reason (as Clemens Alexandrinus relates it) was, 
‖ Clem. Alex. in protrept.  because the water being accounted a sacred Element, they thereby thought to hollow and consecrate the Dead. A third was, that since according to Thales' opinion, who was one of the Seven Wisemen of Greece, all things were made and consisted of Water, the Bodies of Men were by this means resolved into that first principle, from whence they had their beginning. And lastly, because being for the most part People that inhabited the Seacoasts, and fed generally upon Fish, 
Cic. l. 1. de nat. Deor. Agath. l. 1. Arist. 1. Metaph. 3.  they conceived it but reasonable, that their Bodies should, after their death, be the food of Fishes; as during their life-time, they had made them their nourishment.  

Such as cast themselves into the water.  AND so sweet and easy did many of them fancy this way of Burial to be, and had so much respect for it, that not being able to wait for their natural Death, when in an orderly way they might be made partakers of it, after having made themselves merry by excessive eating and drinking, they went and cast themselves, of their own accord, either into the Sea, or some River, thereby to antedate their conceited bliss and happiness.   

CHAP. XIII. Airy Obsequies.  
IT is a strange thing, that the Gallows, which by us is looked upon, as the most infamous of punishments, should with some People be esteemed so honourable, that they give no other Sepulchers to their dead Friends; and which amongst others is had in such veneration, that they grant this advantage only to their Sovereign Princes and great Lords.  
I KNOW that Woods have been formerly had in great reverence, 
* Sil. l. 3. Aelian. l. 4 Woods accounted Sacred.  and that they were accounted most Sacred Places: not only from the testimony of profane Authors, who give this character of them; but this truth is also by several Texts of Scripture confirmed to us. For we read in Genesis, that Abraham planted a Wood in Bersabe, 
[This savours of Idolatry and Superstition.]  where he called upon the Name of the Lord; and that Jacob thought he could not give a more decent Grave to Deborah (Nurse of his Wife Rebecca) than by burying her under an old Oak.  
INDEED this veneration for Woods and Solitary Places, is in a manner natural; for the Pagan's themselves, which were led only by the light of Nature, have acknowledged this verity; and amongst others; Virgil speaks of all Woods and Forests, as so many Temples: In these our Druids erected Altars for their Sacrifices; and here also it was all Antiquity believed the Gods made their 
‖ Apol. l. 3. Nicol. ap. Stob. serm. 122.  usual abode. For besides the Oreades, or Nymphs of the Mountains, the Dryads, those of the Woods, and the Fauns and Satyrs, or Gods of the Fields; we read that some of them were consecrated to Apollo, others to Diana, and such like pretended Divinities. Whereupon Pausanias tells us, that Persons of the highest Quality, in ancient times, had their Sepulchers in Woods; and Plato was of opinion, that none but Men of great worth and excellence ought to be interred there: Cicero in his Defence of Milo, takes the Woods to witness, as being Holy places, and the usual Coemeteries of great and virtuous Men.  

Profanation of Woods, by making them serve for Funeral Gibbets or Gallows.  BUT if we ought to commend this custom of burying the Dead in the Woods, which were formerly accounted very Sacred; we must needs abhor the practice of those that profaned and polluted them, 
* Var. 1.  by making them serve for Gallows, and thereby exposing them to the character of the most 
‖ Olaus. l. 16.  infamous places imaginable. Thus the Inhabitants of Colchos, and the Tibarens, a People of Scythia, made a piece of Religion of it, to hang the dead Bodies of their Relations upon Trees, for an horror to Spectators, and for a prey to the Fowls of Heaven; and the ancient Goths and Swedes, could think of no better way to show the veneration they had for their Princes after death, than by fixing them to a Gibbet. Surely we must suppose these Men worse than Barbarians, to fancy that an honour, which indeed is the greatest infamy in the World; and to esteem that a Religious and Pious duty, which indeed is the extremest impiety and undutifulness that can be conceived. What honour can a Body be thought to receive, by suffering a loathsome corruption in the Air, or by being exposed in a shameful nakedness, which daily grows more ugly, discoloured and frightful, or to be tossed to and fro, and become the sport and may-game of the wavering Winds? Certainly it appears to me, that even according to the dictates of Nature, nothing can be more horrid or inhuman. This is the reason why our Laws appoint the same as a Punishment and just reward of the most heinous offenders and notorious Criminals; and which makes as great an impression on our minds, to deter us from like crimes, as to see a Man lose his life by the hands of the Hangman. Neither can I imagine what way these barbarous People have to punish the wicked, since they make use of Gallows to honour Persons of worth; except one should say, that being Barbarians, Vice is had in esteem and veneration amongst them, as Virtue is with us, and that according to their natural brutishness, they pay the Duty of Burial only to such, who by their wicked actions have made themselves famous amongst them.  

Bodies hung up in Houses instead of Burial.  AGAIN, what a fine show is it, to see a Room hung full of dried Carcases or Mummies? Surely these are rarities, that one would think cannot give much satisfaction or delight to those that have them continually in their Eyes. It's true, that we preserve some Mummies amongst us, which we consider rather as curious Figures, than as humane Bodies, that ever had life, because they are from remotest Countries brought to us, who never knew the least thing of the Persons they once were. But there are none to be found, how cruel soever he may otherwise be, that ever went about to make such Mummies of his Friends or Relations, in order to keep them in his House, and continually have them before his eyes. The sole Idea of which impiety we abhor, and cannot blame them sufficiently, who have acted such things: which they could never have done, and thus infamously dishonoured their Relations, had they not shaken hands with all Humanity and Moral respects.   

CHAP. XIV. Terrestrial Funerals.  
IT is a difficult matter to relate all the ridiculous ways, which several barbarous Nations had to dispose of their Dead, and to pay their Friends and Relations their last duty. And though we can see nothing in their Funeral Ceremonies, but what is either foolish, impious or cruel, yet were they by them looked upon, as solemn and necessary performances. For can a body imagine any thing more brutal and extravagant, 
Extravagant manner of burying the Dead, used among the Troglodytes  than the custom of the Troglodytes, a People of Africa? who stripped the Corpse stark naked, bound up 
* Mela l. 2.  the Feet to the Head with a great rope, and having thus made a kind of round Ball of it, they exposed it upon some high place, turning its backside to the Spectators, by which ridiculous posture, the whole Company was put into a fit of merriment and laughter, instead of weeping and mourning for him; and in the midst of this merriment, they began to cast stones at him, till at last they had covered him under the heap, on the top whereof they planted a Goat's horn, and then turned their backs upon it, without any the least sign or sense of grief or regret.  

Cruel custom of those of Majorca and Minorcae.  THE Inhabitants of the Islands of Majorca and Minorca, which lie on the Coasts of Spain, had another custom yet more cruel, and as extravagant as the former. 
* Ortel. ad fin. theat.  They took the dead Body, and chopped it into a thousand small pieces, which they carefully gathered, and put up in an Earthen Pot, and afterwards overwhelmed, and covered it with a great heap of Stones.  

Pleasant manners of some other People.  THE three other ways of Burying, I have yet to speak of, are very pleasant: The first is that of the Phrygians, who, to give more honour to their Priests, than to Lay-people, were used in ancient times, when any one of them was dead, to set him upright upon a Pillar of ten fathoms high; as if he were to continue, from thence, to instruct the People. The second is of the Nasamonians, that inhabit some parts of Lybia, who in acknowledgement of the perils and pains their Captains and Soldiers had undergone, for the good of their Country, clothed them in White, 
Herodot l. 4.  after their Death, and instead of burying their Bodies, exposed them on Rocks and other solitary Places. And the third and last, is that of the Macrobians, a People of Ethiopia, who covered their dead Bodies all over with a fine shining Plaster; and enclosed them in hollow Glass-pillars, keeping them in the best part of their House, offering the first-fruits of all things to them, and carrying them at the end of every Year, in Procession, round about the City.   

CHAP. XV. Funerals of the Ancient Jews.  
TWO several times are to be distinguished in relation to the Ceremonies of this People, which render them very different one from another. The first is from their Patriarches, or Lawgiver Moses, to the Birth of the Saviour of the World. And the other from that most Blessed Birth down to this day. For as those of former times were well constituted, holy and reasonable, as being inspired by God himself; so these which they use of latter days are most ridiculous, being grounded merely upon the foolish dreams and idle fancies of their Rabbis, or Doctors. Therefore we shall treat of both by themselves, not only to avoid confusion, but to make us abhor the Superstitions of those miserable wretches, who daily sink themselves deeper into darkness and blindness.  

What persons were appointed to Bury the Dead.  IN former times their Dead were buried by persons of the same Sex; Men only being permitted to meddle with the Bodies of Men, and Women with Female Bodies; which was very suitable and decent.  

The manner of their Burial.  AS soon as any one of them was Dead, those who were appointed to pay him the last duty, did first shut his eyes, closed his mouth with a Fillet, and cut off his Hair. Next they washed his Body very well, and perfumed it with several drugs, 
Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic. c. 1.  which were more or less costly, according to the quality of the Deceased; and then wrapping it up in a Winding-sheet, they laid it in a Coffin.  

Id. ibid.  IN the mean time, people from all parts, that is, as well those of the same Town or City, as adjacent places, came to condole with, & comfort the Relations of the Departed: And as the multitude was very great in the house of the Deceased (where great lamentations were made) as likewise in the Streets, through which the Corpse was carried to the Grave; and that in both places people were very splendidly treated and feasted; so the expenses thereof oft amounted to such an excess, that many of them were thereby impoverished; insomuch that several not being able to undergo such vast charges, absented themselves from the City, under some specious pretence or other, for fear of exposing their credit.  

Instances of mourning.  WHICH Lamentations, together with the Multitudes of people attending the Corpse to the Grave, were esteemed of so great moment amongst them, that they accounted those accursed, who were deprived of either of them. 
* L. 1. Reg. c. 31.  This we learn, not only from their Tradition, but from several Texts of the Scripture. For instance in the two and twentieth Chapter of Jeremiah, that Prophet speaking of that impious King Jehojakim, declares from the mouth of God, that at his Funerals there should be heard no sad cries and lamentations of his Brothers and Sisters, nor of the rest of the People. And likewise in the fifth Chapter of the second Book of the Maccabees it is said, 
* 2 Macc. c. 5. v. 10.  That that ungodly Jason was not mourned for, or bewailed at all. But on the contrary, they were esteemed happy, who had those last honours paid them; as it is recorded in the second Book of Chronicles, Chap. 25. concerning the Death of the Illustrious Josiah, when nothing but sad moans and lamentations were to be heard every where, all the people bewailing that good and Holy Prince, and mixing his Name with their sighs and mournful out-cries. Hence it was, that they spared nothing to induce people to mourn with them for their Dead, and desired nothing more, than to have a numerous Assembly to attend them to their Graves.  

Burials ever used by the Jews.  FOR the Jews did never approve, either of Wood-piles, or any other barbarous ways, used by some Nations at the 
* Talm. p. 4. l. 3.  Death of their Friends, but always committed their Dead to the ground; and so Sacred a thing was Burial among them, that even Strangers and Executed persons were not deprived of that privilege: Of both which we have so many instances, that we cannot possibly doubt of it. For besides their common Coemeteries, or Burying-places, by some called Polyandria, which were designed for Strangers and the Poor, both of City and Country; we read in the GOSPEL, that the Thirty pieces of Silver, that Judas had received for betraying his Master, were laid out in buying of a certain Field, which, from that time forward, was appointed and made use of to bury Strangers in.  

The manner of Burying those that were Executed.  AS for those that were punished with Death for their Crimes, Moses left a Law in the one and twentieth Chapter of Deuteronomy, expressly forbidding their remaining on Gallows till the next day; and enjoining the taking of 'em down from thence, and burying them before Sunset. Which Law has been ever since so exactly observed, that had they omitted once to do it, they should have apprehended, that the ruin and devastation of their whole Country would have ensued. And Josephus in his Book of Antiquities, explaining Moses' meaning, extends the force of this Law to Enemies themselves; saying, that that Divine Legislator did thereby condemn all public exposing of the Dead to a ghastly and noisome putrefaction, as an excess of cruelty; That the Death they had suffered, was a sufficient Punishment for the Crimes they had committed; that therefore it was a piece of high injustice to inflict a more severe penalty upon them, than they had deserved, and (consequently) that they were not to be deprived of Burial, which Nature and Humanity had taught us never to deny to any, though the worst of our Foes, or greatest Malefactors. To which the same Historian adds, that even the very Instruments wherewith they had been put to death, were interred together with their Bodies; that is to say, the Gallows, if they were hanged; the Stones, if stoned; or the Sword, if beheaded. And Joshua, who was the Successor of Moses in the Government of the Jews, was very exact in the observing of this Law; for he never caused any one to be put to Death, either of the Israelites, or their Adversaries, but that he gave them Burial the very same day.  

Persons Executed, and such as killed themselves, might be Buried in their Father's Graves.  AND besides all this, they granted Malefactors, yea even such as killed themselves, the favour of being Buried in the Graves of their Ancestors. Thus we are told in the seventeenth Chapter of the Second Book of Samuel, that the Unhappy Ahitophel, when he saw that his counsel was not followed, went home to his house, where he hanged himself, and died; and that notwithstanding he was buried in the Sepulchre of his Fathers.  
AND as concerning persons that were Executed, we read, that David not being able to deny the Gibeonites seven men of Saul's Family, because he had broke the Covenant, that had been formerly made upon Oath, between Joshua and them; those poor wretches being hanged on so many Gallows, were, by the order of the same King, taken down from thence, and carried to the Grave of Cis, the Father of that Family, in the Tribe of Benjamin.  

Burying-places.  AS for such whose Funerals were celebrated with honour, their usual Graves were hewn out of Rocks, in imitation of Abraham, who bought such a Buryingplace of the Children of Heth, in the Land of Canaan, for his Wife Sarah, Himself, and Posterity. Of these Sepulchers or Graves, the Talmud states the form and bigness, viz. That the Cave be no larger than six Cubits; that there be eight holes at least in the bottom of it, to the end the Bodies which are laid down there, may lie separately, and by themselves; and that there be a little Porch, or Threshold at the entrance, where the Corpse may be set down, till the usual Prayers be said over it, and the Friends and Relations of the Deceased have given him their last Adieus, before he be shut up from their sight.  

Magnificent Sepulchers among them.  NOW though these forementioned Sepulchers were generally made use of, even for Persons of the greatest quality; yet was it also 
* Casaub. exercit. 16.  lawful to make them more stately and magnificent; of which latter we find several instances among the Jews, that do not in the least come short of the most sumptuous Mausoleums of other Nations: Such amongst others was the Tomb of Helen, Queen of the Adiabenians, who left her own Country, to embrace the Law of Moses. This Princess did cause this Monument to be built for her near Jerusalem, as we learn from Josephus and S. Jerome, who saw the remains of it. And Pausanias, who hath described the same, saith, that it consisted of three Pyramids, made with so much art and contrivance, that they were accounted so many wonders. Besides, he tells us of another curiosity about this Sepulchre, which is no less admirable, and would (its like) be disbelieved, and pass for a Fable, had it been recorded by an Author of less credit and reputation. This Monument (saith he) which was made all of Marble, had a door of the same Stone; that did once a year, at a certain day and hour open itself, by means of some secret Art, or hidden Springs; and shut again of itself, a little while after; though at any other time it might have been sooner broke all to pieces, than opened by any industry or strength whatsoever.  

Joseph. l. 5. de Bel.  JOSEPHUS and S. Hierom do also speak of the Tomb of the Maccabees, which they relate was erected by Simon the High Priest, in the City of Modin, the Birth-place of that Illustrious Family. It was made of white Marble, well polished, having a stately Piazza around it; at the entrance of which were seven great Pyramids placed on the top of as many Pillars, all of one piece. And yet this Structure, which indeed was very magnificent, was nothing in comparison of the carved work wherewith it was embellished and adorned, wherein were represented their Victories by Sea and Land, with several Trophies, and a thousand other marks of their Grandeur, with the greatest Art imaginable.  
IN the third place, I shall speak of that of Daniel 
* Hegesip. , who caused it to be built himself at Ecbatana in Media, at the time when he was the Favourite of the King of Persia. He ordered it to be made in the fashion of a Tower, which was wrought with such extreme curiosity and art, that the World never yet saw its fellow, its contrivance being altogether stupendious and inimitable. Josephus, whom I now quoted, and who himself saw it several ages after, says, that in his days, it seemed to be yet stark new, and looked then, as if it had been but just finished; adding, that a Jewish Priest had an allowance given him to keep there both Day and Night, that no Body might spoil or damnify that admirable Building; with whose beauty and extraordinary curiosity the Kings of that Nation were so much taken, that they since made use of it for their Royal place of Burial.  
NOR is that which Solomon caused to be built at Jerusalem, for his Father David and himself, to be omitted here; who being a most wise Prince, as the great and matchless things he achieved in his life-time, do abundantly testify, it is easy to guests; that this Monument of his was a surpassing, curious and admirable Masterpiece of Art; and wherein neither skill, nor riches were wanting, that might render it altogether wonderful and extraordinary. There was nothing in, or about it, but what was wonderful and surprising; Nature and workmanship having bestowed their utmost skill and greatest Treasures upon it. But that which I find most remarkable in it, is the place wherein he commanded the two Coffins for his Father and himself, to be placed; because the same could never by any industry be found out; the inner part of the Vault or Cave being made in the fashion of a Labyrinth. And History informs us, that Herod being on a time obstinately resolved to find out this secret place, commanded some of his Men to break down certain stones, whose removal he thought might likely discover the concealed Royal Tombs, but was soon affrighted from attempting further, by the fire that issued forth in great flashes from it, and consumed two of his Men upon the spot; so that besides a rigorous Edict he published, whereby he strictly enjoined, that for time to come, none should dare to attempt a like re search, he caused a very mean Sepulchre to be made hard by it for himself, by way of reparation of the wrong he had offered to it.  

Two sorts of Treasures enclosed in their Scpulchres.  NEITHER shall I speak here of the great Treasures found in those Sepulchers; for none can be ignorant of the vast Riches of all kinds, that were laid up therein, who considers, that those Places being looked upon as sacred and inviolable among the Jews, every one of them carried thither the most rare and precious things they had, thinking them more safe there, without Guards, than in their own Houses or Coffers. They were most commonly Lords, and Persons of great Estates, who did so; as finding it too cumbersome for them to keep their Treasures at home, by reason of their great Riches: as likewise Widows and Orphans, who were not capable of looking after, and managing what was their own.  
BUT besides those riches which were kept there for the use of the Living, much was also enclosed in honour of the Dead. Hence it was that the High Priest Hyrcanus, seeing himself besieged within the City of Jerusalem, by Antiochus, Surnamed Pious, took out of David's Sepulchre, nine hundred Years after his Death, three thousand Talents, whereof he gave a part to that Prince, to make him retire with his Army; and with the other he raised Soldiers, in order to put himself in a condition of preventing the like disaster for time to come. Out of which Sepulchre, Herod, a good while after, took a great number of Vessels of Gold, Jewels, and other precious Ornaments. From whence we may easily conclude, that his Son Solomon had spared nothing to honour his Father's Memory. In like manner, we read in the Fourteenth Chapter of the Second Book of the Kings, that the Chaldeans did in their Invasion of Judea, open all the Prince's Sepulchers, for the sake of the Treasures they enclosed. And Sozomene tells us, that the Prophet Zachariah's Tomb being opened in his days, a young Prince of the Royal Blood was found lying at his Feet, with a Crown of Gold upon his Head, and arrayed in a most rich Robe, and other Princely habiliments.  

Clearing of the first Objection.  THERE are two principal Objections, that may be made, concerning these Funeral Ceremonies of the Jews, which we shall here briefly endeavour to answer. The first is, How it comes to pass, that so great honours were by them paid to the Dead, since according to the Mosaic Law, none could touch them, without being polluted; insomuch that those who took care of their Burial, could have no fellowship with any, till after they had washed and purified themselves? To this all the Interpreters do unanimously answer, that Moses his intent was not thereby to signify, that dead Bodies were abominable in themselves; but that bearing the blemishes and stains of sin, by their being deprived of life, they were to purify themselves, who had touched them, as if they had touched sin itself; Death being its proper and natural effect and reward.  

Clearing of the ●econd Objection.  THE other Objection may be made concerning the honour of burning, so often mentioned in the Scripture; from whence some infer, that the Dead amongst the Jews were sometimes consumed in the Fire, but without any sufficient ground or reason for it, nothing (as hath been said) being more contrary to the Custom of that People. Wherefore we answer, that those burnings mentioned in Scripture, were quite of another nature, and must not be understood of Corpses, but of sweet-scented Woods and Perfumes, which they consumed to a vast expense, at the Funerals of their Kings, and other Persons of the highest Quality.   

CHAP. XVI. Funerals of the Modern Jews.  
IN the description I am about to make of the Funeral Rites of the Modern Jews, I might be thought to amuse the Reader with an idle story, but that they are well known to be authorized by the Talmud (which next to the Holy Scripture, is the Book of most esteem amongst them) and daily practised by all those of that miserable Sect, who live in these our days. Nevertheless, I must here advertise the Reader, that though indeed that which I relate be not a Fable (it being their constant belief and practice) yet I shall have occasion to set down many things here, that seem the most extravagant stories imaginable; which for all that are the ground and foundation of these their Ceremonies.  
BUT here we must needs observe some kind of order, to clear a matter that is of itself very obscure and intricate, by reason of a great number of punctilios thereto belonging, which they account very essential: Therefore we shall first of all speak of their preparation for Death, when they are Sick. Next of their Death itself, with their Funerals: And last of all of their foolish Opinion concerning the Souls and Bodies after Death.  

The manner of the Rabbi's visiting the Sick.  FIRST then; As soon as a Jew is given over by the Physicians, and they conclude he will die, the Rabbi, who has been called to take care of his Soul, comes to him in company with ten other persons at the least, and in the first place asks him, whether he believes the Coming of the Messias; whereto the Sick having answered in the affirmative, he sits down at his bed's head, and the standers-by ranking themselves round about him, he bids the Patient to make his Confession with a loud voice; the Form whereof is as followeth.  

The Form of a dying Jew's Confession.  I CONFESS and acknowledge before thee, O Lord my God, the God of my Fathers, the strong and mighty God of every Spirit, that quickens and gives life to Flesh; That both my Life and Death are in thy hands; therefore I pray thee to restore me to health, 
Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic. c. 35.  to remember me, and hear my prayers, as thou didst those of King Hezekiah, when he was sick. But if this be the time of thy last visitation upon me, and that I must die, I beseech thee mercifully to receive me into that Paradise, which thou hast prepared for the Just: Show me the straight way to go to Eternal Life, and satisfy me with thy blessed presence. Praised be thou for ever, O Lord God, who hearest the Prayers of thy Servants.  

Declaration of his sins.  THIS Confession is accompanied with a public Declaration of his sins; though it be not so particular, but that he may keep to himself some things he thinks not fit to publish to all that are present, which he afterwards whispers in the Ear of the Rabbi, under pretence of ask him his advice touching the disposal of his Estate, and making of his last Will and Testament.  

Public satisfaction given to all he has offended.  WHEN this is done, he offers public satisfaction for all the injuries by him done, or scandals occasioned, either by his debaucheries, violence, or any private grudge or enmity, begging pardon of all those whom he has offended, and protesting that he likewise heartily pardons them who have done, or intended him any wrong. As for what concerns the satisfaction he is to make to GOD, 
Satisfaction to God.  he offers him no other, but that of his own Death, as supposing the same will sufficiently expiate all his Sins: Wherein he perhaps does not mistake, though he interpret it in another sense; for besides that temporal Death, which is generally allotted to all Men, for a punishment of their Sins, he is in great danger to suffer an eternal one, as a reward of his obstinacy and unbelief.  

Public Prayers on behalf of the Sick; and Alms.  SOME after they have given this satisfaction, desire the public Prayers of the Synagogue, and send as much money as they think fit to be distributed to the Poor. 
Change of their Name.  There are others, who besides these public Prayers have their Name changed, as a mark of their entire and absolute Conversion; so that when they are prayed for, their former Name is not mentioned, but that which they have assumed during their Death-bed-penance. For example, the Synagogue applying themselves to God on behalf of the Sick, speak thus; 
Id. ibid.  O Lord, we beseech thee, to have mercy on such a one; he hath changed the Name he went by, when he offended against thy Laws, and is now called N. N. Do not therefore look upon him as an object of thy wrath; for if thou hadst resolved to punish him as such, now thou must not, since he by this other Name he has assumed, is become another man: Whereupon we do hope, that thou wilt hereafter consider him as a new Creature, and as a Babe that is but newly born.  

He gives and receives Blessing.  IN short, if the sick person be in his Father's house, he craves his Blessing; and if he himself is a Father of a Family, he calls his Children and Domestics unto him, to Bless them  

Their foolish Opinion concerning Death.  THAN from that time forwards they dare never leave him alone; because they persuade themselves, that the Angel of Death, which is in his Chamber, would offer violence to him, were there none present to prevent it. Neither can they for all this so wholly oppose and hinder that evil Spirit, but that he does him a great deal of mischief; for (as they tell us) he with a naked Sword in his hand, looks so frightful and terrible, that the Sick is thereby much discomposed. At this Sword hang three drops, all of them very fatal to the Decumbent. The first that falls on him gives him his Death; the second changes his colour, making him pale, wan and ghastly: And the last rots and turns him to corruption; so that he becomes noisome and stinking.  

Rending of clothes and Lamentations. Elias Grammat.  UPON his giving up of the Ghost, all that are present do, by rending their clothes, and crying as loud as ever they can, express the greatest sorrow imaginable; and immediately after, they fling all the water they have then in the house, out of the windows; as being of opinion, that this malignant Angel has washed his Sword in it, wherewithal he killed him: 
Reason why they fling out all the water they have in the house.  And all the neighbourhood under a like apprehension, do the same. Neither is there need of any other notice, to make known to the rest of the Town or City, that there is some body Dead in that part of it; for this abundance of water poured forth on a sudden in the streets, makes near as much noise, as the ringing of our Bells.  

Another opinion as foolish as the foregoing, concerning the Angel of Death.  BESIDES they have another Opinion concerning this Angel, which is no less ridiculous. They say, that some of their most zealous Doctors not being able to endure, that this Angel should so cruelly torment and afflict the People (for they believe he was formerly much worse than he is now) did by their continual prayers, so far prevail with God, that he delivered him into their hands; whereupon they having most straightly bound him, put out his left eye; insomuch that being now half-blind he can no more do them so much harm as formerly.  

The manner of their interring the Dead.  NOW to prepare the Corpse, in order to its Burial, they fetch fresh water, the cleanest they can get, which they boil with Camomile, dried Roses, and such like odoriferous, and sweet-scented Herbs, and Flowers, wherein they wash it very carefully; thereby to intimate, that Death has not only purged him from all his filthiness; but made him of a good and pleasant savour with God.  

Concerning the white Tunick.  THIS done, they apparel him in a white Tunick, to signify the innocence where with he now presents himself before the Tribunal of the Sovereign Judge: 
The anointing of his face.  They anoint his face with the yolk of an Egg, dissolved and mixed with Wine; thereby to show, that he shall not only taste of the joys and comforts of the other Life, which are enclosed in God's bosom, as the yolk of an Egg is in its shell; 
Rab. Mos. in Talm.  but shall be made drunk therewith, as not being able to be satisfied; and continually drink the same in great draughts, till he has by vomiting, 
The Veil wherewith they cover his face.  besmeared himself all over. Then they put a Veil over his face, thereby to signify, that since he is passed into the other World, he is no more concerned to regard any thing in this. They likewise cover his head with his Talled, 
His short Cloak of Ceremony.  or short Cloak of Ceremony; being in hopes, that as it hath been subservient to him in this Life, on every Holiday, to say his Prayers in the Synagogue, so will it likewise serve him still in Heaven, during the long Sabbath of Eternity; and that he, after having adorned it with the ornaments of the Blessed, shall over and above crown the same with Glory. Out of this Cloak they pull several Threads, wherewith they tie his right Thumb, 
Tying and bending of his Thumb.  bending and bowing it so, as it may in some sort express the Name of God in the Hebrew Tongue; they making no question, but that with this Mark he is secure from all the assaults of the Devil, who whilst he shall thus hold his hand, can never drag him into Hell, where this Holy Name is not owned, or acknowledged; and therefore it is, that to tie this knot, they make use only of those Threads which are taken from that sacred Cloak; because they don't believe there can be any other strong enough for that purpose. Last of all, 
His Sheets, Coffin, and Pillow.  they lay him in a Coffin, with two clean Sheets, whereof the one is put under, and the other over him; making his head to rest upon a great stone, or on a Bag filled with Earth: To intimate by this hard Pillow, the steadiness of that rest he shall enjoy in the other Life, and by the cleanness of the sheets he lies on, and is covered withal, the Light and Purity of that Blessed Life.  

The manner of their attending the Funeral.  WHEN the Body is thus ordered, they carry it to the Grave, in a most confused and disorderly manner, by reason that every one of the company will bear it by turns. Which they discharge with a great deal of Devotion, in a prospect of those great advantages God has prepared for the party deceased: And being arrived at the place of Burial, whilst they nail the Coffin on the side of the Grave, the whole Company go seven several times, as it were, in procession round about it; thereby to signify, 
Their reasons why they take seven turns around the Coffin.  that as God created the World in six days, and rested on the seventh from all his Works, so the pilgrimage of this transitory Life endures but for a very little time, after which Men rest from all the pains and Labours they have undergone, to all Eternity, which is represented by the number Seven.  

Why they cause a wax-taper to burn at the Grave for the space of seven days. Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic. c. 35. Why their great Mourning lasts seven days.  WHICH number they also observe, with regard to the Dead, in three other Ceremonies. First, in placing a lighted Wax-Taper by his Grave, or in the Chamber in which he died; where they let it burn for the space of Six whole Days, and put it out on the Seventh. Secondly, in their great Mourning, which lasts seven days. And last of all, in the restlessness they express at their first coming into their House, after their return from attending the Funeral, by starting on a sudden from their place seven several times, as if they did not find themselves at ease, in the six former removes they had made. 
Why they shift their places seven times when they are come back from attending the Funeral.  Which restlessness and shifting of place, that is much like a piece of Mummery, and very childish, not to say foolish, is notwithstanding by them asserted to represent the inconstancy of worldly things, which their deceased Friend might from the time of his Birth, to that of his Death, have easily taken notice of. 
Elias Grammat. in Thesbit.  Their mourning shows, that he ought not to have done any thing else, but weep and lament all the while he lived here: And the lighted Taper imports, that his Temporal Life is extinguished at his arrival in Eternity. For, as I have above observed, the six Days represent the duration of time, which is but a reiterating or continuance of the first Week of the World. And the seventh signifies the Sabbath-day, which is the emblem of Rest and Eternal Bliss.  

The manner of their Burial.  BUT now let us return from this so curious digression, and speak of the manner of their Burials. When the Coffin is nailed, they let it down into the Grave, every one throwing in the Earth by handfuls, till it be quite filled up, and nothing left behind of what they had digged out, to make the hole; upon which account it is, that they beat it down and tread upon it, as hard as ever they can, so as every bit of Earth may go in; 
Their reason.  for they fancy, that if but one handful of the Mould should remain, it were a sign that the Ground would not harbour the Corpse, no more than it could the Bodies of those reprobates, Corah, Dathan and Abiram, whom it having swallowed into its Entrails, let them fall down to Hell, not being able to endure them.  

Form of their Funeral Prayers.  WHILST the Body is burying, the Rabbi 
* Buxtorf. ibid. , who has muttered several prayers, does last of all speak to the whole Company, to this purpose: We verily believe that the Foundation of the World is laid upon three things; viz. on the Law of Moses, the Service of God, and Piety towards the Dead. Blessed therefore be he who rewards those that are careful to discharge this Duty. 
Reason why they pluck up grass at three several times, and fling i● behind their back.  Then all the People turning their backs to the Grave, pluck up some Grass at three several times, and throw it over their Heads, rehearsing these words of the Psalmist, 
‖ Psal. 72. 16.  They of the City shall flourish like grass of the Earth: That is to say, that the Dead, by passing from this Mortal, to Eternal Life, shall rise again to Glory; as the Grass grows and flourishes again, after it is mown and cut down.  

Their reasons for taking the Bed to pieces, on which the Body lay, and breaking of an earthen Pot.  MOREOVER it is to be observed, that as soon as the Dead is carried out of the House; there are some in a readiness presently to take the Bed to pieces on which he died, who hastily fold or double the Quilt, roll up the Cover or Bed-clothes, leaving them confusedly on the Mat, and run to the Windows to fling an Earthen Pot after the Coffin; thereby to intimate, that every thing is altered and broken now as to him, and that he has no more claim to any of the Goods, which he formerly was possessed of.  

Their great or close Mourning.  WHEN the Relations are returned from attending the Funeral, they have no sooner recovered home, but they begin their great or close Mourning, which lasteth seven days, in the solemnising whereof, they proceed in this order: First of all, 
* Buxtorf ibid.  they wash their Hands, put off their Shoes and Stockings, and sit down on the Ground, where they pass their time in continual tears and lamentations, without doing any manner of work whatsoever; no not so much as dressing Meat for themselves, their Friends all that while taking care to send them from their Houses, whatever they stand in need of, ready prepared, according to their custom; on the first day of their Mourning therefore they serve them with nothing else but hard Eggs, with a little Bread and Water, thereby to intimate they are very sensible, that their affliction is hard and heavy, and by eating of the same with them, how great a share they take in it. But on the following days, they feast them well, eat with, and comfort them; and on the Sabbath-day the same Friends come to accompany them to the Synagogue; from whence they conduct them back to their own houses, as soon as Divine Service is ended.  

Their second mourning.  THEIR second sort of Mourning, which they call mean or indifferent, lasts thirty days, during which they are not permitted, to wash, perfume, or shave themselves, or so much as cut their Nails. Neither do they all that time eat with their Families, but the Men invite some of their Friends, and privately take their repasts with them; as the Women also do by themselves (that is, without the Men) with some of their she-neighbours, who come on purpose to keep them company, and work with them; for it is not lawful for a Husband to converse with his Wife, nor for a Wife to do the like with her Husband, until the time of this Mourning be over.  

The last and least mourning.  AS for the last sort of Mourning, it concerns only Children, who are not dressed in black as with us; but are obliged for a whole year to wear the same clothes, which they had on, when their Father died; not being permitted to shift themselves, though they be never so ragged and torn. They also celebrate a Fast every Year on the same day; and for the space of eleven months rehearse the Prayer Kaddisch, for the deliverance of their Parents Souls out of Purgatory; for they believe, that none but impious persons abide there a whole year; but that the good do never remain in that place above eleven months, provided their Children repeat this Prayer for them every day; which Prayer they do not continue to rehearse beyond the time forementioned; because every one of them has a good opinion of his Parent's Virtue; there being no Child that thinketh his Father to have been a wicked and ungodly man.  

Fabulous story concerning the Prayer Kaddisch.  THIS Prayer is grounded upon a fabulous story of Rabbi Akiba, who says, that being one day a walking in a remote and solitary place, he met with a man, who was loaden with so great a burden of Wood, that no labouring Beast could ever have carried more; and that upon his demanding, whether he was a living Man or a Ghost, he answered him, that he was the Spirit of one Dead, and was forced every day to cut down such a load of Wood, to feed the Fire, wherewith he was tormented in Purgatory. Whereupon he further asked him his Name, and that of his Family; which as soon as he had learned, he repaired to the deceased's Children, and taught them this Prayer; withal assuring them, that their Father would in a little time be delivered from his sufferings, in case they would rehearse it constantly every day; which they having begun to do, the Dead appeared to them the next night, to return them thanks for the same, and let them know, that he was already entered into the pleasant Garden of the terrestrial Paradise: And thereupon, these good tidings, together with a Form of this Prayer, were sent to every Synagogue in the World, insomuch as there is not one now but makes use of it. When the Deceased has no Children, the whole Synagogue assembled in a Body, by rehearsing this Prayer, do supply that want. But if he has any, he dies with abundance of joy and satisfaction; because they suppose the said Prayer more efficacious in the mouths of their Children, than in any others.  

Reasons of this their Superstition.  AND what makes them so superstitious and strict in the observing of so many petty Ceremonies, is because their Rabbis tell them, 
* Rab. Akib. in Talm.  that the Soul not being able to enter into Paradise, as soon as it is separated from the Body, haunts sometimes its own house, sometimes Coemeteries, or Churchyards, and sometimes the Synagogue itself, to observe and take notice, whether in all these places they punctually pay their duties to their deceased Friend or Relation; not doubting, but that if they should neglect any the least circumstance therein, they would be severely punished for it: For they do esteem them so essential and absolutely necessary for the Rest of the departed Soul, that they are persuaded it would never be by the Angels carried up into the Bed of God, there to repose to all Eternity, if but one single punctilio should be omitted in this service; but that on the contrary it would be fain to wander up and down in a Region where it must meet with troops of Devils, that would most cruelly afflict and torment it.  
THEY also believe, that when the Soul is upon the point, either of entering Paradise, or going down into Hell, seeing itself obliged for ever to part and shake hands with its dear companion the Body, reenters it again for the last time, and makes it to stand up on his feet: Whereupon the Angel of Death, with a chain in his hands (whereof one half is Iron, and the other Fire) gives him three several strokes: With the first of which he puts all his bones out of joint, making them fall confusedly to the ground; with the second he breaks and shatters them; and with the last he turns them all to dust: After which the good Angels draw near, who having taken up all these broken pieces, lay them anew in the Grave.  

Their foolish opinion concerning the Land of Promise, the first Principle of their Resurrection.  LASTLY, they are persuaded, that those who are not Interred in some place or other of the Holy Land, shall never rise again; and that all the favour God will be able to do them, shall amount to no more than this, That he will open some small chinks, through which they may (though imperfectly) behold the abode of the Blessed; except they have by great merits, as continual Alms, and other good works, rendered themselves worthy of it. And concerning these they say, that God, who is most just, and never leaves goodness and virtue unrewarded, shall provide for them hollow places in the Earth, through which their Bodies shall roll continually, until they come to the Mount of Olives, which at the time of the Resurrection, shall be cleft and divided into two parts, in order to its giving them a free passage, and that being arrived in this blessed Land, they shall rise again, as well as others, who were buried there; for they fancy, that the mere touching of it, is sufficient to capacitate them for that Bliss and Felicity. Upon which account it is, that when they die abroad, they give their Relations a strict charge to translate their Bones into Chanaan, as soon as ever they shall be able to do it.  

Three sorts of Persons that are to rise again.  NOR are their other Opinions concerning the Resurrection of the Dead, less absurd and ridiculous, than these their Ceremonies. They hold it as an Article of their Faith, that there are four things which God grants to none but Israelites, viz. Prophecy, the Law, the Land of Promise, and the Resurrection; all others, whether Heathens or Christians, being deprived of these advantages. To which they add, that there will be three sorts of People which shall rise again at the last day. The first shall be of those that are absolutely good; The second of them who are stark nought; and the third of such as are both good and bad. 
Their first opinion.  That the good shall be enrolled among the number of the Blessed ones; the wicked reduced to nothing; and those that are partly good and partly bad, after having remained for the space of a whole Year in the fire, where their Bodies shall be consumed, and their Souls purified, they shall at the last be received into Heaven.  

Second opinion.  NEVERTHELESS, I find, that their opinion is not general, who think the wicked shall be annihilated, for there are some of them that believe the Pains and Torments of the Damned will be Eternal, and that they shall never enjoy any the least rest, but on Saturdays, when (as they say) those miserable Souls have leave to go out of the Flames, and refresh themselves. Whence it is, that they take so much care of having Water ready in all their Vessels, on that day; to the end the Damned may not be at the trouble of looking out for some, when they come to cool their burning and scorching heat.  

The virtue and efficacy of the word Amen.  BUT I must not here omit speaking of the virtue, which they attribute to the word, Amen, or So be it 
* Elias Grammat. ibid. ; there being some of them who make more account of it, than of all their Prayers put together; for how long and prolix soever they be, they do not fancy them to have any efficacy at all, 
The second Principle of their Resurrection.  except they conclude them with an Amen, most fervently and devoutly pronounced; Insomuch as all those who frequent their Synagogues, may take notice, that after these People have with the greatest haste and precipitancy (such as puts them out of breath) rehearsed whole Psalms, they on a sudden stop, and recollect themselves at the end of each Psam, to say, Amen, with as much devotion as possibly they can; or else after a little pause, they utter it as loud as ever their strength will give them leave. Either of which ways they think very fitting and becoming: for to speak it softly and demurely, shows their great inward devotion; as to utter it aloud, their zeal and earnestness in declaring the praises of God, which they are so transported with, that they sound forth their Amen with all the might they have.  
NOW they are in no doubt, but that having thus pronounced this Amen here below, they thereby deserve eternally to pronounce the same in Heaven; grounding this their Opinion upon two Psalms of David; in one of which, after having given a large account of the greatness and glory of God, he concludes with a Doxology or Blessing of the Divine Majesty, and Seals it with a twice repeated AMEN. Blessed for ever be the Lord God of Israel, AMEN and AMEN. The first Amen (say they) is the Amen of Faith and Devotion, which ought here in this World to terminate all our Prayers, to the end, they may be meritorious: And the second is the Amen of Reward, that shall make us give thanks to God for all his Benefits vouchsafed to us. In the other Psalm the same Prophet having spoken of all the Praises due to God, concludes it with exhorting the People for ever more to bless the Holy Name of his Divine Majesty, and wishing every one in his own particular to answer to it, So be it, So be it.  

Buxtorf. ibid. c. 26.  MOREOVER they aver, that the pious pronunciation of this word is one of the most certain tokens of Election; that it distinguishes the good Israelites from the bad, and that it is impossible, but they must rise again to happiness, who in their Prayers utter it with a great deal of faith and assurance, Nay, they go further, and say, that a sinner, how great soever he be, shall nevertheless deserve a glorious Resurrection, provided he doth signalise his devotion in the pronouncing of this Word. And that this may be apprehended, Rabbi Judah uses a comparison, which is no less gross, than this opinion or fancy is ill grounded.  

A gross comparison concerning this opinion.  
* Rab. Jud. in Talm.  THE Case is the same (says he) with a great sinner, as with a Maid, who has given way to her being seduced and debauched in her Father's house, and thereby got a great belly. Her Mother transported with wrath, and not being able to suffer this blot and reproach to her Family, does at the first news thereof, turn her out of doors. Nevertheless, when the time of her delivery is come, and she hears her poor Daughter, amidst her extreme pains, a thousand times calling upon her for help and pity; the Name of Mother, so often, and with so much passion repeated by a Daughter in so great grief and suffering, does at last move the Mother to compassion, and obtain her favourable regards: That only Name makes her forget her Daughter's misbehaviour, and effaceth all the Ideas of aversation formerly conceived against her; she causeth her immediately to be sent for home, and takes all the care of her imaginable, letting her want nothing that may be requisite for her in that condition. Thus it is with a great sinner; though God have cast him out of Paradise, by reason of his crimes, yet he is sensibly moved with his Prayers, when they are concluded with a most devout Amen. At this word alone he remembers his sins no more, and opens to him again the doors of Heaven, which before he had shut upon him in his wrath.  
THIS is so true (adds he ) that we ourselves have a proof of it, of many Ages standing, which cannot be questioned. For though we have often been driven out of the Land of Canaan, when we were carried in bondage to Nineveh and Babylon, and now are scattered all the world over, and we cannot rise again, 
Their foolish Opinion concerning the travel of the Dead into the Holy Land.  but in that blessed Land; yet it is certain, that the Bodies of true Israelites, after having been for some time buried in another place, are rolling through deep Hollows and Caves, which God has made for that purpose, till they are arrived so far as under the Mount of Olives; from whence they are by the Spirit of God, that quickens them, transmitted into Paradise.  
I HAVE thought this repetition would not seem tedious to the Reader; since it comes from one of the most famous Doctors of their Sect, whom they esteem as an Oracle of their Talmud; and besides, it confirmeth their extravagant and ridiculous opinion concerning the Resurrection of such as die out of the Land of Canaan.  

The third Principle of their Resurrection.  WE will conclude this Chapter with a recital of the fabulous advantages they expect from their Messias, which are kept in store for those only who shall rise again: It is indeed nothing else, but the Description of their Paradise (properly so called) which hath no other foundation, but what they have laid for it in their foolish fancies. 
* Rab. Jehos. in Talm.  They say, that as this Prince shall be invested with the Almighty strength of God, so no Tyrant will be able to withstand him; that he shall obtain a full and complete Victory over all the then Kings and Potentates of the World, and deliver all the Israelites, who groan under the yoke of their cruel Governments, out of their hands. That having gathered them all together, he shall lead them in triumph into the Land of Canaan, where they shall upon their first arrival, be supplied with rich and costly Garments, ready made to their hands, and fitted for all statures and sizes. 
Advantages to be enjoyed by the Jews in the Land of Canaan.  That there also they will find all sorts of desirable Meats that can be wished for, which the Country shall bring forth, seasoned and dressed to every one of their Palates: That there they shall enjoy a pure and temperate Air, with moderate and pleasant weather, which shall for ever keep them in perfect health and strength, prevent their falling into any kind of sickness, and lengthen the thread of their life beyond that of the Patriarches, who lived before the Flood.  

Feast of the Messias.  BUT all this is nothing, if compared with the Feast, which they fancy their Messias will make them, wherein among other rare and miraculous Viands, of which that glorious Entertainment shall consist, the wonderful Behemoth, Leviathan, and stupendious Bird shall be served. The first of which hath been a fattening ever since the World began; all the Grass that grows upon a thousand hills being but a repast of one day for him. 
Monstrous Creatures that shall be served at the foresaid Feast.  The second fills and takes up a whole Sea: And the last, when she spreads her wings, clouds and eclipseth the Sun. Moreover concerning this Bird, they tell us, that having on a time dropped one of her Eggs from her Nest, it beat down three hundred tall Cedars, and being broke, overwhelmed sixty Towns and Villages.  

A Public show of these Creatures.  TO this they add, that before they be served at this great Entertainment, the Messias shall expose them for the sport and diversion of his people, by making them fight together: Which certainly will be a very curious and extraordinary show. For besides the monstrous and wonderful Bulk of these Creatures, which are to combat one another, no Theatre ever exhibited the like Antagonists, viz. a Bull, a Fish, and a Bird, fight together. 
Id. ibid. & Rab. Bab.  But it seems this extraordinary Messias (as they fancy) must do extraordinary things, even beyond all humane conceit and apprehension.  

Monstrous Creatures in his Palace.  THEY likewise speak with a great deal of seriousness and wonder, of a Raven and Lion, which for a mark of his Grandeur, he shall keep in his Palace: The former whereof, they tell us, did at a certain time swallow down a Serpent, that had devoured a Frog as big as a Village of sixty houses, making but one mouthful of both, much after the same manner as a Fox would in a trice dispatch a bit of a Pear, says Rabbi Babha, who assures us to have been himself an Eye-witness of it.  
AND as concerning the latter, viz. the Lion, my Author Rabbi Jehoshua says, that a Roman Emperor having once heard of him, and taking the Report for a Fable, commanded him, upon pain of death, to bring this Animal to him; which Order he being, by the authority of the Commander, and strictness of the Injunction, forced to obey, applied himself with Prayers to God to that purpose, who having granted him leave to show this Creature to the Emperor, he went in search of him in the Wood of Ela, where his usual abode and retreat was; but that when he was advanced with him, within a thousand and four hundred paces of Rome, he then began to roar so loud, that the dreadful noise made the Women, that were with Child in the City, to miscarry, and like an Earthquake, threw down the walls levelly with the ground. All which notwithstanding, trying to proceed further with this Lion, and being come a thousand paces nearer to the City, he fell a roaring a second time, with such an extreme violence, that it made the Citizens lose all their teeth, and flung the Emperor himself down from his Throne; so that he was fain to beseech the Rabbi to carry this Animal back again to his Forest.  
THESE are the great Truths on which all the Doctrine of the Talmud is grounded, whereto we might have added several others of the same stamp: But as they serve not for our present Discourse, we shall pass them by; only with this brief remark, that the Modern Jews have never been more extravagant and ridiculous, than in their Ceremonies and Opinions about, and concerning their Dead.   

CHAP. XVII. Funerals of Schismatics.  
WE may distinguish the Schismatics into three different Nations, which make the Principal Sects of them, viz. the Grecians, both natural and others, that follow the Rites of the Greek Church; the Aethiopians, and the Moscovites, who, as they have all of them particular Customs about the disposing of their Dead, it will be fitting to speak to them severally.  

Several ways of Burying used among the Modern Grecians, according to the different Quality of Persons.  TO begin then with the first of these: The Ceremonies used by the Modern Grecians, at the Interments of their Monks, Priests, those of the Laity, and particularly of Women and Children are divers, and much differing one from another. For they strip the Monks of their Frock and Cowl, and let their Bodies lie naked, covered only with an Haircloth: To show by their nakedness, that they have lived in an absolute and entire abrenunciation and denudation of the things of this World; and by the Haircloth, that the whole Series of their lives has been nothing else but Penance and Austerity. As for their Priests, they apparel them with their own Sacerdotal Garments, and Ecclesiastical Ornaments; thereby to represent the high Excellency of their Employment, and Dignity of their Character. As for the Lay-people, they are, after their Death, adorned with their richest clothes; and if they be such as have been Magistrates, with their Gowns and Robes of State; as thinking they cannot be too neatly and handsomely dressed, being to appear in the presence of God. Their Women are all covered with a long Veil, which reacheth down from their head to their very feet; by this means to intimate the care Women ought to take to hide themselves from the sight of all Men, except their own Husbands. Last of all, they apparel their Children like Angels, because they believe they are going to take their place amongst the number of those Blessed Spirits.  

The reasons of three services they celebrate for the Dead.  THEY usually celebrate three Services for their departed Friends: The first on the third, the second on the ninth, and the last on the fortieth day after their Death; for the solemnising of every one of which, they allege two several reasons: As first, for that on the third day, because the Body does then begin to change, 
* Crus. in not. ad Turcograec.  and the Face to lose its features and lineaments; and also, because our Blessed Lord rose again on the third day: For that on the ninth, because the whole Body by that time corrupts, putrifies, and becomes noisome, the Heart only excepted; and likewise, because our Lord, eight days after his Resurrection, began anew to show himself to his Disciples. And lastly, for that on the fortieth, because the very heart doth then rot and putrify, there remaining nothing sound and entire in the whole Corpse, besides the Bones only; and moreover, because our Lord ascended into Heaven the fortieth day after his Resurrection.  
THESE Services consist in Songs or Hymns, Prayers, Ceremonious Breathe or Insufflations, Liberalities and Alms. Whilst the Priests are singing, making every foot the sign of the Cross, the Deacon rehearseth some Prayers, and at every turn breaths or blows upon the Offerings, begging of God, that the departed Soul may rest in peace. Now these Offerings, which generally are of all sorts of Pulse, and very good Wine, are afterwards brought to the foot of the Altar, and there distributed to the standers-by, for a token of the union, which the Deceased had with them, when yet alive, and of that also, which he still desires to have with them, by sharing in their Prayers and Suffrages. Lastly, they conclude these Ceremonies with general Alms and Charities to all there present, that stand in need of them.  

The manner of burying the Dead among the Ethiopians.  THE Ethiopians are wont to accompany their Dead to the Grave, with divers Prayers, which they rehearse without singing; 
* Ext. tom. 2. rer. Hisp.  and when the Corpse is set down on the side of the Grave, they read over it the Gospel of S. John. The next day they begin to distribute many Alms for the Rest of the Soul; and so continue for the space of eight days, during which, they splendidly treat and feast the Relations and friends of the Deceased.  

Discourse at their Funeral Feasts.  IN which Feasts their whole discourse is concerning the Dead; speaking of his good works, if his Life has been exemplary; or of his repentance, if he had been a great sinner, and was at last converted; of God's mercy towards him, if he died in his sin without any signal Conversion; they charitably believing, that before his last gasp, he might have performed some acts of Contrition, and like the good Thief, saved himself at the end of his 
* Schun●ig. in Hoda-port. l. 2.  life: And besides these Religious acts and dispositions of the deceased, they also entertain themselves either with the discourse of his good manners, whereby he rendered himself amiable in the sight of all Men; of his natural endowments and lovely qualities, which made him to be esteemed and regarded by every one; of the great Estate he had got by his industry and diligence; of the honourable Offices he had born in the Commonwealth; or lastly, of his Noble achievements, and famous Victories in War. From all which put together, they conjecture that he must certainly be happy in Heaven: and therefore they heartily rejoice, that he is passed from the miseries of this transitory Pilgrimage, to the felicity of Eternal Life. Which Duty they are so exact and religious in performing, that if any one should happen to talk of any other matters, he would presently, as an impertinent, be turned out of the company.  

The manner of Burying the Dead among the Moscovites.  AMONGST the Moscovites Funerals are always performed and attended by daylight; it being neither usual nor lawful with them to carry the Dead to their Graves after Sunset: For which custom, they allege this reason, That it is not becoming at all to carry them in the dark, who are entered upon Eternal Light. 
Anonym. l. de Russ. relig.  As often as any one is Dead amongst them, they contend one with another, who shall Bury him; as accounting that Duty, not only for a work of mercy, but meritorious also. Therefore he reckons himself very happy, who by the Relations of the deceased is appointed to discharge this last Office.  
THEY do not Consecrate their Coemeteries, or Burying-places, because they say, that it belongs to the Bodies anointed and sanctified by the Holy Ghost to consecrate the Earth, and not to the Earth to consecrate the Bodies. These Coemeteries of theirs are either in Woods, or open Fields; and every Grave has a heap of Stones, with a small Cross on the top of it. Their Clergymen, together with the Friends and Relations of the Departed, accompany the Corpse towards the place of Burial; whereof some are singing certain Hymns and Prayers, whilst others weep, and make great lamentation. They have besides, this particular custom, that they burn Incense all along the way, by which they carry the Dead, some of the Priests having Censers in their hands for that purpose; for they believe, that thereby the Devils are put to flight, and frighted from approaching the Dead. They also celebrate several Masses for the Rest of the Departed Souls, though they hold no Purgatory; hoping that by means of these Masses, and their Prayers, God will grant to the Deceased a better place in Heaven, than that which his merits could otherwise have procured for him. This being done, all the company sit down to eat Rice-cakes in the Church itself; and after this sober and simple repast, they arise and mutually embrace, and wish one another an Eternal satiety and fullness of Everlasting pleasures in the Bosom of God.   

CHAP. XVIII. Funerals of Christians.  
AFTER what has been before said concerning Funeral Ceremonies, as common to all the Nations of the World (even the most barbarous) none can doubt, but that they are Sacred in themselves, since they are taught us by Nature, Reason, and consequently by God himself, in order to give humane Bodies, the respect and honour due to them, as being by means of the Immortality of the Soul, far ennobled above those of all other Creatures. True it is, that these Ceremonies among some people are become superstitious and cruel too, proportionably as by their own depravation and obstinacy they have more or less swerved from the Truth, which inwardly did dictate tothem sentiments altogether contrary to their extravagant actings. But thanks be to God, they have with us remained pure and entire, as will plainly appear both from the continual practice of the Church, from the first Centuries until now, & by Arguments no less strong and solid, than holy, and religious, upon which they are grounded; so as to be able to stop the mouths of the most obstinate Libertines and Heretics; in case they have but the patience to read the unquestionable Instances and Authorities we are to allege here.  

The manner of apparelling and Burying the Dead among the Roman Catholics.  AS soon as any one is Dead amongst us, they close his Eyes and Mouth, kiss and embrace him; afterwards they wash, perfume and apparel him. When he is dressed, they for some time expose the Body in the Entry of the House, or in some other large Room, till the Priests come to take it away, in order to its Burial; at which time all the Company march in Procession, attended with more or less Pomp and Ceremony, according to the quality of the party Deceased. At the head of this solemn attendance one advanceth with the Cross, who is followed by the Clergymen, singing all the way: On this occasion the number of Lights and Wax-Tapers is great, and greater is the crowd of People that accompany the Corpse; whereof some are weeping and lamenting, whilst others repeat Prayers for the Dead. Last of all, when they are arrived at the Church, and a Mass for the Rest of his Soul has been celebrated, he is Interred there, or else in another consecrated place, called the Churchyard.  
THESE are all the Ceremonies we use in this particular; of which some one or other are often omitted, either by reason of the poverty of the Party, the negligence of his Relations; or lastly, because some do affect a more simple and plain way of Burying their Dead. Nevertheless all of them may in an holy manner be practised; and for which we have reason to expect a Reward at the last day, as being Works of Mercy, which by the Sovereign Judge are so highly recommended to us.  
NOW we must prove, that these have always, and are still used; and show the reason of this Universal Practice.  

Reason's why we shut the Eyes and Mouth of the Dead.  IN the first place then, we close the Eyes and Mouth of our deceased Friends and Relations (which S. Denys the Areopagite tells us in his Hierarchy, is a Custom that was observed by the Primitive Christians) to represent, that the Death of the Faithful is, according to the Oracles of Scripture, but a Repose; since after having been asleep for a while, they shall be awaked to Eternity: Moreover, by shutting their Eyes and Mouth, we do intimate, that the Dead are no more to take delight in the objects of this, their employment now being steadfastly to behold all the ravishing beauties of the other World; and continually to praise God, who is the glorious and bountiful Dispenser of them.  

Reason's why we kissed the Dead.  TO which the foresaid Father adds in the same place (and S. Austin confirms it in his 118. Epistle) that they kissed the Dead, either to congratulate them upon the account of the happiness they were going to enjoy; or thereby to signify the Eternal union, that God has appointed and ordained to be between them and the Living, who both of them make but one and the same Church: Which Communion all the power of the bottomless pit can never break or dissolve, nor separate the holy Travellers, from those who are already entered upon the possession of Everlasting Glory: As also to show the Natural tenderness and love they had for the Deceased. But this Custom is now quite abolished with us in many places, and not very strictly observed in others, though indeed it be very commendable; and they who practise it, do thereby show their piety; since the motives thereof are most Holy. Denys of Alexandria, and Eusebius in the Seventh Book of his History, mentions the embracing of the Dead, which questionless was grounded upon the same reasons.  

Reason's why we wash the Dead.  AS for the usage of washing the Dead, S. Epiphanius in his Speech on this Subject, and S. Chrysostom in his 84. Homily on S. John tells us, that it was hallowed in the Person of our Lord and Saviour, whose precious Body was washed as soon as they took it down from the Cross. And we read in the ninth Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, that a Woman of Joppa, called Tabytha, whom S. Peter restored to life, had been washed before she was laid in the upper room of the house. S. Chrysostom also, whom I just now quoted, in his first Homily upon Job, describing the Funeral Duty a Son ought to pay to his deceased Father, tells us, that he must first of all wash his Body, which decent Custom is confirmed by Tertullian in his Apologetic. Surius informs us, that S. Martian took a particular care to search for the dead Bodies of the Poor, in order to the giving them Burial, and that he never failed of washing them well with fair water. S. Gregory the Great, does both in his Ritual, and several other Works of his, speak of this Custom as universally approved of by the whole Church: And though it be not at this day used in France, yet S. Gregory of Tours gives us sufficient instances, that it was in his days religiously observed amongst us. By which washing of the Body they intimated, that as the Dead had by the Sacraments been cleansed from their filthiness, so they would infallibly be received into Heaven, where no polluted or unclean thing shall ever be able to enter.  

Reason's why the Dead are perfumed.  NEITHER is the Custom of perfuming the Corpse less holy and reasonable, since besides that it was (as well as that of washing) sanctified in the Person of our Lord, it is authorized by an infinite number of instances among the Primitive Christians, which without doubt may very well be imitated. We read in S. Matthew, S. Mark, and S. John, that the three Maries not contenting themselves with the precious Drugs and Odours wherewith Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus did perfume and embalm the Sacred Body of our Blessed Lord, speedily repaired with sweet Spices to his Sepulchre, with an intent of paying that Duty to him there. And indeed the reason why the Primitive Christians were so careful to perfume the Dead was, because they regarded them as so many Members of the Mystical Body of the Redeemer of the World. Tertullian in his Apologetic, upbraiding the Heathens with their vast expenses of sweet Scents and Perfumes, consumed in their Temples, tells them that those Odours would be better employed in embalming the Bodies of Christians, than in perfuming their Idols. Upon which account it is, that the Pagans, who knew that this pious Custom was religiously observed by the Christians, reproach them in Minutius Felix, that they neglected the Living, and took care only of the Dead; since they reserved all their Perfumes for their Funerals. Clemens Alexandrinus speaking in his Catachetical Instructions against Women, who lavished too much Money in perfuming themselves, says, that that expense cannot be well allowed, but only to the Dead. Prudentius and Orentius two Christian Poets, who have made several Eulogies in praise of those that died with the sweet Odour of Holiness, do not omit mentioning among other Honours done to them, that of perfuming their dead Bodies. S. Gregory Nazianzen does in his 18. Epistle say, that this honour was paid to his Brother Caesarius. Several other instances of the same kind might be produced out of S. Ambrose, Gregory the Great, Surius and Baronius his Annals, concerning the Bodies of Martyrs: But to shun prolixity, we shall to the Premises only add what Lactantius delivers on this subject. The reason (saith he) why we Christians do perfume the Dead, is, because this honour did always attend the Apotheosis, or Canonization of any Person; as it is obvious to observe both from Sacred and Profane Writers; and therefore it is, that we render this kind of Divine honour to those whom we believe (as it were) deified, by their passage from this life, to a blissful Eternity.  

Reason's why the Dead are clothed.  AS concerning the manner of apparelling the Dead, all of us are not in the same practice: For some do only cover them with a large Winding-sheet, as we do in France; and others dress them in the very same clothes they were wont to wear when yet alive, as in Italy and other places. Which latter way was formerly esteemed more honourable, and much used in the first Centuries. For not to speak of the Priests, who are always buried with us in all their Ecclesiastical Ornaments: I find in the Roman Pontifical, that Pope Eutychius did in his time order all the Bodies of Martyrs to be arrayed in a fair Surplice: With reference to which, Pope Gregory in his 44. Epistle finds fault, that some of his Predecessors had that honour done to them, which was only due to Martyrs. Surius acquaints us, that an Egyptian Lady, Cleopatra by Name, clad St. Maximinus, a Martyr, in a very rich Apparel, before he was laid in his Coffin. And Eusebius in his History, tells us as much of Asterius, a Roman Senator; who being informed that an Illustrious Captain of his time, called Marinus, was Martyred at Caesarea in Palaestina, caused a strict search to be made for his body, and when he had procured it, committed the same to the Earth, adorned with very costly habilements. We read in the Lives of the Fathers of the Desert, and namely, in that of S. Pachomus, that the dead Bodies of all those Hermit's were most richly decked. And St. Gregory Nyssen tells us, that he himself bestowed very costly Cloth and Stuff, to array the Corpse of his Sister Macrina, who died in a Monastery.  
TO the foregoing instances of the rich Vestments bestowed by the Primitive Christians upon the Dead, we may add the Description of two magnificent Tombs, found in the Church of St. Peter, in the Vatican; The first of these was discovered in the Year one thousand four hundred and forty eight, in the Chapel of St. Petronilla, as they were digging a Grave for a Penitentiary then lately deceased. It was all of Marble, and so purely white, and curiously polished, that it passed for a wonder; in the inside of which there were two Cypress-Chests or Coffins, over-laid with Plates of Silver, whereon the sign of the Cross was engraved, and within the same were two Bodies apparelled in Vestments of Cloth of Gold, but so rich, that besides four-score pounds weight of Silver, which the Plates weighed, the Gold of their clothes, and other Ornaments amounted to sixteen Poundweight. The other Tomb was, that of the Empress Mary, Wife of Honorius, which was discovered in the time of Pope Paul the Third, and was likewise of Marble; in which, over and above the Gold, which amounted to about forty Pound weight, there were enclosed several curious Vessels of Crystal and Agate, with many other rich Jewels. As for the reasons why we dress the Dead, they are very plain and obvious, for besides that Nature teacheth us to cover the nakedness of humane bodies, we do signify thereby, that they have by their death put on immortality; and therefore the more rich those accoutrements are, the more proper are they to represent those Heavenly Robes of Glory, prepared for them.  
NOR is it needful to have recourse to Antiquity for instances, that may authorise the exposing of the Corpse to public view. We herein follow Tradition, which with us is instead of a Law; and enjoins us to set the Body, either in the Entry, or the principal and most public room of the House; and that for two reasons. The first, that by this sight, those that pass by may be taken off from Terrestrial things, and fix their thoughts on those that are Heavenly, by being thereby put in mind of their latter end. The other, to crave the Prayers and Suffrages for the Deceased; that God may be merciful to them, and without suffering them to languish in the torments of Purgatory, receive them the sooner into the abode of the Blessed.  

Reasons of the Pomp and Ceremony wherewith they carry the Dead to the Grave.  IT is the belief of this Bliss and Felicity, which the Faithful enjoy after their Death, makes us accompany them in a pompous Procession, with Hymns and Lights. We give all these marks of joy at Burials (says S. Chrysostom, in his Fourth Homily on the Epistle to the Hebrews) because we consider the Dead, as so many stout Champions, that have courageously fought, and gloriously obtained the Victory. Wherefore we give thanks to God, for his having so powerfully supported them in all their needs and troubles; delivered them from all the miseries of this Life, made them triumph over all their Enemies; and lastly, for having banished all their fears, by crowning them with Eternal Glory and Felicity. And indeed this Procession has something in it of a triumphal March; the Hymns or Songs are so many public shoutings and acclamations; and the Lights that shine every where, do by their splendour much add to the glory of this Pomp. What can be more great and solemn (says S. Jerom, speaking of the Interment of Sancta Paula, and S. Gregory Nyssen of that of his Sister) than to see such a vast number of Persons, consecrated to God, clothed in their Sacerdotal Ornaments, and who by their gravity and the orderly and decent manner they proceed in, look like so many Princes, and are really so, of a Kingdom far more glorious, than any on Earth? What is more charming and pleasing to the Ear, than the melody & concert of their Songs? whereby they imitate the Angels, who at the same time do with Hallelujahs and joyful Acclamations, receive the Soul of the Departed? In short, what is more delightful to behold, than the light of so many burning Tapers? This artificial brightness giving us a weak Idea of that Eternally clear and shining day they meet with in Heaven. We might here add many other reasons, why our Funerals are attended with Lights; as first, That it is the emblem of Joy, Honour and Life, which are the three chief advantages of that Eternal Beatitude, wherewith true Christians shall be rewarded in the other World. Thither they pass (as the Scripture expresseth it) from the bitter waters of mortification and austerity, to a river of pleasure; and from contempt and humility, to the highest degree of Glory; in a word, from Death to Eternal Life. Secondly, we make use of Lights on this occasion, to put all the powers of Darkness to flight, and to show that Christians having never had any fellowship with those infernal Spirits, which endeavour to hide all their actions; but on the contrary exercised themselves in such works as deserve for their exemplariness to be set before the eyes of the whole World; they are passed from one light to another; that is, from the amiable brightness of Virtue, to the glory of its Reward. In the third place, to intimate, that they have obeyed that Precept of our Lord, which requires his Servants to be always ready, with their Lamps burning, that they may be prepared, and in a posture to open to, and follow him whenever he shall please to call upon them. And last of all, to signify, that they died in the light of Faith, and that as they have in this life sought nothing but JESUS CHRIST, who is the true Light, so shall they possess the same in the other, to all Eternity.  

Reason's why the Cross goes before.  AT the head of this Pomp the Cross advanceth, which is the Mark and Character of the Elect, the Instrument of our Salvation, and the Key of Paradise. The most ancient Writers of our Religion tell us, that it hath always been carried in great Solemnities, and was the chief Ornament in all Pompous Ceremonies. Besides, that Constantine the Great caused it to appear at his Triumph, as it did to him in the midst of the Fight; and his Successors in the Empire do still in our days place it on the top of their Crowns; Socrates and Sozomene tell us, that in the very first Centuries, it was seen at the head of all the Processions, which the Orthodox made against the Arrians; That S. Chrysostom caused some Silver-ones to be very curiously wrought for that purpose; and that the Clergy never went forth in a Body, neither at Constantinople, nor any other City of the East, without advancing the splendid Representations of that Sacred Wood And to the end, that Christians might never discontinue this holy Custom, the Emperor Justinian established it by a Law; as we may read in his 133. Novel: Which Surius also confirms by a thousand instances of Antiquity. It is not therefore to be wondered at, that we carry it in all our Funeral Marches, since it has ever been the Custom so to do in all Ceremonies and Pompous Solemnities whatsoever. And I find there is more reason for it in this, than in any other besides; nothing less than the Kingdom of Heaven (into which this alone can procure us an entrance) being here at stake. Thus we see in the Gospel, that when the Sovereign Judge shall come down in the Clouds, to give all men their Doom and Reward, he shall cause this sign of our Redemption to go before him, which shall be the touchstone of the Good & Bad; for as he will receive all them into the number of his Elect, that have respected it; so will he cast down to Hell all those Reprobates, who Devil-like have despised and contemned the same.  

Reason's why they weep there.  IT might seem strange to some, that after this pompous and triumphal Procession, a quite contrary Choir should follow; there being nothing more unsuitable to those Hymns, and other marks of rejoicings aforementioned, than the Tears and Lamentations of the Relations of the Deceased, and that sadness which appears in the countenances of all their Friends. But these Tears of the Laity have their reasons, as well as the rejoicings of the Clergy: The one express the sense of Nature, and the other that of Faith. Both which sentiments are so just, that far from being opposite and destructive of each other, they make up one of the most perfect Concerts and Symphonies in the World. This S. Austin elegantly declares, in his Comment on the Epistle of S. Paul to the Thessalonians, where that Apostle adviseth us not to be sad and dejected at the Death of our Friends and Relations, as they are who have no hope. This Oracle (says he) does not condemn all sorrow for the Dead, but only such as is immoderate, and like that of the Heathens, who expect no Eternal Felicity in the other World. It is impossible (adds the same Father) that we should have no sense of, and feel no grief at all for the Death of Persons, who are so dear to us; for though we are assured, that we shall one day meet them in Heaven, yet this parting (besides that it is contrary to Nature) depriving us of them for a time, cannot but be very grievous. Moreover, we do not only in Death behold the destruction of the Body, but the horrid and frightful image of Sin, which is the cause of it; so that far from being not to afflict ourselves in this so sad a juncture, we might (says he) be altogether comfortless, if Faith did not awake our Hope, and Hope calm and allay this natural and just sorrow. So that we are grieved, and cannot choose but be so, because of this separation: But the bitterness of this affliction is sweetened and mitigated, by the steadfast hope we have one day to see them again in Heaven, who for a time are departed from amongst us. Nature afflicts, and Hope glads us; our own weakness casts us down, and Faith raiseth us: Our miserable condition makes us mourn, and the Divine Promise rejoiceth and comforts us. I forgive Parents (says S. Jerome) for the Tears they shed at their Child's Death. No, I cannot (pursues he ) blame your mourning, when I consider you are the Father and Mother of them that are Dead. But withal must blame you, if you do not cease your Tears, when I have put you in mind that you are Christians. And S. Chrysostom on the same subject speaks to this purpose; I do not absolutely forbid you to weep, but to weep immoderately. I am not cruel, but rather sympathise with you, as well knowing how much Nature suffers on these occasions. This I see commonly happens even to the most Virtuous Persons; and not to mention those two great Patriarches, Abraham and Joseph, the one whereof wept over his Wife Sarah, and the other over his Father Jacob; JESUS CHRIST, who ought to be our Pattern, wept at the Grave of Lazarus; which the Jews perceiving, did attribute his Tears to the love he had for this holy Person. You see therefore (concludes S. Ambrose) that Tears, when moderate, may be the marks as well of our Piety, as of our Grief; and that being made up of the weakness of our Nature, and certainty of our Hope, they may well become our Christian Funerals.  

Reason's why the Dead are prayed for.  BESIDES, I find that the Prayers the Friends of the Dead rehearse, are very suitable to this Religious Solemnity. Some Sing, others Weep, and these last Pray. Now this variety which seems so disagreeing and inconsistent, is nevertheless most pleasing to God, and makes a most admirable Harmony, wherein he very much delights; because these differing Voices are not so contrary one to another, but that they are all equally good and holy. The Priests sing for joy, in view of the great happiness and bliss of the Deceased; the Relations weep to see themselves for a time deprived of him, and because they cannot accompany him into Glory: Lastly, his Friends pray, that nothing might stop him in his Journey, and that without calling at Purgatory, he might immediately enter upon those Enjoyments and Blessings, which are prepared for him in the Mansions of Eternity.  
TO the same Motive we must also attribute those Masses which are afterwards celebrated, and Alms that are given. These pious Works, as well as Prayers, are done for the Rest of the departed Souls. Which Custom has always been observed by the Church, as we may collect from all the fore quoted Fathers, who speaking of the Funerals of the Christians, mention also these charitable and holy aids. But to avoid prolixity, I here omit to set down their words at large.  

Burying-places of Christians.  NOW what remains, is to show, that Christians ever had particular Places to Bury their Dead in, and that those Places were consecrated and hallowed. We read in the Pontifical, that almost the same Ceremonies are used at the Consecration of Coemeteries, as at that of Churches; both which have the same Privileges, and the one may be polluted as many ways, as the other. St. Denys the Areopagite, who lived in the time of the Apostles, does in the seventh Chapter of his Hierarchy, call Coemeteries, Honourable and Sacred Places. The same Appellation Tertullian gives them in the 51. Chapter of his Book of his Soul; as well as Optatus Milevitanus, in his sixth Book; Saint Cyprian in his 68 Epistle; St. Ambrose in the Second Book of Offices; and Saint Austin in his 64. Epistle. Moreover S. Jerome, speaking of St. Ignatius, makes mention of the Coemetery of the first Christians, which was at Antioch without Daphnis-Gate. And Saint Chrysostom in his Sermon concerning Faith and the Law, assures us, that in his time there was not one Christian City, Town or Village in the World, which had not a Churchyard belonging to it. But besides this great Number of Authorities, which cannot be opposed, all of them proving the sacredness of these Places, by the holy Name which is bestowed upon them, we shall be the more persuaded and convinced of this Truth, if we do consider that the Mass, and other Divine and Ecclesiastical Services are here celebrated, as well as in Churches. Neither do I speak only of those Places called Catacumbae, where Martyrs were interred, but generally of all our Churchyards. Let us hear what St. Clement the Pope says in his Apostolical Constitutions; Assemble yourselves in the Coemeteries, there read the Sacred Books, and sing your Spiritual Hymns; be present at the Mass that is celebrated there, and after you have received the Body of our Saviour, continue the Harmony of your Songs. Next, let us inspect the Acts of Pope Liberius, wherein we shall find, that having been driven and cast out of the Churches, by the command of Constans, the Arrian Emperor; he retired to Coemeteries, there to acquit himself in the Duties belonging to his Charge. And S. Athanasius in his Apology to the same Constans, says, that the People of Alexandria, who were Catholics, gathered themselves together, to pray in the Churchyard, being unwilling to enter the Church, because it was in the possession of George, the Arrian Bishop. So that it must needs be a great matter of joy and comfort to us, to be Buried in such Holy Places. Now all this shows, that it hath been the constant belief of the Church, that the Bodies of Christians were not to be looked upon, as those of other Men, but as Relics, which were one day to be transported into the Heavenly Jerusalem. woe to them, who by their impenitence and obstinacy, shall be found unworthy of this unspeakable Bliss: For, as their unclean and polluted Carcases have defiled and profaned these Sacred Places; so shall they be Eternally punished for it in Hell; where, instead of a Holy Burial, they shall, like the rich Man in the Gospel, for ever have no other Grave, than those devouring, yet never consuming Flames.   

CHAP. XIX. Concerning the Right of Burial, and Laws made in that behalf.  
I HAVE reserved the speaking of the Right of Burial for the latter end of this Treatise, as being a Matter that regards all Nations; because should I have gone about to set down the Ceremonies of every one of them in particular, I should never have finished my Discourse. Now as this Right among Heathens was grounded upon the Will of the Gods, 
Grounds of the Right of Burial among Heathens.  the Judgement of Wise men, and the Laws that had been made for that purpose; so I intent to treat of all these three, to the end the Reader may have a full and satisfactory information concerning this Subject.  

The first Ground of this Right. viz. The Will of the Gods.  IF we herein consult their most ancient Poets, who were accounted as so many Secretaries of their Gods, and Interpreters of their Wills; they all with one accord will tell us, that Burial is one of the chief and most indispensable Duties charged upon Mankind; of which none can deprive another, without a manifest breach of the Law of Nature. Nay, they peremptorily assert, that Conquerors themselves may not deny it their vanquished Enemies. Euripides represents the Women of Argos, crying out against Creon, King of Thebes, as an ungodly and Atheistical Prince, because he would not permit them to bury their Sons, who were slain in the Battle, they had fought against him; not being able to conceive, but that if he had acknowledged the Gods, he would have respected their Laws.  
AND Sophocles speaking of the threats, wherewith the same Creon menaced Antigone, because she had (contrary to his order) buried her Brother Polynices, introduceth her, answering that Prince with an undaunted courage and constancy, founded upon the Will of the Gods, which ought always to be preferred before that of Men. 
Sophocl. in Antigon.  When I Interred (saith she) the Body of my dear Brother, I did nothing but discharge a Duty, to which the Celestial and Infernal Powers have indispensably obliged us. It is a Law, which those Immortal Sovereigns have given to Men; and I do not see that thou, who (though a King) art mortal, and their Vassal as well as we, canst oppose or hinder the performing of this sacred Devoir. It is a Law that has ever been observed, and so ancient, that its Original is since time out of mind. Wherefore I had rather do what it enjoins me, than obey thy Commands; there being far more reason for me to apprehend the displeasure and punishment of the Gods, than thy threats.  

Isocr. in Hel. encom.  OF which truth Isocrates being persuaded, highly commends Theseus and the Athenians, for the great care they took to bury the Dead; saying, that it was a mark and token of their piety towards the Gods; since it is they, and not men, who established that Law.  
UPON which account it is, that the Sibyl among the other important advices, which she gives Aeneas, about the design he had to take a Journey into Hell, strictly charges him, not to set forth, before he had caused the body of Misenus, that lay on the Seashore, to be Buried; telling him, that as on this occasion he stood in need of the special protection of the Gods, so he must by this piety endeavour to deserve the same.  

Oracles in favour of the Dead.  TO the premises might be added several Oracles, which clearly speak in favour of Burials. 
* Diod. l. 3.  Diodorus informs us, that Cybele's Relations having caused Atys to be murdered, upon the account of his too great familiarity with her, and left his Body lying on the ground in the open fields, the whole Country of Phrygia, which was the scene of that cruel action, was thereupon plagued with Sickness, and afflicted with Famine: And that the Phrygians on this sad occasion consulting the Gods, to find out some relief of these miseries, received no other answer, but that the Body of Atys was to be interred.  
NEITHER were the Caphyans in Arcadia 
* Pausan. in Arcad.  less severely punished, for having barbarously slain some Boys, that did them no harm, and given them no other Burial, but that of the stones, wherewith they had struck them down; for their Women were immediately seized with a distemper which made them all miscarry; insomuch as they would never have had any Children born to them, had they not obeyed the voice of the Gods, who commanded them out of hand to bury those poor Innocents'.  

Idem i● Boco.  Pausanias, who recounts this History, tells us another that is no less remarkable, viz. That after the dismal Death of Actaeon, whom his own Hounds devoured, the inhabitants of Orchomenus were tormented by his Ghost, that continually put them into cruel frights; of which they would never have been rid, had they not (according to the advice of the Oracle of Delphos) carefully taken up all that remained of the Body of this unfortunate Hunter, in order to inter the same.  

Aeneid. 6.  AND were not those of Luca by a like answer, obliged to make a strict search for the Body of Palinurus, that they might be delivered from the Plague, which had infected the whole Country; and did not cease to rage till they had appeased his Ghost, by discharging that pious Duty towards him? For though they could not find his Body, yet they consecrated a Grove, in which they erected a sumptuous Tomb in honour of him.  

Cenotaphia, or Empty Sepulchers.  THESE Sepulchers, which were called Cenotaphia, that is, empty Monuments, were nevertheless, according to the foolish opinion of the Pagans, very useful to the Dead; for they fancied, that provided they were not looked into, the Corpse, for which they were intended, though never so far distant, entered into them: But that if out of curiosity any one opened these Tombs, they presently vanished away. Hence it was, that they erected Monuments as well for such as perished at Sea, were devoured by Beasts, or died in foreign parts, from whence they could not procure their Bodies, as for those that were present with them.  

Poet's Fables concerning Burial.  AND indeed how could they have omitted this Duty, since the Gods themselves oft made it their particular care and business? 
Hom. Iliad.  For if we will believe Homer, Jupiter gave order to Apollo to inter the Body of Sarpedon, whom Patroclus had killed. Thetis buried Ajax herself, as Lycophron reports: 
Lycophr. in Cassand.  And this Goddess was also by Jupiter sent to Achilles, 
Hom. Iliad.  to command him on his behalf to deliver the Body of Hector, that he might be interred: He likewise at the same time dispatching Iris to Priam, with orders to agree about the same with the Enemy for a sum of money. Last of all he sent Mercury, safely to guide this Prince by night, through the Host, to conclude the Treaty. Moreover, Homer assures us, that the Children of Niobe, whom the Gods caused to be slain, were by them Buried nine days after.  

Plin. l. 7. c. 29.  BUT what I find more remarkable, is the care that Bacchus took to bury the Body of Sophocles. Pliny says, that this Poet being Dead at Athens, at the very time when the General of the Lacedæmonians, Lysander by name, besieged that City; this God several times appeared to him in a dream, commanding him to raise the siege, to the end the Athenians might be at liberty to pay their last Duty to this great Man, whom he had always regarded as his Darling.  

Gods among the Heathens, that took the care of Funerals.  TO this we may add, That there were three of their Principal Gods, who took the care of Funerals. Pluto Jupiter's Brother was worshipped only as Sovereign over the Dead; upon which account it was, that his Temples were only opened at night. 
Summanus Diod. l. 2.  He was called Summanus, that is, the Supreme God of Manes, or Departed Souls.  
NOR was Venus less concerned to see Men buried, than she was for their being begotten; and for this reason they kept in the Temples that were consecrated to her (under the name of Libitina, 
Senec l. 6. de Benef. Val. Max. l. 5.  that is to say, the Goddess of the Shades) all such things as were requisite and necessary at Funerals, as Winding-sheets, Buyers, and Instruments both to dig Graves, and erect Monuments withal; for all manner of Tools were not indifferently to be made use of on this occasion; since the employing other than those that were consecrated to that service, would have been looked upon as a kind of profanation.  

Horat. l. 1. Od.  AND last of all, Mercury's charge was to receive those shades, whose Bodies were but newly interred, and lead them into the Elysian Fields, or elsewhere, according as they had deserved; he driving before him, with his Golden Rod, this Troop of Ghosts, like a Flock of Sheep. And for a further proof, that it was the will of the Gods, that this pious Duty should be performed to the Dead; I might here observe, that they themselves commonly punished those that denied this Right, or did any the least injury to them: And on the other hand, they most bountifully rewarded such as signalised themselves by this piety.  

Id. ibid.  WE read in Horace, of the ginger Archytas, who was cast away at Sea, that his dead Body being by the Waves driven to the shore, his Ghost threatened all that past by, who did not throw a handful of Earth upon him, with the like misfortune, after their Death, besides several other miseries during their life-time.  

Antholog. l. 1. c. 22.  WE also read in a Greek Writer of Epigrams, that some Persons having found a dead Man's Skull, most of them fell a weeping; and that there was only one of the Company, who laughed and flouted, and through an unheard-of Cruelty, flung stones at it: which stones by a strange wonder rebounding back to his Face, wounded him very much.  

Cic. l. 1. de divin.  BUT on the contrary, the Poet Simonides having met in his way on the Seashore, a dead Body, as he was about to go on Shipboard, in order to an intended Voyage, desired the Master of the Ship to stay till the next day, that he might have time to bury the same; which proved a great good fortune to him: for that night the Ghost of the Dead, having warned him in a Dream, not to proceed on his Voyage, he accordingly did not embark in that Vessel, which miscarried at Sea, together with all that were on Board her.  

Val. Max. l. 1.  AND was not that poor Fisher very lucky, and his Piety well rewarded, who leaving his Nets, to go and bury a Corpse, as he was digging a Grave for it, found a Treasure that made him rich for ever after?  

Antholog. l. 1.  NOW whether these things fell out by chance, or otherwise, however it is enough for us to observe, that the Ancients were persuaded, instances of this nature were the effect of the grateful acknowledgement of the Dead, and that the Duty of Burial was founded upon the Will of the Gods, and consequently considered by them as indispensable and inviolable, it being a principal point of their Religion. And indeed the very same Priests, who taught them the Service of the Gods, taught them also all their Funeral Ceremonies.  

Explanation.  I KNOW some have been of opinion, that Priests were forbidden to meddle with the Dead, and that the sight only of a Corpse deprived them of their Office, and ranked them with the Laity. 
Aul. Gel. l. 10.  This is the Sentiment of Aulus Gellius, and Fabius Pictor; who ground their Opinion upon this, That Augustus being Highpriest, at the time when he pronounced the Funeral Oration in praise of Agrippa, 
Tacit. annal. l. 3.  caused a Curtain to be drawn between him and the Corpse, that he might not see it. But besides that this appears to have been done only with regard to the tender love he bore to his Friend and Favourite, lest the sight of that mournful object giving occasion to his sighs and tears, might have interrupted his Speech; Dion who mentions this very passage in his History, and was well acquainted with all the Roman Ceremonies, having himself been Senator, and twice Consul, does expressly say, that this was not because of his Priesthood (for it is not true that it was unlawful for Priests to look upon dead Bodies) and that he never could guests at the reason why that Emperor ordered a Veil to be drawn before him, whilst he was delivering his Oration.  
BUT do not the same Aulus Gellius and Fabius Pictor contradict themselves, who in another place own that Augustus, for all he was Highpriest, went to meet and accompany the Body of Drusus▪ Father of Germanicus, and that he did not leave it, till he had paid him at Rome all the Funeral Honours, he thought due to him?  

Id. l. 2. Appian. Dion. l, 36.  MORE such like instances we have in Tacitus, concerning Tiberius, who though he was but newly elected Highpriest, at the time when he entered upon the Government, did nevertheless attend the Funeral of his Predecessor, and of several other Persons of Quality, whom he had a respect for.  

Appian. l. 1  APPIAN, who describes the Funeral Pomp of Sylla, tells us, that all the Priests and Vestals accompanied it. And Plutarch, in the Life of Numa, assures us, that after his Death, the Priests followed his Body to the Grave.  
BUT I should be too prolix, should I mention all the particulars Antiquity furnishes us withal on this account; which are so many convincing Arguments, that the Burying of the Dead has ever been reckoned one of the chief of Religious Duties. Wherefore I shall conclude this Head, and come now to speak of the Judgement of Wise men, who have fully and clearly explained themselves concerning the indispensableness of the Right of Burial, 
The second ground of this Right.  by which all are obliged to give the Dead their due.  

Plat. in Phaed. & Cratil. & Dial. 5. de repub.  PLATO in that excellent Idea, which he was framed of his Common wealth, does not forget amongst the several kinds of Justice he there speaks of, to mention that which we owe to the Dead.  

Arist. l. de Virt.  HIS Disciple Aristotle teaches, in his Book of Virtue, that one part of Distributive Justice does belong to the Dead; 
Id Probl. Sect. 29.  and in his Problems, he asserts, that it is more just to pay them their due, than to the Living.  

Pind. in Olymp. Od. 3.  PINDAR, who was a great Philosopher, as well as Poet, says, that the things of this World are not so entirely assigned to the Living, but that the Dead may claim their lawful share in them; and that besides a special place which they ought to have to be Buried in, we are bound to bestow a part of the means and Estate they leave behind them, to celebrate their Funeral with honour and decency.  

Cic. in Topic.  CICERO, in the division which he makes of the parts of Justice, marks one to respect the Gods, the other the Dead, and the last the Living.  

Aen. 6.  SERVIUS does observe, that Virgil, who so often calls Aeneas by the name of Pious, in the Poem he has writ to immortalize the memory of that Hero, does chiefly give him this Character, because of the Funeral Honours, which he with so much care and application, always paid to his Relations and Friends; wherein he spared nothing, nor himself neither, doing many actions that would have been unworthy of him, had they been done upon any other account.  
BUT on this occasion all is honourable, even for Persons of great Quality, to carry the Dead on their shoulders, because the motive of Piety and Humanity that engages them to do it, highly raises that action, which is but low and mean of itself. 
Senec. 5. de Benef.  When I Inter a Dead Body (says Seneca) though I never saw or knew the Party when he was alive, I deserve nothing for my so doing, since I do but discharge an Obligation which I owe to Humane Nature.  
WHICH Duty even to unknown persons is so just, that the Latin hath given it no other appellation than that of Justice, and the Greek of a Lawful Custom, Piety and Godliness. So that amongst the Romans and Grecians, which have been the two most potent and civilised Nations in the World, when they would express, that one had been interred, they said that they had done him Right or Justice.  

Essential Ceremony.  THIS Duty consisted in casting three several times a handful of earth upon the Corpse; which was to be done by one of the Priests, when any could be had; or for want thereof, by any other Person whatsoever. This is that which the Ancients called the Sacredness of Burying, 
Hom. II.  without which no Soul (as they believed) could enjoy any rest for a long season. It availed nothing to the Dead, 
Delr. in Sene. Herc. Aete. & Cerd. in Aen. 6.  that he was buried in a deep Grave, or laid in a Tomb, if the Funeral Ceremony were not begun with these three handfuls of earth, for lack of which a poor Soul, though it had lived never so well, was fain to wander up and down, for the space of an hundred Years, before it could be admitted into the Elysian Fields. And on the contrary when these three handfuls of earth were flung upon the body, though it was never after interred, they thought the Soul did nevertheless enjoy its rest. But as it would have been a piece of cruelty thus to leave the Corpse exposed to the open view of all, so the one was seldom performed without the other: for the poorest and most inconsiderable fellow in the World (as a Slave or a private Soldier) could not be denied the usual Garments, Coffin, and other Necessaries for his Funerals.  

Privilege of Slaves after their Death.  IF any Master was so inhuman, as not to discharge this pious Duty towards his Servant, the first Man, who took upon him the care of performing it, had an Action against, and was sure to cast him, the Law ordering a reimbursement of all the Plaintiff's expenses on that account, no debt having more privilege than this, as being preferred even before Legacies, and the strictest Covenants, yea before a Wife's Portion, which was esteemed the most Sacred Engagement that belonged to any Society, and for which the Law had very carefully provided. And this is the more observable, because a Slave who enjoyed no privilege, and was by his unfortunate condition, not much more regarded than a Brute; being liable to all manner of abuses without redress, subject to all sorts of affronts, injuries and violence, and very often to loss of life itself, the Law taking not the least notice of it, for his relief; had nevertheless, after his Death, a Right to demand of his Master (by any that would do it for him) his Funeral charges, and, in case of refusal, to distrain for them. True it is, that these charges were very inconsiderable, and the place where this sort of People were buried, most abject: 
Nepoti. Horat. l. ep.  But how small soever the one, and abject the other might be; yet was it a Right, that could not be dispensed with.  

The care Soldiers took of their own Burial.  AS for Soldiers, they in this case provided for themselves, after another manner, not being willing, in a matter of so great importance, to trust their Captains with the care of it. Each Legion had a Purse for their common Burials, into which every one that was listed, was obliged to put some thing of his Pay: and with this stock the Charges of their Interments were defrayed.  

Remarkable instances.  VEGETIV'S, who tells us of that Pious Custom amongst a sort of Men, that are thought to have neither Faith nor Law, 
Nulla fides pictasque viris qui castra sequuntur. Lucan. l. ult.  adds another instance of that natural love of Burial, which is no less admirable than the foregoing. He says, that after the bloody Defeat of Cannae, most of the Roman Soldiers despairing of being interred, 
Liv. l. 22.  because their Enemy was Conqueror and Master of the Field, were found to have (as well as they could) digged holes for themselves, and laid down their Heads foremost in them, that they might not be wholly deprived of Burial.  
FOR this Reason it was, that they feared not Death in Land-fights; as hoping that the very same place wherein they fought, would afford them a Grave for their Eternal rest. But they were mightily troubled and dismayed at the thoughts of a Naval Combat, or when they were in danger of shipwreck; because they saw themselves upon the point of being for ever deprived of it.  

Hom. Il.  UPON which account also Achilles, who braved all manner of Dangers, could not (as Homer says) keep himself from being daunted at that of shipwreck, when he found himself ready to miscarry in the River Xanthus.  

Sil. l. 4.  A LIKE fear of Scipio's, the greatest Captain the Romans ever had, Silius mentions, who tells us, that he that had so many times, without the least concern, or motion, seen Rivers of Blood running down, was most terribly affrighted at the passage of the River Trebia, where he saw himself in danger of being drowned.  

Stat. l. 9  THE same account Statius gives us of Hippomedon; who (as he says) could without any trouble, have presented his Body to the dint of a thousand Swords, and yet was not able to abide the thoughts of being cast away in the River Theumesia.  

Ovid. 1. Trist. 2. Synes. ep. 4.  IN a word, this was the Death which Ovid could not by any means be reconciled with, and that upon this only score, that it deprives a Man of Burial.  
THEREFORE they who were in danger of miscarrying at Sea, commonly tied a Piece of Gold or Silver about their Necks, that therewith (if peradventure the Waves should drive their Bodies to the shore) they might pay for their Funeral Charges; though they knew that this caution and care was not necessary, since by the Laws the Inhabitants of the Place, where they should be cast up, were obliged to bury them. Which Laws we will now endeavour to describe, and set down in some order, to the end we may therefrom derive a greater authority to this Right of Burial, whereof we are treating.  

The Third Ground of this Duty.  ALL the World knows, in how great esteem the Laws of the Twelve Tables have ever been amongst the Romans; their equity being so universally acknowledged, that the sole mention of them was enough to incline the most obstinate and wilful minds imaginable, to reason.  

Cic. l. 2. de L●g. & l. de Orat.  THESE were the Laws which Cicero (that famous Orator, and Oracle of the Roman Senate) preferred before all the Writings of Philosophers, and declared them to be more worth than whole Libraries, whether one considered their weight and Authority, or the great advantages they procured to the Public. Now these so good, wholesome and just Constitutions do speak of nothing more, than of the Duty the Living are bound to pay to the Dead: and that with good reason; for they being deprived of Life, and consequently unable to defend themselves, or complain of those that abuse them, it is but just that the Laws should by all manner of ways favour and protect them. And therefore they first of all define, that an Heir, who shall not have well acquitted himself in all the Funeral Honours, he ought to pay to his Benefactor after his Death, or omitted any essential thing relating thereto, be put by, and deprived of the Inheritance or Legacy which was left him. Secondly, that in case he has expressed the least contempt in performing of the same, he shall be liable to capital Punishment. And in the third and last place, that if he has been observed somewhat careless and negligent in discharging the said Duty, he shall not enjoy the means bequeathed to him, except he do every Year Sacrifice a Sow before he gather-in his Harvest, to the end he may pacify and appease the Ghost of the Departed.  

Plat. l. 1●. de Leg.  SOLON who was the first of Greece, that established. Laws, and had so well regulated the Republic of Athens, that Cicero was of opinion, all other States were to conform themselves to it, if they would be well governed; because he had omitted nothing therein, which was requisite to good Order, Virtue, Peace and Justice; did amongst those Laws he had made to this purpose, not forget to insist upon each particular, and least Ceremony to be observed at Funerals; which he afterwards put into the hands of the Priests, that they might be the Depositors and Judges of them for time to come.  

Plut. in vit. Lycurg. & tract. de just La.  LYCURGUS, who is also accounted one of the most ancient Lawgivers, and who by his Justice made himself no less considered at Lacedaemon, than the former at Athens, did not only confirm in favour of the Dead, all the Honours that were by Solon appointed and ordained should be performed to them; but superadded this, that thenceforward they should have their Sepulchers within the Walls of the City; to the end, that being thus exposed to the sight of all People, they might be the more respected, and imitated by them in the whole conduct of their Lives.  

Vlp. l. ult. de mort. inser.  THAT Learned Lawyer Ulpian and Labeo, who was before him, do both of them assure us, that the Laws of all Nations do above all things recommend Funeral Duties; being very severe to those that neglect the performance of the same.  

Tit. 17. & 57  BY the Salic Laws it was Enacted, that he who had been so inhuman and barbarous, as to take a dead Body out of its Grave, to the intent of depriving it of Burial, should be banished as a Monster from the Society of all Men; and that none should give him any retreat, no not his own Wife; and this upon most severe Penalties.  

L. 5. c. Th. & Just. de sep. viol.  IN the Digest, as well as in the Codex of Theodosius and Justinian, we hear of nothing but shame, Fines, Banishments, Amputations of Hands, Capital Punishments, and other such like, decreed against them, who had done any injury to the Dead, according to the quality of their Crime. We have also a Novel of Valentinian, wholly in favour of Sepulchers. And that Apostate Prince Julian, who might seem to have renounced all manner of Religion, by abandoning the Christian, did nevertheless openly take the part of the Dead, and ordered those to be most severely punished, who had disturbed, or offered any injury to them.  

C. de Sep. Viol.  IN a word, so great respect has ever been given to Sepulchers, that the most Christian Princes have extended it even to those of the Heathens, and strictly forbidden the violating of them. For besides the Emperor Constans, who of all Monarches, was the greatest abhorrer of Paganism, 
Concil. Tolet. 4. Canon. 45.  we might quote here the Canons of the fourth Council of Toledo, together with those of that of Meaux, or Paris; 
Canon. 72.  all which declare the violating of Graves to be a Capital Crime, according to both Divine and humane Laws.  
IN ancient time it was not lawful to make water, or so much as spit, in Places set apart for Burying the Dead, for which purpose they were used to have there the representations of Griffins, Lions or Dogs, (they being the most watchful of all Creatures) as so many Spies to have an eye that no undecent action might be done there.  
YEA, it was this great respect which the Ancients had for the Dead, that first gave birth to their Idolatry, and made them change Sepulchers into Temples. Here they reared their Altars, offered Sacrifices, and at last worshipped them as Gods, who were buried as Men. Virgil tells us, that the Marble-Tomb, 
Aen. 4.  which Queen Dido had caused to be erected in her Palace, in honour of her first Husband, was (even during her life-time) looked upon as a Temple, so that by the Divine Honours, which were there paid to his Ashes, she first gave an instance of this Superstition. Upon this account it is, that all our Divines have upbraided the Pagans with that gross blindness, into which they wilfully plunged themselves, by placing them amongst the number of the Gods, whom they had by experience, known to be but Men, having seen them, as well as others, obnoxious to Death, which is the greatest defect of humane Nature, and therefore most contrary to Divinity.  

Prud. adv. Symach. l. 1.  AND methinks the Poet Prudentius treats them very favourably, when laughing at the plurality and vanity of their Gods, he says, that there were as many Temples at Rome, as Sepulchers built in honour of their Heroes. For it is certain that this Superstition was universal amongst them; they being of opinion, that Death indifferently consecrated all manner of Persons, and was thought sufficient to entitle them to Divine Worship: And therefore on this occasion the highest Personages forgot their State and Grandeur, and humbled themselves to the meanest Service at the Funeral of those whom they had in their life time looked upon with contempt; insomuch as even Princes honoured their Subjects, as soon as they were by Death hallowed and deified: and Generals of Armies the meanest of their Soldiers.  
TRAJAN himself, who hath always past for one of the greatest and wisest Emperors that Rome ever had, was not altogether free from this error. 
Dio. l. 68  For we read in the Historian Dion, that he built Altars to the Soldiers who had served him in that perilous and desperate War, which he waged against Decebalus King of the Dacians, and were killed in the Field.  
AND what surprises me more, is, that wise and learned Men have not been able to keep themselves from being taken with this Superstition, and not only with the multitude followed, but by their Writings authorised the same. Labeo tells us, with his usual gravity, as if he were pronouncing the Decrees and Acts of the Senate, That all Souls universally are deified, 
Apud Seru. in Aen. 3.  from the moment they are separated from their Bodies.  

Apud Aug. 9 de Civit. 11.  AND the Platonists make no other difference between these so common Divinities, than that the one do still continue to be wicked after their death, as they were in their life-time: and that the others on the contrary are always good; asserting that those who have led an ungodly life are no sooner dead, but they are turned to Hobgoblins, Spectres and Ghosts, that haunt Houses and Church-Yards, as they who have lived well do become Tutelar and Family-Gods.  
IN short, this Opinion was of old so universally received, that there was not a Family but had their own Gods; for every one honoured in particular all those of his own Blood, that were dead.  

Lact. l. 1. c. 15.  LACTANTIUS, who lived in those days, informs us, that they made Images of them, which they carefully kept in their Houses; and the better to render them venerable, they clothed them in the same Habits wherewith the other Gods, whom they adored in their Temples, were adorned; dressing all the Statues of their deceased Women, in the Habiliments of Goddesses, and those of Men, after the manner of the Gods.  
BUT lest we should think that Lactantius, being a Christian, does herein impose upon us, to make us the more decry and abhor their Religion; we may with little pains find the like instances in their own Authors. 
Stat. l. 5. Silu.  The Poet Statius, in the description he makes of the Funeral Honours, which Abscancius paid to his Wife Priscilla, does not omit to mention, that he extended them to an Apotheosis or Consecration, and denied her nothing of that veneration which was given to the greatest Goddesses. 
Apul. Metaemor. l. 8.  Apulcius says no less of Charite her Mourning for the death of her Husband Leopolemus; for having apparelled him like Bacchus, she made no difficulty to pay him the same honours that went due to that God.  
AND indeed from what they tell us themselves, I find that they expressed no less reverence to them whom they had soon die, than to those they believed Immortals, and were worshipped publicly. For besides Sacrifices, they instituted Games and Solemn Festivals in honour of them; yea, (which is more, and the greatest mark of Worship that can be expressed) they swore by their Ashes.  

Cic. l. 2. de Leg.  CICERO in his second Book of Laws, says, that these Games, Solemnities and Sacrifices were authorized, by a practice of time out of mind; it having never been questioned but that all Persons, as soon as they were departed this Life, were admitted into the Rank and Number of the Gods. To which he adds, that consonant to this pious Custom, he behaved himself at the Death of his Daughter.  
AS for Oaths, which are Sacred Protestations and affirmations of any thing, wherein the Immortal Gods are called to Witness, we find nothing more frequent among Profane Authors, than their Swearing by the Ashes of their Parents, and other near Relations. 
Ovid. Ep.  This we read in Ovid, that Briseis confirming something by Oath to Achilles, takes the Souls of her three deceased Brothers, whom she considered as so many Gods, to witness, of the truth of what she averred to him. 
Id. Ep. 8.  Hermione, in the same Poet swears to Orestes by the Bones of her Father. 
Propert. l. 2 Eleg. 15.  Propertius does the like to Cynthia, by those of his Parents. Claudian assures us, that there is nothing so decent and becoming a Man, 
Claud. l. 1.  nor so commendable, as to swear by the Ashes of his Parents. And Seneca the Rhetorician introducing a young Man, whom his Uncle had disinherited, because he took care to supply his Father's wants; 
Senec. Controv. 1.  makes him deliver himself in these words: How could I see him starve for hunger, by whose Ashes I must swear one day?  
FINIS.    


Mens cujusque is est Quisque