Interment of the Dead. It is a tender bond which knits us to the fairer part of the creation, and is the parent of social bliss, and domestic peace. It is the shrine at which the votaries of virtue sacrifice, and the magnet which gives polarity to the affections of the human soul. It is, in a word, that indescribably happy, yet paridoxically miserable state, in which fear and hope, despair and expectation, suspense and jealousy, rend the heart; in which, by the generation of new feelings, man becomes allied to a superior order of beings, and parts with the more ignoble passions of humanity. It is and who can describe it ?-why-It is LOVE! SYESJ. INTERMENT OF THE DEAD. Ev'n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries, Among almost every people, however barbarous, some peculiar care is exercised towards the bodies of deceased persons, and some peculiar rites are, on this occasion, thought necessary. Conveniency as well as decency, requires that the body should be removed from the view; and the belief in the immortality of the soul, a belief which has almost universally prevailed, has introduced many ceremonies to be used on this occasion, and has in many cases connected these ceremonies with religion. The several nations of the world, both in ancient and modern times, have widely differed from each other concerning the manner in which they thought it proper to dispose of the dead. The ancient Egyptians who believed in the transmigration of the soul, and who appear even to have been of opinion, that after the lapse of several thousands of years, the same soul was again to animate the same body, carefully embalmed their deceased friends, and placed them in magnificent tombs; and so well did they succeed in the art of preserving the dead, that many of their bodies yet remain in an uncorrupted state. Among the Greeks and Romans it was customary to burn the dead upon a pile, raised for that purpose, and in magnificence corresponding to the rank of the deceased. The funeral was generally accompanied with different kinds of games and theat Interment of the Dead. rical exhibitions. Such, in almost every respect, is the custom at present among the Siamese. The custom of interring dead bodies, or of burying them in the earth, has prevailed in almost every part of the world. Some bury them without any design of again opening the grave. Others such as several of the native tribes of North America, uncover the decayed bodies at certain intervals, in order to renew their lamentations. In a few places such as the Caroline islands, dead bodies are frequently thrown into the sea. Several tribes dispose of their dead in a way which custom makes us think very barbarous. Some of the Tartar tribes, if I mistake not, expose their dead to decay upon the branches of trees. The Parsees, and the inhabitants of Tibet, expose their deceased relations to be devoured by birds and beasts of prey. For this purpose, they are said to have inclosed areas with openings to admit the animals. Among the Kaffers, none are buried except the chiefs, and very young children. A chief is interred in his own dunghill, and a child is thurst into an ant's nest. People of every other description are left in the woods, where they are soon devoured by the wolves. These practices appear to us to be extremely barbarous; yet neither the Parsees, nor the Tibetians, nor even the Kaffers, can with justice be reckoned savage. It is somewhat amusing to consider the peculiarities which custom has established among different nations as proper to be observed in the interment of the dead, or as becoming in the behaviour of the surviving friends. A native of China is so anxious to secure an elegant coffin, that if he can, by any means, procure as much money, he purchases one during his life, and places it in a conspicuous part of his house, as a piece of ornamental furniture. A Turk on the contrary though he be carried to the grave in a coffin, is always interred without A Christian is not so anxious to procure a coffin as an inhabitant of China, yet even among Christians, this article is thought to be so requisite, that he whose poverty prevents him from purchasing a coffin for himself, is generally furnished with one through charity. one. Among many rude tribes a deceased person is furnished with provisions for his sustenance during his journey to another world. The ancient Greeks, who sometimes interred the dead, put some money into the mouth, and a piece of bread into the Interment of the Dead. hand of the deceased person; the former to pay for being ferried over the river Styx, the latter to appease the fury of Cerberus. Several sects of Roman Catholics have a custom nearly similar, though their views are not entirely the same. The chiefs of some barbarous tribes conceiving perhaps that a future state in all respects resembles the present, and willing still to continue chiefs, cause not only their wives, and their servants, but even their cattle to be put to death to accompany them, that they may be able to maintain their station with becoming dignity! Black is with us esteemed the only becoming colour for the dress of mourners. In China the colour is white. In Turkey, if the deceased be a soldier, the coffin is covered with red; if he be a shereef, or relation of Mahomet, with green; if he be a janizary, with black. In China a funeral is attended by persons carrying banners, on which are depicted fantastic representations of animals and other unmeaning objects. Such a procession in Europe would be accounted extremely indecorous. In this part of the world a dead person is put into the coffin with his face upwards; among the Turks he is placed with his face downwards. We carry a man to the grave with his feet foremost, the Turks carry him with his head in that position. We deposit the body in the earth inclosed in a coffin; the Turks carry the body to the grave in a coffin, but they always bring the coffin back along with them. Whether it be owing to the superior civilization of Christians, I cannot determine, but few descriptions of people pay less attention to the dead after they have been interred. In this respect they are remarkably different from the Turks. The latter regularly visit the tombs of their departed relations, and renew their lamentations. They place victuals near the grave, that the traveller may refresh himself, and bliss the memory of the deceased. There is somewhat in this Turkish custom which does honour to the living, and which must afford no mean solace to a person about to take a lasting leave of all who are dear to him. "On some fond breast the parting soul relies, Some pious drops the closing eye requires." It must afford no small consolation to reflect, that those who survive will not anxiously strive, as soon as possible to forget their deceased friend; that on the contrary his tomb will be re Power of Memory. gularly visited for the purpose of recalling his person; that his virtues will be rehearsed, and his memory cherished. Even to the living this intercourse with the dead must be productive of some good consequences. It accustoms the mind to contem. plate the termination of this mortal existence; impresses, if not upon the intellect, yet surely upon the imagination, the immortality of the soul, and leads to the anticipation of that state where friends now separated may enjoy an endless intercourse. RECLUSE. SINGULAR INSTANCES OF THE POWER OF MEMORY. Professor Porson justly excited the wonder and admiration of all who heard of his extraordinary memory and learning; but the biographic page furnishes many examples of a similar nature. Among others, Pliny has recorded some astonishing instances of memory. Cyrus, he says, knew the names of all his soldiers. Mithridates had learned the languages of twentytwo nations. Cleopatra, Plutarch relates, knew of almost all the nations of the east. The younger Scaliger understood thirteen languages; and the celebrated Scotchman, Crichton, knew twelve, in either of which he challenged any to dispute on any subject. Added to these, Elijah funter, a German, translated the Scriptures into twelve different tongues. Another remarkable instance of the amazing powers of memory, was a man who, some years back, displayed himself before the Royal Society: the numbers being named to him, he could without any aid multiply the square of twelve figures by twelve figures. But all the faculties of his mind were swallowed up in that of his memory; he being in every thing else an ideot. But he who most resembled Professor Porson in the efforts of his memory, and in literary attainments, was Magliobechi, a Florentine, and Librarian to Casmo III. Grand Duke of Tuscany. This extraordinary man remembered nearly the whole of every book he had read, and no one perhaps ever read so many. A curious trial was once made of him. A gentleman had finished a work, fit for publication, and presented it to him for his opinion, which he gave, and returned it. Some time after, the Reflector-No. III. gentleman came to him with a serious face, saying he had lost the manuscript, and requested M. to write down such parts as he remembered. Magliobechi promised he would do it; commenced the task, and in a short time gave the gentleman a correct copy of it, without having missed one word, or varied in à sentence He was an universal index of titles and matter; knew every book, what it contained, and where it was to be found. THE REFLECTOR. NO. III. ON THE NECESSITY OF PROPORTIONING PUNISHMENTS' TO CRIMES. That crime should be followed by punishment is an institution which has been derived directly from the decrees of an Allwise Providence. The principle is employed in unquestioned perfection in the dealings of the Deity towards his creatures, as well in the present world, as in a state of after existence: and on the authority of so great a precedent, and from an universal conviction of its utility it has been adopted among the enactments of human prudence. From its nature, it must exist in the earliest stages of civilization, and it will ever be co-eval with the foundation of legal enactments, as without it these would be in most instances entirely inefficacious. Infliction of punishment will always be one of the primary exercises of constituted authority, but it must be the province of after times, and more enlightened generations, to weigh the principles of penal jurisprudence in the scales of abstract justice; and to adjust with accuracy the severity of the punishment to the nature of the offence, and the demerits of the offender. This were at first comparatively a simple and easy task-and it is only when increasing refinement has brought along with it a corresponding variety in the means of injuring the person and property of Our neighbour, that it becomes difficult to find for each species of crime a proportioned sort of retribution. The object of punishment in the early periods of society |