the Corps; as alfo a Candle in fome Places.-The learned Morefin tells us, "That Salt is the Emblem "of Eternity and Immortality: It is not liable to "Putrefaction itself, and it preferves Things that ❝are seasoned with it from Decay."-He gives us alfo his Conjecture on the Ufe of a Candle on this Occafion: "It was an Egyptian Hieroglyphic " for Life, meant to exprefs the ardent Defire of "having had the Life of the Deceafed prolonged." Our Funeral Entertainments are of old Date.Cecrops + is faid to have inftituted them, for the Purposes of renewing decayed Friendship amongst old Friends, &c.-Morefin tells us, that in England they were fo profufe on this Occafion, that it coft lefs to portion off a Daughter, than to bury a dead quia Sal æternitatis eft et immortalitatis fignum, neque putredine neque corruptione infeftatur unquam, fed ipfe ab his omnia vendicat. Deprav. Rel. &c. p. 154. Confidered in reference to this fymbolical Explication, how beautiful is that Expreffion,'" Ye are the Salt of the Earth!" * Lucerna, feu Candela mortuis cadaveribus femper apponitur in domibus et templis, quamdiu fupra terram funt-an hinc ducto more, oculo, vel Lucerna incenfa veteres Ægyptii vitam fignificabant, unde veteres foliti funt lucernas ardentes fepulchris imponere, hac faltem ratione fignificantes fe mortuorum quamdiu poffent vitas producturos. Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 89. Thus Mr. Pope, converfant in papal Antiquities: "Ah hopeless lasting Flames! like those that burn Jubet Papa Cadaveris Expiationes fieri, ut quod valde immundum eft, afpergatur aqua benedicta, thurificetur, exorcifetur facris orationibus, illufiretur facris luminibus, quoufque fupra Terram fuerit, &c. Morefin Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 26. + Convivia funebria Cecrops primus inftituit prudenter, ut amici amicitiam fortaffè remiffam renovarent, & pro uno defuncto acquirerent his mediis plures amicos, &c.—In Anglia ita ftrenuè hanc curam obeunt, ut viliori pretio conftet elocatio Filiæ, quam Uxoris mertua inhumatio Ibid. p. 44. Wife. Thefe Burial Feasts are still retained in the North. We have the very Coffin of the present Age defcribed in Durant*. It appears that among the primitive Chriftians, the Corps was fometimes kept four Dayst. Pelagiat, in Gregory of Turon, requests of her Son, that her Corps may not be interred till after four Days. The Payment of Mortuaries is of great Antiquity: It was antiently done by leading or driving a Horse or Cow, &c. before the Corps of the Deceafed at his Funeral. It was confidered as a Gift left by a Man at his Death, by Way of Recompence for all Failures in the Payment of Tithes and Oblations, and called a Corfe-prefent. It is mentioned in the national Council of Engfham, about the Year 1006. Some Antiquaries have been led into a Miftake by this leading a Horse before the Corps, and have erroneoufly reprefented it as peculiar to Military Characters. The Abuse of this Vigil, or Lake-wake, is of pretty old standing.—I find the following Account * Corpus lotum et findone obvolutum, ac loculo conditum, veteres in Canaculis, feu Tricliniis exponebant. p. 225. Loculus is a Box or Cheft. Thus I find Coffins called Kists ; i. e. Chefts, in our old Regifters. + It was customary in the Chriftian Burials of the Anglo-Saxons. to leave the Head and Shoulders of the Corps uncovered till the Time of Burial, that Relations, &c. might take a last View of their deceased Friend. To this day we yet retain (in our Way) this old Cuftom, leaving the Coffin of the Deceased unfcrewed till the Time of Burial. Strutt, Vol. I. p. 66. Manners, &c. Poftulabat a Filio, ne eam, ante diem quartum fepeliret. of of a Canon, made at the provincial Synod held in London in the Time of Edward III. in Collier's Ecclefiaftical Hiftory, Vol. I. p. 546, "The 10th "Canon endeavours to prevent the Disorders com"mitted at People's watching a Corps before Bu❝rial. Here the Synod takes Notice, that the De"fign of People's meeting together upon fuch Oc"cafions, was to join their Prayers for the Benefit "of the dead Perfon; that this antient and fer"viceable Ufage was over-grown with Supersti«tion, and turned into a Convenience for Theft "and Debauchery: Therefore for a Remedy against "this Disorder, 'tis decreed, that upon the Death " of any Perfon, none fhould be allowed to watch "before the Corps in a private House, excepting "near Relations and Friends of the Deceased, and fuch as offered to repeat a fet Number of Pfalms "for the Benefit of his Soul." The Penalty annexed is Excommunication.-This is alfo mentioned in Becon's Reliques of Rome, and comprised in the Catalogue of those Crimes that were antiently curfed with Bell, Book, and Candle. * Mr. Bourne complains of the Sport, Drinking, and Lewdness used at these Lake-wakes † in his Time. * Fol. 253. + Mr. Pennant, in describing Highland Ceremonies, calls this Meeting the Late-wake; I fufpect he has put a t for a k. Thus, in defcribing Coken, a romantic Seat near Chefter-le-street, he fpells it erroneoufly Coker. His Words are, "The Late-wake " is a Ceremony used at Funerals: The Evening after the Death "of any Perfon, the Relations or Friends of the Deceased meet at the Houfe, attended by Bag-pipe or Fiddle; the nearest of "Kin, be it Wife, Son, or Daughter, opens a melancholy Ball, dancing and greeting, i. e. crying violently at the fame Time; " and Time. They ftill continue to refemble too much the antient Bacchanalian Orgies.-An Inftance of Depravity that highly difgraces human Nature! It would be treating the ferious Subject with two much levity, to fay, that if the inconfiderate Wretches, who abufe fuch folemn Meetings, think at all, they think with Epicurean licentiousness, that fince Life is fo uncertain, no Opportunity should be neglected of transmitting it, and that the Lofs, by the Death of one Relation, fhould be made up as foon as poffible by the Birth of another. Our Author uses a remarkable Metaphor in this Paffage; he talks, or rather babbles, concerning "putting on undecent Paftime."- If one were disposed to banter, it might be obferved, that a Wardrobe of "undecent Paftime" must consist of very light Habits! It may be queftioned also, whether in any Affliction we can discover "too great "Refignation?" "and this continues till Day-light, but with fuch Gambols and "Frolicks among the younger Part of the Company, that the "Lofs which occafioned them is often more than fupplied by the Confequences of that Night.-If the Corps remains unburied for "two Nights, the fame Rites are renewed. Thus, Scythian-like, "they rejoice at the Deliverance of their Friends out of this Life " of Mifery.”—He tells us in the fame Place," that the Coranich, or finging at Funerals, is ftill in Ufe in fome Places. The Songs are generally in Praise of the Deceased; or a Recital of the va"liant Deeds of him or Ancestors. Perhaps Mr. Pennant, in fpelling Late-wake, wished to have the Name derived from watching late :-None can fuppofe this, but those who are totally ignorant of our antient. Language, which is preferved in all its priftine Purity in the vulgar Dialec of the North. CHAP. CHA P. III. of following the Corps to the Grave, what it is an Emblem of: Of carrying Greens in our Hand, what it fignifies, what Use it may be of: Of Pfalmody, its Antiquity, the Aavantage and Ufe of it. IT hath been obferved among all Nations, both in the Heathen and the Christian World, as a becoming and profitable Ceremony, to follow the Corps to the Grave. The Heathens obferved it, because it presented to them, what would fhortly follow, how they themselves fhould be fo carried out, and laid down in the Grave. The going of the Corps before, fhewed that their Friend was before them to the State of Death; and gone their following after, was as much as to fay, that they must also in a fhort Time follow him thither. For this Reason the Christian alfo obferves the Cuftom, and may, if he pleafes, as he follows the Body to the Grave, entertain himself with a pious Meditation upon it, in fuch like Thoughts as these of the Pfal *Præcedenti pompa funebri, vivi fequuntur, tanquam haudmulto poft morituri. Al. ab. Alex. Lib. 3. p. 67. Et Pol. Vir. Lib. 6. C. 10. p. 405. |