was keley,second baron by tenure under a char- | Mansfield, in 1558, Lady Petre During two centuries and a half the Dyotts of Lichfield buried their dead in the family vault in the north aisle of St. Mary's-in-the-Market by torchlight; and the usage survived down to recent times. In the Antiquary for 1891, there is an account of the disorderly scenes on two of these occasions; and in his monograph, The Curiosities of the Church, Mr. Andrews, without citing this case, has a section on torchlight burial, which, as I have noted, was habitual among the ancients. An interesting paper on Traditions and Customs Relating to Death and Burial in Lincolnshire, from the pen of Miss Florence Peacock of Bottesford Manor, appeared in the Antiquary for November, 1895. Monsieur Jorevin, in his Travels in England, 1672,describing a lord's burial near Shrewbury, tells us: "The relations and friends. being assembled in the house of the defunct, the minister advanced into the middle of the chamber, where, before the company, he made a funeral oration, representing the great actions of the deceased, his virtues, his qualities, his titles of nobility, and those of the whole family, &c. times. In the first funeral which he seems to have witnessed after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, and the return to Protestantism, Machyn is rather minute in his description. He says: "Ther was a gret compene of pepull, ij and ij together, and nodur (neither) prest nor clarke, the nuw (new) prychers in ther gowne lyke leymen, nodur nor sayhyng tyll they cam to the grave, and a-for she was put into the grayff a collect in Englys, and then put in-to the grayff, and after took some heythe (earth) and caste yt on the corse, and red a thynge . . . for the same, and contenent (incontinently) cast the heth in-to the grave, and contenent red the pystyll of sant Poll to the Stesselonians (Thessalonians) the.. chapter, and after that they song paternoster in Englys, boyth prychers and odur, and (...) of a nuw fassyon, and after on of them whent in-to the pulpytt and mad a sermon. ." This narrative, in spite of its uncouth phraseology and orthography, seemed worth transcribing, as being the earliest account we have of a funeral rite subsequently to the re-establishment of the reformed faith. At the funeral of Lady Cicily It is to be remarked that during his oration, there stood upon the coffin a large pot of wine, out of which every one drank to This being the health of the deceased. finished, six men took up the corps, and carried it on their shoulders to the church." "The coffin," he adds, was covered with a large cloth, which the four nearest relations held each by a corner with one hand, and in the other carried a bough"; (this must have been a branch of rosemary :) "the other relations and friends had in one hand a flambeau, and in the other a bough, marching thus through the street, without singing or saying any prayer, till they came to the church." After the burial service, he adds, the clergyman, "having his bough in his hand like the rest of the congregation, threw it on the dead body when it was put into the grave, as did all the relations, extinguishing their flambeaux in the earth with which the corps was to be covered. This finished, every one retired to his home without farther ceremony." Antiq. Repert. iv., 549, 585. Braithwaite mentions that it was the function of the gentleman of the horse to lead the earl's charger caparisoned in black velvet after the body, and that these trappings remained the official's perquisites. Rules for the Government of the House of an Earle, (about 1640), apud Miscellanea Antiq. Anglicana, 1821, p. 16. The infant son of Sir Simonds D'Ewes, who died in come at March, 1629-30, was carried to the burialplace in his father's private carriage. Funeral Customs in ScotJand. In the Minute Book of the Society of Antiquaries of London, July 21, 1725, we read:" Mr. Anderson gave the Society an account of the manner of a Highland lord's funeral. The body is put into a litter between two horses, and, attended by the whole clan, is brought to the place of burial in the churchyard. The nearest relations dig the grave, the neighbours having set out the ground, so that it may not encroach on the graves of others. While this is performing, some hired women, for that purpose, lament the dead, setting forth his genealogy and noble exploits. After the body is interred, a hundred black cattle, and two or three hundred sheep, are killed for the enter tainment of the company." The minister of Borrowstones, Linlithgow, reported in 1796: "At the burials of the poor people, a custom, almost obsolete in other parts of Scotland, is continued here. The beadle perambulates the streets with a bell, and intimates the death of the individual in the following language: All brethren and sisters, I let ye to wit, there is a brother (or sister) departed at the pleasure of the Almighty, (here he lifts his hat), called All those that come to the burial, of clock. The corpse is at He also walks before the corpse to the church-yard, ringing his bell." Pennant, in his "Tour in Scotland," tells us, that on the death of a highlander, the corpse being stretched on a board, and covered with a coarse linen wrapper, the friends lay on the breast of the deceased a wooden platter, containing a small quantity of salt and earth, separate and unmixed. The earth an emblem of the corruptible body; the salt an emblem of the immortal spirit. All fire is extinguished where a corpse is kept: and it is reckoned so ominous for a dog or cat to pass over it, that the poor animal is killed without mercy. A common funeral at Avoch, in Rosshire, in the 18th century, is thus described: "The corpse is preceded by the parish officer tolling a hand-bell. The pall or mort cloth is of plain black velvet, without any decoration, except a fringe. An immense crowd of both sexes attend; and the lamentations of the women, in some cases, on seeing a beloved relative put into the grave, would almost pierce a heart of stone." Stat. Acc. of Scotland, xv., 636. The Scots used to believe that "It disturbed the ghost of the dead, and was fatal to the living, if a tear was allowed to fall on a winding sheet. What was the intention of this, but to prevent the effects of a wild or frantic sorrow? If a cat was permitted to leap over a corpse, it portended misfortune. The meaning of this was to prevent that carnivorous animal from coming near the body of the deceased, lest, when the watchers were asleep, it should endeavour to prey upon it" &c. These notions appear to have been called in Scotland "frets." Stat. Acc., xxi., 147. "In Scotland," observes the Rev. John Black, "it is the custom of the relations of the deceased themselves to let down the corpse into the grave, by mourning cords, fastened to the handles of the coffin: the chief mourner standing at the head, and the rest of the relations arranged according to their propinquity. When the coffin is let down and adjusted in the grave, the mourners first, and then all the surrounding multitude, uncover their heads there is no funeral service read: no oration delivered: but that solemn pause, for about the space of ten minutes, when every one is supposed to be meditating on death and immortality, always struck my heart in the most awful manner: never more than on the occasion here alluded to. The sound of the cord, when it fell on the coffin, still seems to vibrate on my ear." Poems, 1799, p. 10. Speaking of Scotish manners in the 18th century, it is said: The desire of what is called a decent funeral, i.e., one to which all the inhabitants of the district are invited, and at which every part of the usual entertainment is given, is one of the strongest in the poor. The expence of it amounts to nearly two pounds. This sum, therefore, every person in mean circumstances is anxious to lay up, and he will not spare it, unless reduced to the greatest extremity." Again: "Complaints occur against the expensive of Dunlop, in Ayrshire. mode of conducting burials in the parish It is pointed out as an object of taxation." In the same publication, parish of Lochbroom, co. Ross, "At their burials and marriages," we are told, the inhabitants "too much adhere to the folly of their ancestors. On these occasions they have a custom of feasting a great number of their friends and neighbours, and this often at an expence which proves greatly to the prejudice of poor orphans and young people: although these feasts are seldom productive of any quarrels or irregularities among them." And, under parish of Campsie, co. Stirling, we read: "It was customary, till within these few years, when any head of a family died, to invite the whole parish: they were served on boards in the barn, where a prayer was pronounced before and after the service, which duty was most religiously observed. The entertainment consisted of the following parts: first, there was a drink of ale, then a dram, then a piece of short-bread, then another dram of some other species of liquor, then a piece of currant-bread, was, 66 : and a third dram, either of spirits or wine, which was followed by loaves and cheese, pipes and tobacco. This was the vid funeral entertainment in the parish of Campsie, and was stiled their service: and sometimes this was repeated, and was then stiled a double service; and it was sure of being repeated at the Dredgy. A funeral cost, at least, a hundred pounds Scots, to any family who followed the old course. The most active young man was pointed out to the office of server; and, in those days, while the manners were simple, and at the same time serious, it was no small honour to be a server at a burial. However distant any part of the parish was from the place of the interment, it was customary for the attendants to carry the corpse on hand spokes. The mode of invitation to the entertainment by some special messenger; which was stiled bidding to the burial, the form being nearly in the following words: 'You are desired to come to such-a-one's burial to-morrow, against ten hours.' No person was invited by letter; and, though invited against ten of the clock, the corpse never was interred till the evening time not being so much valued in those days." The minister of Gargunnock, co. Stirling, reported, (1796): The manner of conducting funerals in the country needs much amendment. From the death to the interment, the house is thronged by night and day, and the conversation is often very unsuitable to the occasion. The whole parish is invited at ten o'clock in the forenoon of the day of the funeral, but it is soon enough to attend at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Everyone is entertained with a variety of meats and drinks. Not a few return to the dirge, and sometimes forget what they have been doing, and where they are. Attempts have been lately made to provide a remedy for this evil; but old customs are not easily abolished." The minister of Carmunnock, co. Lanark, tells us: "We must mention a custom, which still prevails, and which certainly ought to be abolished. It is usual, in this parish, as in many other parts of Scotland, when a death has taken place, to invite on such occasions the greater part of the country round, and though called to attend at an early hour in the forenoon, yet it is generally towards evening, before they think of carrying forth the corpse to the churchyard for interment. While, on these occasions, the good folks are assembled, though they never run into excess, yet no small expense is incurred by the family who often vie with those around them, in giving, as they call it, an honourable burial to their deceased friend. Such a custom is attended with many evils, and frequently involves in debt, or reduces to poverty many families otherwise frugal and industrious, by this piece of useless parade and ill-judged expence.' Stat. Acc., vi., 487; ix., 543; xv., 372; xxiii., 123, 174. In 1612, appended to the Abridgement of the Scots Chronicles, in "The Description of the Isles of Scotland," by J. Monipenny, under the Island of Rona, is the following passage: "There is in this island a chapel dedicated to St. Ronan: wherein (as aged men report) there is alwayes a spade wherewith when as any is dead, they find the place of his grave marked." See Gough's Topography. In Sutherlandshire, in the 18th century, a contemporary says: "The friends of the deceased, and neighbors of the village, who came to witness the interment, are drawn up in rank and file, by an old sergeant, or some veteran who has been in the Army, and who attends to maintain order, and give as they term it here, the word of relief. Upon his crying Relief! the four under the bier prepare to leave their stations, and make room for other four, that instantly succeed. This progression is observed at the interval of every five minutes, till the whole attendants come in regularly, and, if the distance requires it, there is a second, a third, or a fourth round of such evolutions gone through. When the persons present are not inflamed with liquor, there is a profound silence generally observed, from the time the corpse has been taken up till the interment is over. another part of the same description we read: "Country burials are not well regulated. The company are invited at 11 o'clock forenoon, but they are probably not all arrived at 2. Till of late a pipe and tobacco was provided for every one of the company; but this custom is entirely laid aside. Stat. Acct. of Scotland, iii., 525; vii., 622. The minister of Kilsinichen and Kilviceven, co. Argyll, writing in the 18th century, says: The inhabitants In are by no means superstitious, yet they still retain some opinions handed down by their ancestors, perhaps from the time of the Druids. It is believed by them that the spirit of the last person that was buried watches round the churchyard till another is buried, to whom he delivers his charge.' Stat. Acc. of Scotland, iv., 210. In the same work, it is said, "in one division of this county, where it was believed that the ghost of the person last buried kept the gate of the church yard till relieved by the next victim of death, a singular scene occurred, when two burials were to take place in one church yard on the same day. Both parties staggered forward as fast as possible to consign their respective friend in the first place to the dust. If they met at the gate, the dead were thrown down till the living decided by blows whose ghost should be condemned to porter it. Stat. Acc., xxi., 144. Funeral Customs in Ireland. -See Irish Funeral Customs, Wakes, and two papers in the Penny Magazine for July, 1844. Funeral Customs Abroad.In foreign countries, no less than among ourselves, it was a peremptory regulation and usage to bury instantaneously all victims to epidemics; and it is to the lasting honour of the Venetians that in 1576, Titian dying of the plague, his remains were specially allowed to lie in state. In some places abroad, it is customary to set out the departed person's toilette, and go through many of the same forms which he or she observed in life. In the Island of Madeira, they are in the habit of closing the chamber of death during a twelvemonth after the event. Armstrong says: "I have seen an old woman placed on a bier, dressed like a Franciscan monk, and so conducted by the good brothers of that order, with singing and the tinckling of the hand-bell, to their church." History of Minorca, p. 212. This superstition, which, as I have just noticed, was not wholly unknown in England, was observed by Milton; for when describing the Paradise of Fools, he does not forget to mention those it was closed. The Lord Chamberlain knocked for admittance. A voice inside asked, 'Who wishes to enter? The answer given was 'Alfonso XII.' The doors were then thrown open. The Prior of the Monastery appeared. The body was carried into the church and placed on a raised bier before the grand altar. The coffin was then covered with the four cloaks of the noble orders. A thousand tapers were lighted, and the church assumed a magnificent appearance. Black hangings embossed with the arms of Spain covered the stone walls. A mass was said and the Miserere sung. The coffin was raised once more and carried to the entrance of the stairs leading down to the vaults. No one descended there except the Prior, the Minister of Grace and Justice, and the Lord Chamberlain. The coffin was placed on a table in a magnificent black marble vault, in which the Kings of Spain lie in huge marble tombs all around. Now came the most thrilling part of the ceremony. The Lord Chamberlain unlocked the coffin, which was covered with cloth of gold, raised the glass covering from the King's face, then down and shouted three times in the dead after requesting perfect silence, knelt monarch's ear, Señor, Señor, Señor.' Those waiting in the church upstairs heard the call, which was like a cry of despair, for it came from the lips of the Duke of Sexto, the King's favourite companion. The Duke then rose, saying, according to the ritual, His Majesty does not answer. Then it is true the King is dead.' He locked the coffin, handed the keys to the Prior, and taking up his wand of office, broke it in his hand, and at the ob-flung the pieces at the foot of the table. Then every one left the monastery, as the bells tolled, and the guns announced to the people that Alfonso XII. had been laid Philip II." This was on the Sunday at with his ancestors in the gloomy pile of Who to be sure of Paradise, Dying, put on the weeds of Dominick, Or in Franciscan think to pass disguis'd.'" -Paradise Lost, p. 111. The accompanying elaborate account of the funeral ceremony sequies of Alfonso XII., of Spain, is taken from the Daily News of November 30, 1885: "The funeral of the late King took place to-day. Early in the morning the Royal Family heard mass near the body. Then, after leaving flowers, they retired. The Queen, looking heartbroken, was the last to leave the hall. At 10 o'clock the coffin was carried downstairs by the grandees. A procession was formed of the Royal household, the equerries, the King's Body Guard, the Halberdiers, and priests. The roads were lined with troops. The crowd was extremely dense. All heads were uncovered as the coffin passed. The Ministers and the Bishop of Madrid received the body at the station, the bands playing the Royal March. The train left amidst the firing of cannon and the tolling of bells. The ceremony at the Escurial was imposing. The procession from the station slowly wound up the hill to the Monastery. When the funeral car reached the principal door the Escurial. The Times of December 3, 1889, describes the last tribute to Luis I. of Portugal: "A singular traditional usage was carried out at Lisbon some days after the funeral of the late King. At three principal places in the city platforms were erected covered with black cloth. A procession passed from one place to the other. The chief municipal officers of the city and the chief personages of the late Royal household, all clad in deep mourning, formed the procession, which was preceded and followed by cavalry in mourning, the colours draped with black. Military bands accompanied the march, playing sad strains. Four shields, on which were painted the Royal arms, were borne aloft on long staves. A multitude of people, all suitably dressed, were present, several walking with the procession. Arrived at the platform all the principal persons took up their places upon it, and one of the shield-bearers, advancing to the front, cried out in a chanting tone, Weep, O Portuguese, for your King Dom Luis I. is dead.' He then dashed the shield to the ground with such violence that it was shattered. This ceremony was repeated at the other platforms. Then the procession moved to the church of Santo Antonio da Sé, where a solemn requiem service was held. During the whole ceremony all the bells of the city tolled." Thus Funeral Psalmody.—Various are the proofs of the ancient custom of carrying out the dead with psalmody in the primitive church: in imitation of which it is still customary in many parts of this nation, to carry out the dead with singing of psalms and hymns of triumph; to show that they have ended their spiritual warfare, that they have finished their course with joy, and are become conquerors. This exultation, as it were, for the conquest of their deceased friend over hell, sin, and death, was the great ceremony used in all funeral processions among the ancient Christians. Bourne cites Socrates Scholasticus telling us "that when the body of Babylas the Martyr was removed by the order of Julian Apostate, the Christians, with their the women and children, rejoiced and sung psalms all the way as they bore the corpse from Daphne to Antioch. was Paula buried at Bethlehem, and thus did St. Anthony bury Paul the Hermite." The following passage is curious on the subject of singing psalms before the corpse : "Cantilena feralis per Antiphonas in pompa funebri et Fano debacchata hinc est. Inter Græcos demortui cadavere deposito in inferiori domus aula ad portam, et peractis cæteris Ceremoniis, Cantores funerales accedunt et threnon canunt, quibus per intervalla respondebant domesticæ servæ, cum assistentium corona, neque solum domi, sed usque ad Sepulchrum præcedebant feretrum ita canentes." Guichard. lib. ii. cap. 2. Funeral," apud Moresini " &c., p. 32. Durandus cites one of the 'Papatus," ancient councils, in which it is observed the psalms were wont to be sung, not only when the corpse was conducted to church, but that the ancients watched on the night before the burial, and spent the vigil in -singing psalms. Gough tells us that music and singing made a part of the funerals. Macrobius assigns as a reason that it implied the soul's return to the origin of harmony or heaven. Hyginus understands it to mean a signal of a decent disposal of the dead, and that they came fairly by their death, as the tolling bell among Christians." Sep. Mon., ii., introd. vii. Stopford says: The heathens sang their dead to their graves or places of burial." Pagano-papismus, p. 282, citing Alex. ab Alexandro, "Gen. Dier." lib. iii., cap. 7, And Macrobius, In Somnium Scipionis, ii., 37, affirms,. that this custom was according to the institutions of several nations, and grounded upon this reason, because they believed that souls after death returned to the original of musical sweetness, that is Heaven: and therefore in this life every soul is taken with musicall sounds, &c." Other reasons are assigned by Kirkman, and several authorities urged for this custom. De Funeribus Romanorum, ii., 4. In "The Burnynge of Paules Church," 1561, we read: of priestes to swepe purgatorye, or bye "In burials we do not assemble a number forgivenes of synnes, of them whiche have no authoritye to sell, but accordinge the death of Fabiola, sais he, the people to Saint Jeroms example we followe. At of Ro. were gathered to the solemnite of the buriall. Psalmes were songe, and Alleluia sounding oute on height, did Here was one companye of yonge menne shake the gildet celinges of the Temple. and there another which did singe the prayses and worthy dedes of the woman. vation, of whose conversion th' angells in And no mervaile if men rejoyce of her salheaven be glad. Thus Jerom used burialls." Ed. 1563, sign. G 6 v. I find the followConceipt," 1598, p. 43: "It is a custome ing passage in Dickenson's "Greene in still in use with Christians, to attend the funeral of their deceased friendes, with whole chantries of choyce quire-men, singing solemnly before them: but behinde follows a troope all clad in blacke, which argues mourning: much have I marveled at this ceremony, deeming it some hidden paradox, confounding thus in one things so opposite as these signes of joy and sor rowe." vantage a song, which he had from Mr. Aubrey has preserved for our adMeautis, and which could be traced back shire superstition that the souls of the to 1626. It is connected with a Yorkdeparted went over Whinny Moor. Some portions of the production seem to bespeak the verses entire, and very pertinently a far greater antiquity. Thoms has printed points out that Sir Walter Scott, in quoting them in the Minstrelsy, omits to give approach to purgatory is described. a portion of one line in a stanza, where the missing words are here given in italics; they occur in Aubrey's MS. in the margin, but clearly belong to the text:— The |