296 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"* :>. X. Oct. 13. '60. 



render it more attractive to the younger sort, 

 that be intends " Hereafter for riper heads in 

 another tongue more amplie to handle the like 

 argument," and we find Deus et Rex published, 

 ■with a translation, in 1616. J. O. 



Burial in an Upright Posture (2°* S. ix. 

 passim.) — A passage in Herodotus (lib. ii. 

 § Ixxxvi.) has led to the belief that the Mgy^)- 

 tians were in the habit of placing the cases con- 

 taining the embalmed bodies of the dead in an 

 upright position in their last resting-place. This 

 was not the case, however ; the observations of 

 travellers confirming the fact that these cases were 

 invariably placed in the usual horizontal position, 

 and that the historian, describing them as " 'hrav- 

 Tes opdhu irphs ro'ixoy" referred to the intermediate 

 period, between embalment, and final consignment 

 to the sepulchre, during which they were retained 

 as a memento mori in the habitation of their friends. 

 The same meaning may also be gathered from the 

 description of Silius Italicus : — 



" ^Egyptia telliis 



Claudit odomto post funus stantia saxo 



Corpora, et a mensis exaanguem haud separat umbram." 

 Funic, lib. xiii. 474. 



The testimony of Dr. E. D. Clarke on this sub- 

 ject is conclusive. For his remarks on the alleged 

 custom of burying upright, see The Tomb of 

 Alexander., Cambridge, 4to. 1805, Introd. p. 7. and 

 Travels, 4to. 1814, vol. ill.. Preface to the second 

 section of Part the Second, p. xlli. 



The Epicurean of Moore, when wandering 

 through the pyramid of Memphis, in search of 

 the key to eternal life, is made to pass — . 



" into a straight and deep gallery, along eaeli side of 

 which stood, closely ranged and upright, a file of lifeless 

 bodies, whose glassy eyes appeared to glare upon me pre- 

 ternaturallj' as I passed." — The Epicurean, Chap. vii. 



A note to this passage shows that Moore had 

 been led Into the error by a second-hand quota- 

 tion, as he refers to Statins for his authority, in- 

 stead of Silius Italicus, as above cited, and reads 

 • ' • " post funus stantia busto," 



which would convey the idea on which he based 

 his description. The saxum odoratum would refer 

 to the stone (or wooden) receptacle or sarcophagus, 

 in which the body was placed, and which became 

 odoriferous, or was so termed by poetical license, 

 from the spices used in the conservation of its in- 

 mate. William Bates. 

 Edgbaslon. 



I find an instance of an interment of this de- 

 scription recorded at pages 81. and 101. of Robin- 

 son's History and Antiquities of Stoke Newington, 

 8vo. 1842. I do not think this Instance of upright 

 interment has yet been noticed In " N. & Q." : — 



" Thomas Cooke, Esq., a Turkey Merchant, resided a 

 considerable time at Constantinople ; he was there in 

 1714. On his return to England, he married Elizabeth, 



one of the daughters of Sir Nathaniel Gould, of Stoke 

 Newington, and resided there many j'ears. He was a 

 Magistrate for the County of Middlesex, and a Governor 

 of the Bank of England in the years .1737, 8, and 9. Mr. 

 Cooke died at Stoke Newington, 12th Augt. 1752, aged 

 80 ; and by his directions, his body was carried to Mor- 

 den College, Blackheath, of which he was a Trustee. It 

 was there taken out of the coffin, and buried in a winding 

 sheet upright in the ground, according to the Eastern 

 custom." 



The grave is said to have been " close to a 

 style near to the College." The Gentleman^s 

 Magazine for 1752 is referred to as an authority 

 for this statement. Pishey Thompson. 



Stoke Newington. 



Stone Coffins (2"^ S. x. 228.)— During the 

 Middle Ages it was usual to bury the common 

 people without coSins. The body, merely shrouded, 

 was conveyed to the grave on an open bier, and 

 there interred. When stone coflins were used, 

 there can be no doubt that a similar course was 

 pursued. The coffin was placed in the grave pre- 

 viously to the funeral ; and, in the case of persons 

 of rank, the body, habited in the richest dresses 

 of the deceased, perhaps previously embalmed and 

 wrapped in cere-cloth or lead, v/as carried to the 

 grave and deposited therein. Monarchs were 

 buried in their royal robes, with the ensigns of 

 royalty. Bishops, abbots, and other ecclesiastics 

 of rank, were dressed in their episcopal and pon- 

 tifical robes, generally with the pastoral staff and 

 ring, and sometimes with the chalice and paten. 

 Other ecclesiastics were burled in their sacerdotal 

 vestments, having also the holy vessels; and 

 monks in the habits of their several orders.* Your 

 correspondent will find an interesting account of 

 the funeral rites of the Middle Ages in Bloxam's 

 book on Monumental Architecture. 



About twenty- five years ago, the Rev. Joseph 

 Pomeroy, vicar of St. Kew, in Cornwall, was 

 buried in a stone coffin ; which, during his life, 

 was placed in his grave in {he churchyard of his 

 parish. I remember seeing it on the moors just 

 as it was completed. It was a rectangular cist, if 

 I recollect aright,5_hollowed out in the shape of a 

 modern coffin. John Maclean. 



Hammersmith. 



The subjoined extract from Bloxam's Monu- 

 mental Architecture (Lond. 1834, p. 82.), will ex- 

 plain the mode of burial when stone coffins were 

 used : — 



" Daring these ceremonies the bodj', properly dressed 

 or shrouded, if not enclosed in lead or wood, was anciently 

 laid out on a bier, and thus carried to the grave ; where 

 the coffin, if of stone, was already conveyed, and lowered 

 to receive it, and into which it was then carefully de- 

 posited, and the lid placed over it ; and Stow, in speak- 

 ing of the funeral of the Conqueror, says : ' Now mass 

 being ended, the masons had prepared the stone chest or 



* I believe that brasses and monumental effigies accu- 

 rately represent the appearance of the persons interred. 



