268 Architecture in the United States. 
are there raised over the dead, and that such striking memorials of 
our mortality upon the walls of a church must aid our devotions, 
And so they might, if such memorials were meant to aid our devo- 
tion and adapted accordingly; but they are not. A single walk 
through an English or Italian church will satisfy us of this. The 
artist is made to use his best efforts, and we have as the result, an ob- 
ject not to remind us of man’s inevitable lot, but of his wealth, his 
grandeur, his skill; and pride is cherished in us instead of humility. 
Make not your church a show-house is a lesson which cannot be too 
strongly inculcated. The Italians have another mode of burial, 
_ which is also common in Spain, and probably in other parts of Eu- 
rope. ‘They select a piece of ground which they surround by a 
range of small vaulted chambers, opening inward. Each cham- 
ber is secured in front by a fancy grating, and has in its floor a 
small opening, through which is a descent to the family vault below. 
The sides are lined with monuments, and the appearance of the 
whole as seen from within is extremely imposing. The enclosed 
ground is paved with flags above, and occupied beneath by large ex- 
cavations for the poorer dead. When one of them is to be buried, 
the proper flag is raised; the body taken from the coffin ; let down 
to putrify among piles of others, and the stone being immediately re- 
placed, lime is poured around it to prevent the escape of effluvia. 
Naples is said to have one such a vault for every day of the year- 
The bones are gathered up at proper times and removed to a com- 
mon receptacle or charnel house. The Greeks bury in walled 
graves under their churches, the flag above serving for a pavement 
to the church. 
Our own mode is far better than any of these. The custom of 
having one cemetery common to all denominations, is, | observe, be 
coming every year more prevalent throughout the country. In New 
England it is general; in the Western States it is frequent : Wash- 
ington has adopted the plan, and I believe it is beginning to be ex 
introduced in the Middle and Southern States. I hope it 
will universally prevail. There is no reason why we should carry 
ieaiainctin’ religious characters to the grave, where speculations 
or:forms can no longer profit us; and there zs great reason that the 
whole public should unite in their regard to one spot, which by greater 
are and greater common interest, will thus be secured from depre- 
3 ...: and may be made also a handsome ornament, 
: . moral blessing to the town. The best situation for such # 
