BUR 



128- 



BUR 



horse, instead of mounting upon his back, appeared 

 to him to be a truly ludicrous degradation of the ge- 

 nuine dignity of human nature. In all his journies, 

 therefore, between London and Edinburgh, he tra- 

 velled on horseback, attended by a single servant ; 

 a.nd this practice he persisted in, until he was up- 

 wards of 80 years of age. On his return, however, 

 from his last visit to London, he was taken so ex- 

 ceedingly ill upon the road, that he was unable to 

 proceed j. and had he not been overtaken by a Scotch 

 friend, the late Sir Hector Monroe, who took him 

 into his carriage, and set him down at the first stage, 

 (for he scorned to perform the remainder of the 

 journey in a box, ) he might, perhaps, have actually 

 perished by the way side. 



As Lord Monboddo accounted population the 

 true wealth of an estate, he spent much of his lei- 

 sure time, during the vacations of the court, \in im- 

 proving his paternal inheritance, by cultivating an 

 extensive farm round the family mansion ; and his 

 principal desire was to increase the number of souls 

 upon his lands, so as to make it greater in propor- 

 tion to the extent, than that of any neighbouring 

 landholder. While in the country, he dressed like a 

 plain farmer, and lived among his tenants with all the 

 patriarchal familiarity and attention of an aged fa- 

 ther among his grown up children. He encouraged 

 them all by his advice and example* and, what was 

 more substantial, by long leases, almost rights of in- 

 heritance, as he not very improperly called them. 

 For these patriotic exertions, his memory will be re- 

 corded and revered in Kincardineshire as long as 

 agriculture and hospitality shall continue to be prac- 

 tised. (;;) 



BURNING. See CHEMISTRY. 

 BURNING OF THE DEAD. All the nations of the 

 world, rude and civilized, have, in every age, exhibited 

 some remarkable ceremonial in the disposal of their 

 dead. Some, by simple inhumation ,. have restored the 

 body to its parent earth ; others have committed it 

 to the waters ; and others again have reduced it to 

 ashes, which were either collected as precious me- 

 morials of the deceased, or dissipated in the air.. In 

 one respect, perhaps, this latter custom has been 

 adopted, to testify the unwilluigness of the survivors 

 to part with all remembrance of a departed person ; 

 and there are nations which yet preserve the corpse en- 

 tire in token of veneration, or despoiling it of the flesh, 

 carefully keep the bones. However, the necessity 

 of destroying the body, or some religious rite, has 

 probably operated as a more general inducement. 

 Cremation, or burning the dead, has been practised 

 in Europe, Asia, and the vast continent of America, 

 from the most remote period to which authenticated 

 history can reach : and although it has partially 

 given way to- other customs, there are many places 

 where it is retained to the present day. 



Remounting to Jewish history, long before the 

 b-irth of Christ we are told, that after Saul fell on 

 his own sword,- " all the valiant men arose, and 

 went .all night, and took his body and that of his 

 sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Ja- 

 besh, and burnt them there." The same is to be 

 inferred from various other passages ; but it is doubt- 

 ft$ whether Aza king of Judah was burnt, as gene- 



rally believed, because it is only said in scripture Burning,, 

 that there was a burning for him not of his body ; "T*"^ 

 and Jeremiah addresses Zedekiah thus : " Thou shalt 

 not die by the sword ; but thou shalt die in peace, 

 and with the burning of thy fathers, the former 

 kings who were before thee ; so shall they burn 

 odours for thee." Thus the burning of odours may 

 have been some rite or ceremony in honour of the de- 

 ceased among the Jews. 



But we are better acquainted with the Greek and 

 Roman modes of cremation, from the histories trans- 

 mitted to our own times. A lofty pile was construct- 

 ed, on which the body was laid, various ceremonies 

 ensued, and the whole was then reduced to ashes.. 

 Yet although the custom of burning the dead gene-. 

 rally prevailed, it was not in universal practice: there, 

 were some absolute exceptions ; and in other cases it 

 depended on the circumstances of the deceased, or 

 those of his relations. Among the Romans, infants 

 who had not got their first teeth were never bur, it, 

 somewhat like the custom of Christians in denying 

 consecrated ground to those that perish in the ear- 

 liest infancy. Those struck with lightning also. 

 were interred, probably from thinking it impious to, 

 commit to earthly flames bodies which had been 

 touched by the fire of heaven. 



The ancients were more prone to a minute and sys-. 

 tematic performance of each of the different funereal, 

 rites, from the peculiar superstitions which they enter- 

 tained. They believed, that unless the body was re- 

 turned to the earth by inhumation, or entombed after 

 being reduced to ashes, access was denied to the 

 Elysian fields. Thus their principal care was pious 

 offices to the dead. 



As the Romans believed that the soul forsook the! 

 body by the mouth, the nearest relative watched 

 the moment of its flight to receive it by an inspira- 

 tion. The eyes and mouth of the corpse were then 

 closed by the same individual, or if a husband by 

 the wife, and of a wife by the husband. Next the 

 body was washed and anointed by women, with pre- 

 cious unguents ; and after a certain interval the name 

 of the deceased loudly called, either from some super- 

 stitious motive, or to avoid the hazard of a prema- 

 ture death on the funeral pile, if the person was only 

 in a swoon. Examples are recorded of those who 

 were on the bier reviving, descending from it, and 

 walking home in health ; and a noted instance also 

 occurred, where one, aroused from insensibility by the 

 flames of the pile crackling around him, made an in- 

 effectual endeavour to escape, and was burnt alive. 

 The rings, which constituted a distinguished' mark 

 of rank among the Romans, were now taken from the 

 fingers of the deceased, though restored before the 

 whole ceremony of cremation was concluded, 



In the next place, the corpse being clothed in the 

 best garment worn during life, was laid on a couch, 

 sometimes constructedof costly materials, such as that 

 of Csesar, which, Suetonius relates, was of ivory, 

 adorned with purple aud gold. This was borne tq. 

 the pile by the nearest relatives ; or, if the deceased 

 had enjoyed celebrity, his body' was supported on 

 the shoulders of others of, note. Thus Augustus,, 

 whose obsequies were per.formed with great solemnity, 

 was. carried to the pile in. the Campus Marti us by; 



