NECROPOLIS. 



693 



several (if they may be so called) fancy burying, 

 grounds in our large cities. It is only quite re- 

 eently that attention has been drawn in this coun- 

 try to the improvement of churchyards, or any 

 endeavour made to render them objects of the pic- 

 turesque or beautiful; and although it is, perhaps, 

 scarcely to be wished that the stern realities of 

 death should be disguised, by foolish decorations 

 and parade, to the extent to which they are in the 

 celebrated French cemetery of Pere la Chaise, it 

 is still highly desirable that burying-places should 

 be removed from the hearts of populous towns, and 

 that they should be so constructed as at least not 

 to offend our notion of the repose of the dead, but 

 rather to afford pleasing associations in connection 

 with their memory. 



One of the finest modern cemeteries, in point of 

 appropriate situation and embellishment, of which 

 any place can boast, is the NECROPOLIS of Glas- 

 gow, which the reader will see figured in Plate 

 LXXIII. It is situated at the north-east part of 

 the city, in the vicinity of the cathedral, and forms 

 one side of that ravine on the other side of which 

 the cathedral stands. The ground was purchased 

 by the Merchants'-house of Glasgow about the mid- 

 dle of the seventeenth century, and being calculated 

 for no other immediate use, was laid out as a planta- 

 tion with Scots firs, elms, planes, and ashes. About 

 the beginning of the present century, most of the old 

 trees were cut down or rooted out, and new ones 

 planted, while a stone wall was erected round the 

 demesne, and a resident keeper placed over the 

 whole. At this time, and up to its recent change 

 to a burying ground, it passed by the name of the 

 Fir Park. We do not positively know to whom 

 belongs the idea of forming the place into a ne- 

 cropolis,* but it was James Evving, LL.D., and 

 formerly M. P. for the city, who first recom- 

 mended the matter to the attention of the Mer- 

 chants'-house. In 1828, a report of a committee 

 on the subject stated, that, " the Fir Park appears 

 admirably adapted for a Pere la Chaise, which 

 would harmonize beautifully with the adja- 

 cent scenery, and constitute a solemn and appro- 

 priate appendage to the venerable structure in its 

 froat, and which, while it afforded a much wanted 

 accommodation to the higher classes, would at the 

 same time convert an unproductive property into 

 a general and lucrative source of profit to a chari- 

 table institution." After receiving, and partially 

 adopting, various plans for converting the park 

 into an ornamental cemetery, it was finally opened 

 for interments in May, 1833. A Jew, it so hap- 

 pened, was the first person buried in this necropo- 

 lis; and the Jews' place of sepulture, at the nor- 

 thern extremity, is one of the most interesting in 

 the ground. The inclosure contains accommoda- 

 tion for washing the bodies before interment, 

 according'to the Jewish law, which law, it may be 

 remembered, also forbids the depositing of one 

 body above another in the same grave. The fol- 

 lowing cut represents the ornamental column and 

 gate-way of the Jews' burying ground. 



titled 



cient and modern sepulture. Into the latter subject we do 

 not here enter, as it is already amply discussed under other 

 heads of the Encyclopedia, such as Burying Places, Cemetery, 

 Embalming, &c. 



On the front of the column are Hebrew initial 

 letters, signifying, " Who among the gods is like 

 unto Jehovah?" and on the pedestal is inscribed 

 one of lord Byron's Hebrew Melodies, the last 

 stanza of which we may quote ; 



" Tribes of the wandering 1 foot and weary breast, 

 Where shall ye flee away and be at rest ? 

 The \yild dove hath her nest, the fox his cave, 

 Mankind their country Israel but the grave." 



The iron -gate is curious, as having cast into its 

 structure, so as to form a sort of reticulated orna- 

 ment, the whole of the Scripture paraphrase, "Naked 

 as from the earth we came," &c., which may be read 

 with a little difficulty. A similar curiosity char- 

 acterizes the gate which leads into the catacombs. 



Several years before the Fir Park was converted 

 into a cemetery, a monument was erected on its 

 top to the memory of JOHN KNOX. This consists 

 of a huge pedestal and column, surmounted by a 

 statue, and from its elevated site, as well as size, 

 it forms the most prominent, though not the most 

 elegant, feature of the place. Its situation, how- 

 ever, in connection with the cathedral, may be 

 considered appropriate, both by the friends and 

 foes of the great Scottish Reformer. Near it 

 stands a monument to WILLIAM M'GAViN, (q. v. 

 in the present supplement) who was buried here, 

 and who was one of the most active promoters of 

 the Knox monument. The foundation stone of 

 the monument to Knox was laid, with great cere- 

 mony, on the 22d Sept., 1825, amid a large con- 

 course of people. Mr M'Gavin's monument vyas 

 erected two or three years after his death, which 

 took place in 1832. 



In the engraving which we have given of the 

 Glasgow Necropolis, the monument to Knox occu- 

 pies the summit of the hill ; next to it stands an 

 elegant monument erected to the memory of Dr 

 Dick, an eminent clergyman belonging to the Se- 

 cession church, who was for many years professor 

 of theology to that body of Scottish dissenters, 

 and who died in 1833. Adjoining Dr Dick's monu- 

 ment is Mr M'Gavin's, already mentioned ; and 

 farther down is a monument to the memory of 

 Lachlan Lumsden, Esq. a native of the city, who 





