72 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



lished with trees and made a public promenade. Within the Ceramicus 

 was the Academy, where Plato, and the great men who succeeded him, 

 met their disciples, and held meetings for philosophical conference and 

 instruction. Connected with the Academy was a Gymnasium and a 

 Garden, which was adorned with delightful covered walks, and refreshed 

 by the waters of the Cephisus, which flowed under the shade of the plane, 

 and various other trees, through the western borders. At the entrance, 

 and within the area of the Garden, were temples, altars and statues of 

 the gods. 



" The bodies of the Athenians, who had fallen in battle, were collected 

 by their compatriots, and after they were consumed on the funeral pile, 

 their ashes were collected and carried to Athens ; there they were exposed 

 in cypress sarcophagi, under a large tent, for three days, that the rela- 

 tions might perform those libations and rites which affection and religion 

 enjoined ; then they were placed on as many cars as there were tribes, and 

 the procession proceeded slowly through the city to the Ceramicus, where 

 funeral games were exhibited, and an orator, publicly appointed for the 

 occasion, pronounced an eulogium. 



" Even the Turks, who are so opposed to the cultivation of the fine arts, 

 embellish their grave yards Avith evergreens. With them it is a religious 

 duty to plant trees around the graves of their kindred, and the burying 

 ground of Scutari, is one the most interesting objects in the environs of 

 Constantinople. Situated in the rear of the town, and extending along the 

 Asiatic shore, toward the sea of Marmora, it presents a vast forest of 

 majestic trees ; and thither the inhabitants of the imperial city generally 

 resort, during the sultry months of summer, to enjoy the cool breezes 

 which descend from the Euxine, or are wafted over the waters of the 

 Propontis. 



" Throughout Italy, France and England, there are many Cemeteries, 

 which are ornamented with forest trees and flowering shrubs. Pere La 

 Chaise, in the environs of Paris, has been admired and celebrated by every 

 traveller who has visited that beautiful Garden of the Dead. 



" In Liverpool a similar burying ground was completed three years 

 since, and a meeting has recently been held in London for forming one in 

 the vicinity of that city, of a size and on a scale of magnificence which 

 shall quadrate with the wealth and vast extent of the mighty capitol of a 

 great nation. Within the central area are to be exact models of the superb 

 temples, triumphal arches, columns, and public monuments of Greece and 

 Rome, as receptacles, or memorials of the departed worthies of the empire. 



" The estabhshment of Rural Cemeteries has frequently been adverted to 

 in our literary and scientific journals. No one can be indifferent to a 

 subject of such deep and universal interest. In Avhatever point of view it 

 is considered, who is there that does not perceive numerous and poAverful 



