268 Architecture, in the United States. 



are tliere 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 \vill 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 tlie stone being immediately re- 

 placed, lime is poured around it to prevent the escape of efiluvia. 

 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, I 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- 

 tensively introduced in the Middle and Southern States. I hope it 

 will universally prevail. There is no reason why we should carry 

 our distinctive religious characters to the grave, where speculations 

 or forms can no longer profit us ; and there is great reason that the 

 whole public should unite in tlieir regard to one spot, which by greater 

 care and greater common interest, will thus be secured from depre- 

 dation or insult, and may be made also a handsome ornament, as 

 well as a moral blessing to tlie town. The best situation for such a 



