298 Principles of Landscape- Gardening 



an extent as to be filled with graves in 14 years. At the end of seven years 

 more it may revert to the landlord, and be cultivated, planted, or laid down 

 in grass, in any manner that may be thought proper ; thelandl ord binding 

 himself and his successors by such a deed as should be inseparable from the 

 transfer of the property, that the field should never again be let for the same 

 purpose, or for building on. To render this the more certain, the transaction 

 ought to be recorded in some public register, and also on monumental stones 

 placed at the angles of the field, or one stone in its centre. Landed property 

 held by public companies, as being least likely to change proprietors, is pe- 

 culiarly suitable for this kind of occupation. There is, for example, along 

 the Uxbridge Road, near Acton, an estate belonging to the Goldsmiths' Com- 

 pany, which would make an admirable cemetery of this description. 



We see no objection to taking land for temporary cemeteries at a con- 

 siderable distance from a town, provided it were on the line of a railway, 

 as, for example, at Bagshot Heath ; and we can see no difficulty in the dif- 

 ferent districts of such a city as London having a place of temporary deposit 

 for their dead, whether paupers who paid nothing, or poor persons who 

 paid moderately. There are depositories of this kind in Frankfort and 

 Munich* ; and they are found to add greatly to the convenience, economy, and 

 salubrity of persons haviijg only small dwelling-houses, and moderate incomes. 

 Were depositories of this kind established in the metropolis, it might be so 

 arranged that a number of bodies should be conveyed to the place of interment 

 at the same time, and this might be done with appropriate decency and respect 

 in a railway or a steam-boat hearse. There are thousands of acres of the poorest 

 gravelly soil, which the Southampton railway passes through, that at present 

 do not rent for more than 35. or 4^. an acre, which would afford a cemetery 

 sufficient for all the poor of London, and the rich also, for ages to come; and 

 the same may be said of some thousands of acres not far from the Thames, in the 

 neighbourhood of Chertsey. In proportion as the land was filled with graves, 

 it might be planted with trees, or laid down in grass. 



We can see no sufficient reason against having permanent monumental 

 cemeteries, as well as temporary ones which are to have no monuments, 

 laid out on poor soils at great distances from London, along the railroads. 



* The cemetery of Frankfort on the Main is entered through an open pro- 

 pylaeum between two wings. In one of these wings is the residence of the 

 overseer and assistants; while the other contains ten cells, in which bodies in 

 coffins are deposited for some days previously to interment. As a precaution 

 against premature inhumation, cords are fixed to the fingers of the deceased, 

 communicating with a bell, so that the least motion, in case of a person's 

 revival, would be instantly made known to an attendant stationed in the 

 apartment adjoining these cells. There is also a spacious waiting-hall on each 

 side of the entrance, for the accommodation of those who accompany the 

 funerals. It is strictly prohibited to inter any corpse till infallible signs of de- 

 composition shall have become obvious ; and, though this might occasion con- 

 siderable inconvenience in a private house, no evil results from it here, because 

 interment takes place immediately afterwards. There is also a receiving 

 house (Leichenhaus) to the large cemetery at Munich. (Arch. Mag., vol. ii. 

 p. 136.) 



The general cemetery at Munich is surrounded by a border of trees and 

 shrubs, with the exception of one end, in which is placed a semicircular build- 

 ing, composed of an open colonnade in front, with vaults underneath. In the 

 centre of this semicircular building is a projection behind, called the Leichenhaus, 

 containing three large rooms, in two of which (one for males and the other for 

 females) the dead, as shrouded and deposited in their coffins by their relations, 

 are exposed to view for forty-eight hours before they are committed to the 

 earth. The other room is for suicides and unowned bodies. 



