applied to Public Cemeteries. 485 



may be considered as having a similar influence on the scenery around. The 

 feeling of solemnity is one more of a passive, than of an active, nature : it 

 neither needs much cultivation, nor much exercise of the imagination. 

 Strong contrasts are not required to excite this feeling, nor varied and in- 

 tricate scenery to prolong it. On the contrary, this will be more decidedly 

 the effect of sameness of form and colour, and their repetition. The solemnity 

 of a churchyard has its origin in the uses of the place, and will only be in- 

 terfered with or weakened by the introduction of such objects as interfere 

 with these uses. Simplicity, therefore, ought to be a governing principle in 

 every thing relating to churchyards ; and, as the appearance of neglect or 

 slovenliness always implies want of respect, order and neatness are next in 

 importance. By order, we mean the avoiding of every thing like confusion 

 in the placing of the graves, tombs, and gravestones, and the disposition of the 

 trees: and, by neatness, we allude more particularly to keeping the turf short 

 and smooth ; the walks firm, even, and free from weeds ; the gravestones 

 upright ; and the tombs in a state of repair. 



The character of a churchyard, as a place of burial, will always be more or 

 less influenced by the character and manners of the people to whom it belongs. 

 In Britain, churchyards have much less care bestowed upon them than in 

 Central Germany, and in some parts of France, Belgium, and Holland. The 

 sentiment of respect to the memory of deceased persons in these countries is 

 shown by planting flowers over the graves, and frequently cultivating them 

 there for some years afterwards. Among the Moravians, on the Continent, 

 the churchyard is sometimes laid out in compartments, with walks between, 

 like a garden j and the compartments are kept dug, and planted with flowers 

 and ornamental plants. Two powerful arguments are advanced in favour of 

 this practice : the first is, that a churchyard so managed costs less than if it 

 were in turf, and kept short by mowing ; the second, that the surface of the 

 ground has always the same appearance, there being no gravestones or tombs, 

 and the ground being left level, and replanted with the plants which stood on 

 it before, after every interment ; these having been carefully taken up, and 

 placed on one side, before the grave was dug. It is evident that this mode of 

 treating a churchyard, however consonant it may be to the ideas of those who 

 adopt it, is not in accordance with our desiderata. It does not indicate its 

 use, as it has neither raised graves, tombs, gravestones, nor any other ap- 

 pearance of its being a place of burial; and it is not calculated to excite 

 solemn emotions, as it has all the gaiety of a flower-garden. 



In Britain, respect for the dead is not generally shown by the introduction 

 of flowers over their graves ; but the practice prevails in some places throughout 

 the country, more especially in Wales, and is not unfrequent in the metro- 

 politan and other cemeteries. Perhaps it ought to be commended and 

 encouraged, as rendering burial-grounds inviting as places to walk in, and as 

 the frequent recollection of deceased friends has a tendency to sober the 

 mind and cultivate the affections of the living. In every part of Germany 

 where the inhabitants are in the habit of cultivating flowers on the graves of 

 their friends, or even of visiting these graves annually on a certain day and 

 decorating them, the inhabitants are a reflective, and very humane and 

 amiable, people ; for example, at Munich. The introduction of flowers in 

 churchyards, therefore, where they are planted over the graves by the re- 

 lations of the deceased, is a very different thing from their introduction in the 

 margins of plantations of trees and shrubs, in imitation of shrubberies, as is 

 done in some of our public cemeteries ; to the utter neglect, as we think, of 

 appropriate character and expression.* Bearing in mind, therefore, the three 



* Hanover Chapel, Brighton, has a burying-ground which is quite unique. 

 A straight avenue of elm trees leads from the entrance gate to the door of the 

 chapel; and on each side of the gravel walk, which runs down the centre of 

 the avenue, is a narrow margin of smooth highly kept grass. Next there is 



