22 On the Advantages of 



upon which they had lived. The old Baleareans, according 

 to the same authority, " used great urns and much wood, 

 but no lire in their burials, while they bruised the bones 

 and flesh of the dead, crowded them into urns, and laid 

 heaps of wood upon them." The Parsees, to this day, 

 imitate the ancient Persian Magi, and reverently expose 

 their bodies on high towers, where vultures gnaw their flesh 

 and leave the skeletons, which are then carefully preserved. 

 Indeed, the history of funerals would show the most 

 contrary practices, all arising, however, from a genuinely 

 reverent feeling, associated usually, if not always, with 

 religious beliefs. Even the practice of the Battas, who are 

 said to eat their aged and infirm relatives as an act of pious 

 duty, may be so regarded. It is known to all of you, I 

 have no doubt, that the Chinese dying here are frequently 

 exhumed and exported to their native land, in accordance 

 with some belief, I am told, to the effect that their future 

 existence will be jeopardised if they be buried in a foreign 

 country. We are bound to respect all prejudices of this 

 kind, and therefore I would speak with the greatest con- 

 sideration for the feelings of those who would think it an 

 outrage done to the remains of their relatives to consume 

 them by fire. But I am afraid that very few persons, when 

 they take that last sad kiss before the coffin-lid shuts for 

 ever those loved features from their sight, consider how 

 that face would look if they could see it in a week's time. 

 They go to the grave every day, they place flowers upon it, 

 they lay out a garden over it, and, in other ways, show 

 how tenderly they feel towards the dead relative who lies 

 mouldering beneath. And it is an evidence of their better 

 nature and of the poetry within them to do so. But when- 

 ever I see a garland of flowers upon a new-made grave, and 

 some sorrowful mourner dropping hot tears upon it, I always 

 feel shocked to think of the seething mass of putrefaction, 

 upon which these said endearments are bestowed. It is a 

 beautiful thought which Shakspeare puts into the mouth of 

 Laertes, where he makes him say : — 



" Lay her i' the earth, 

 And from her fair and unpolluted flesh, 

 May violets spring ;" 



but we know very well that in a few days the " fair 

 Ophelia " will be a terrible thing, at which both Hamlet and 

 Laertes would shudder if they beheld it. I ask, therefore, 

 would it not be better that all that can be preserved of those 



