BURIAL. 



of Mr. Samuel Denne (tlie gentleman above alluded to) 

 affords a curious illuftration of what has been aflcrted. 

 •• Tlicre is reafon to believe that fifty years ago the north 

 fide of the churcli-yard of Wilmington Ciii Kent), might be 

 unoccupied bv corpl'es ; and in 17^;, on digging a grave 

 to the north of John Chapman's htad-llone, tor the inter- 

 ment of Richard Harman of Stonchill, not a human bone 

 was found, nor were there any marks of the ground's having 

 been before moved. But in 1745 and 1746, when the 

 liofpital of the regiments of infantry, encamped upon part- 

 fordhealh, was in the manfion houfc formerly, belonging to 

 the Langworth family, 3S foldiers who died in the hofpilal 

 were buried in this fpot. 



" On opening the ground for the interment of one of 

 them, midwav between the wall of the cluncli, and the 

 fence of the ehnrch yard, and about ten fcU to the well of 

 Mr. Fo-.vke's tomb, John Woodmanfey, theparifli clerk, dii- 

 covertd an earthen pot containing money, of filver. The 

 qiiantiiy was not known, nor does any attention fecm to 

 liave been (heivn to the date of the pieces laR coined. Incon- 

 feqnencc of this omifiion there is an ignorance of one cir- 

 cumftance that might nearly have afcertaincd in which na- 

 tional commotion this treafure was concealed. It is, how- 

 ever, an obvious remark that the owner of it thought this 

 quarter of the church-yard a very ftcure place, which adds 

 weight to the opinion, I have already hinted, that the 

 parilliioners of that age had an infuperable objeftion to the 

 burying of their relations and friends behind the church." 



In regard to the lites of bniial as they are praClifed in the 

 ir.ore dilla:it quarters of the globe, our obfervations will 

 be few. In Ji-pan, Peru, Pe^^u, Mo-.ico, Tartary, Siam, 

 and the Gnat Mogul's dominions, the dead are burned : and 

 for people of fuperior confideration the Hres are made with 

 aromatic woods, gums, balfams, and oils. In China, we 

 are told it was formerly the cullom to bury flaves with 

 emperors and princes, and fometimes alfo their concubines 

 ahve ; but this cruel practice has given way, in modern 

 times, to the more harmkfs one of burning reprefentations 

 of their domellics in tin foil, cut into the Ihape ol human 

 beings, and of placing their llatues in wood or ftone upon 

 their graves ; this fecms to be the remain of the Scythian 

 cuftom which has been already quoted from Hercdotus. 

 The lad remains of a relation are interred with all the 

 honours that the fan;ily can afford. (Barrow's Travels in 

 China, p. 483.) 



Among the Birmans the deceafed is burnt, unlefs he is a 

 pauper, in which cafe he is citlur buried or caft into the 

 river, as the ceremony of burning is very expenfive. When 

 the pile has been reduced to alhes, the bones are gathered and 

 depofiied in a grave. Symes's Ava. p. 314. 



With every different tribe among the Hottentots, we are 

 atTured, the funeral ceremonies are alike. The deceafed 

 is thrutl either naked, or with his pelifTe on, into a hole 

 in the earth, or fubterraneous pafTage, where the body 

 ufually becomes the prey of fome wild beall : though the 

 relations generally thrull brufli-wood or bufhes into the 

 aperture of the hole or pafTage. (Sparrman's Voyage to 

 the Cape of Good Hope, i. 358.) Another cuftom of a 

 more horrid nature is likewife related on the fame authority ; 

 Sparrman fays, that it is a common praAice, in cafe of the 

 mother's death, to inter children at the breaft alive. In 

 New South Wales, the dead are burned, afterwards dcpofited 

 in the ground, and a funeral hillock raifcd upon the afhes, 

 (Hunter's Voyage to New South Wales, p. 64.) Laftly, 

 we (liall mention, the cuftom of burial among the South Sea 

 IJlands. At Otaheite the inhabitants bury none in the 

 jMorai, but thofe offered in facrifice, or flain in battle, or 



the children of chiefs which have been flraugled at the birth • 

 An aiSl of atrocious inhumanity too common. When a 

 perfon of eminence dies, even if a child of tlic fuperior clafs, 

 he is prelervcd and not buried, unlefs he died of fome 

 contagious or ofFenfivc difcafe. 'l^liey take out the vifcera, 

 and dry the body with cloth, anointing it within and without 

 with the perfumed oil, and this is frequently repeated. 

 The relations and friends, who are abfcnt, perform their 

 part cf the funeral rites at their arrival, each female pre- 

 i'enting a piece of cloth to the corpfe ; and they continue 

 to drels and decorate the body as if alive, and to furnifli 

 it with provilions, fuppofing that the foul which hovers 

 round receives fatisfailion from fuch marks of attention ; 

 they therefore not only take care of it thus, but repeat 

 before it fome of the tender fccnes which happened during 

 its life time. While any ofFentive fincll remains they anoint 

 the corpfe with fweet fcented oil, and furround it with 

 garhnds of flowers. A dead chief is ufually carried round 

 the illand to the difl'crent diilritls where he had property, or 

 where his particular friends refide ; and the funeral ceremony 

 repeated : but after a tour of fome months, he is brought 

 to refl at the place of his ufual refidence. Some bodies are 

 prefcrved like dried parchment ; others, when the ficlh is 

 mouldered away, are burned. (See tiie Firft MifTionaries 

 Voyage, p. ,563, ,364.) 



By our comtnon law, the granting of burial within the 

 chinch is the exclulive privilege of the incumbent : except 

 in cafes where a burying place 13 prefcrihcd for as belonging 

 to a manor-houfe. (Gibfon. 45, j.) The church-wardens, 

 by cuftom, have, however, a fee for every burial there, 

 by reafon the parifli is at the expence of repairing the floor. 

 (Watfon's Clergyman's Law, cap. 39.) 



By the ftatute, 50 Car. 2. ft. r. c. 5. for the encourage- 

 ment of the woollen manufactures, and prevention of the 

 exportation of money for the importing of linen, it is 

 enafted, that no corpfe of any perfon fhall be buried in 

 any fhirt, (liift, llieet, or (lirond, or any thing whatfoever 

 made or mingled with flax, hemp, filk, hair, gold, or 

 filver, or in any fluff or thing, other than what is made 

 of flieep's wool only; on pain of 5I. And an affidavit 

 fhall be made for this purpofe either to a magiftrate or the 

 officiating minifter. 



By the canons of the church (Can. 68.), no minifter fhall 

 refufe or delay to bury any corpfe that is brought to the 

 church or church-yard (convenient warning thereof being 

 given him before) except the party deceafed were denounced 

 excommunicated majore excommunicationc, for fome grievous 

 and notorious crime, and no man able to teftify of his repent- 

 ance. There were anciently other caufes of refufal, particularly 

 of heretics, againft whom there was an efpccial provifion in 

 the canon law, that if they continued in their herefy they 

 fliould not have chriftian burial : though no inftances of 

 its enforcement occur fubfequent to the period of the 

 refonnation. They who had not received the holy facra- 

 ment, at leaft at eafter, were excluded from Chriftian burial 

 by a law of the Lateran council, which became afterwardB 

 a law of the Englifli church. In like manner, perfons 

 killed in duels, tilts, and tournaments. But, at this day, 

 thefe prohibitions are reftraincd to the excommunicate, the 

 unbaptized and fuicides. 



Burial, Chrijlian, is often ufed to denote that which is 

 performed in holy ground, and with the ufual fervice or ce- 

 remonies of the church. 



Burial is alfo ufed to denote the dues paid for interment, 

 efpecially to the minifter. The burial fee paid to the prieft 

 on opening the grave, was called by our Saxon anceftors 

 fouUfcot. Phil.Tranf, N° 189. 



Burial 



