CHARLES WATERTON, ESQ. XCI 



a situation which ill befits them, and which has 

 robbed the grave of its just and long-acknow- 

 ledged perquisite. This abhorrent spectacle is 

 no other than that of the dead brought from 

 w r hat ought to be their last resting-place, where 

 the dryness of the climate has preserved their 

 flesh from rotting. They were decked out in 

 magnificent attire ; but death had slain their 

 beauty ; their godlike form was gone, and the 

 worm had left upon them disgusting traces of 

 its ravages. 



" Matres, atque viri, defunctaque corpora vita." 



We saw what once had been fine young 

 ladies, and elderly matrons, and fathers of 

 families, in dresses fit for a convivial dance ; 

 and we might have imagined that they were 

 enjoying an hour of repose till the arrival of the 

 festive time. But when our eyes caught the 

 parts not veiled by the gorgeous raiment, oh, 

 Heavens ! there, indeed, appeared death in all 

 his grisly terrors. I had never seen any sight 

 in my life, before this, so incongruous, so mourn- 

 ful, so dismal, and so horrifying. These shrunk 

 and withered remnants of former bloom and 

 beauty brought to my mind the exhibitions of 

 stuffed monkeys which we see in our own 



