PARK AND CEMETERY. 
67 
Vault” is St. Bride’s Church, Fleet street; a ‘‘.Rectors’ 
Vault” at St. Clement Danes; and, most curious of 
all, because its purpose is not at all apparent, — a 
“Bishop’s Vault” in St. Saviour’s, Southwark. 
* * * 
Another curiosity of nomenclature is the term 
“Pest Field” as applied within the present century 
to burial grounds in which interments were still be- 
ing made. This name we would think was too un- 
pleasantly associated with the history of vital stat- 
istics in London to make it desirable for persons to 
apply it to grounds in which they had the deepest 
of all interests next to that of their own homes. 
These grounds originated of course in times when 
London was visited by the plague at frequent in- 
tervals, for a period extending over ten centuries 
beginning in 664. The most awful of all these visi- 
tations and probably the last was that of 1665 and 
the account given of the disposition of the dead at 
that time is so terrible that the name pest field 
would naturally suggest the horrors of the plague 
and repel people from the spot which bears it. But 
this seems not to have been the case in London, 
where there is more than one indication that a lack 
of reverent regard for the de.ad and the place of 
their sepulture is a popular characteristic. 
* ♦ * 
Further illustrative of this is the retention of the 
name “Bun Hill” as a local designation. Though 
its origin in “Bone Hill” is very apparent, that it 
denotes a place of the deposit of human bones, — in 
other words, a burying ground, seems in no way 
extraordinary to the Londoners. They might on 
the other hand regard the designation of the same 
place as a “bone yard” as coarse slang, as indeed 
it is. There was a Headman’s place among the 
London streets, so named because of its proximity 
to a burial ground, and it was only a few years ago 
that a more attractive name was given to it. 
* * * 
Closely akin to the manner in which the burial 
places have been crowded into the area which now 
makes up the city of London of which mention was 
made in our previous paper, is the manner in which 
the burial places have themselves been crowded 
with human bodies. It seems impossible for the 
mind to conceive all that is implied in the statistics 
which are furnished upon this subject in cases where 
the recorded stati:^tics must fall far short of the act- 
ual facts. The result has been that the widest dif- 
ference has existed between the rural churchyards 
of England and the burial places of London. The 
former have produced reflections of the most ex- 
alted and reverent type. The latter have been re- 
pulsive in the extreme. Gray's thoughts in a Lon- 
don burying ground could never have taken the 
form that could have been expressed in poetry. 
And we wonder at the courage of the Londoners of 
past ages who faced death daily knowing that after 
death they would be disposed of where no one 
would desire to visit their last resting places. Where 
in fact, if any one had such a desire, (and our ob- 
servations in London burial places have convinced 
us that what is regarded as a feeling inherent in the 
human race, has through the gross neglect of their 
graveyards been suppressed ip the Londoners, ) he 
could not feel sure in every case that such a desire 
was possible of gratification. For the system of 
leased tombs which we note in Spanish- American 
countries, has not been unknown to London. And 
even where perpetual burial has been bargained for, 
that part of the bargain has been in many cases 
violated. 
* * ♦ 
Some notable exceptions to the generally re- 
volting character of the London burial places we 
shall note in a subsequent paper. Likewise the re- 
cent efforts which have been made to correct the 
evil of what are literally pest fields in the midst of 
human habitations. This paper may well close 
with the mention of a curiosity among the buiying 
grounds of London. If'ls that in Brady street, 
Bethnal Green. It is a Jewish cemetery, and there 
has been an unwritten law among the Jews from 
time immemorial, prohibiting the disturbance of 
the place of the dead. And as a rule the Jewish 
cemeteries are better cared for than some others we 
know. This ground became in the course of time 
over-crowded. One-half of the ground, the south- 
ern halt, was allotted to “strangers,” that is to Jews 
who belonged to no special congregation. About 
thirty years after it was full, a layer of earth, to the 
depth of four feet, was added to that part of the 
ground, its surface being thus raised to that extent 
above that of the other half. Thus a new ground 
was formed. The custom of burying six feet be- 
low the surface was adhered to as before, and so 
there is a space of four feet of earth intervening 
between the new occupants of the ground and the 
old. And the gravestone of the tormer occupant 
was retained with that of the new, the two being 
placed back to back over the new'er grave. 
L. Viajero. 
At the Pan-American Exhibition to be held at 
Buffalo, N. Y., next year a large amount of space 
will be devoted to horticulture and its develop- 
ment in the United States. The fact of the Expo- 
sition being held in Delaware Park will draw at- 
tention to art out-of-doors, and it may receive an 
impetus therefrom. 
