ETillOriANS. 
294 
walked here as the children of light, are now gone to walk before God 
in the light of the living.’ — Strutt tells us, the burning of torches 
\Vas very honourable. To Imve a great many, was a special mark of 
eMeem in the person who made the funeral to the deceased. Mon- 
sieur Jorevin, describing a lord’s burial near Shrewsbury, says, ‘‘ After 
the burial service, the clergyman, having his bough in his hand like 
the rest of the congregation, threw it on the dead body when it was 
put into the grave, as did all the relations, extinguishing their flam- 
beaux in the earth with which the corpse was to be covered. This 
finished, every one retired to his home without further ceremony. 
Ancient Funeral Ceremon ies of the Ethiopians. 
The Ethiopians had very particular ceremonies in their funerals. 
According to Ctesias, after having salted the bodies, they put them into 
a hollow statue of gold, which resembled the deceased, and was 
placed in a niche, on a pillar set up for that purpose. The remains 
of the richest Ethiopians were thus honoured. The bodies of those 
of the next class were contained in silver statues ; the poor were 
enshrined in statues of earthenware. Herodotus informs us, that the 
nearest relations of the dead kept the body a year in their houses, 
and offered sacrifices and fruits during that time to their deceased 
friend ; and at the end of the year they fixed the niche in a place 
Set apart for the purpose near their town. The inhabitants of the 
country of Meroe had various methods of paying respect to their de- 
ceased friends. Some threw tbeir bodies into the river, thinking that 
the most honourable sepulchre. Others kept them in their houses in 
niches, thinking that their children would be stimulated to virtuous 
deeds by the sight of their ancestors ; and that grown people, by the 
same object, would retain their parents in their memories. Others 
put their dead bodies into coffins of earthenware, and buried them 
near their temples. To swear with their hand laid upon a corpse, 
was their most sacred and inviolable oath. 
Ancient Customs respecting Coffins. 
The sepulchral honours paid to the manes of departed friends, in 
ancient times, are curious, and worthy of attention. Being put into 
a coffin, was considered a mark of the highest distinction. With 
us, the poorest people have their coffins. If the relations cannot afford 
them, the parish is at the expense. On the contrary, in the east they 
are not at all made use of in our times. Turks and Christians, as 
Thevenot assures us, agree in this. The ancient Jews seem to have 
buried their dead in the same manner ; neither was the body of our 
Lord, it should seem, put into a coffin : nor that of Elisha, whose 
bones were touched by the corpse that was let down a little after 
into his sepulchre. However, that they were anciently made use of 
in Egypt, all agree ; and antique coffins of stone and sycamore wood 
are still to be seen in that country, not to mention those said to be 
made of a kind of pasteboard, formed by folding or glueing cloth 
together a good many times, curiously plastered, and then painted 
Vi'ith hieroglyphics. 
