the graves of their dead in a less lasting manner, with green boughs brought thither from time to time; might not this practice originate from the doctrine of the resurrection? perhaps from that well-known passage of a Prophet, Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they rise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Is. xxvi. 19; or if it was practised still earlier, might not this passage have reference to that

custom?

It is admitted, that the practice obtained. among those that entertain no expectation of a resurrection, but in the language of St. Paul sorrowed as people that had no such hope. The ancient Greeks practised this decking the graves of their dead, but it might notwithstanding originate from that doctrine, and be adopted by those of a different belief, as having something in it softening the horrors of viewing their relatives immersed in the dust; and might be thought to be agreeable by those that entered into medical considerations, as correcting those ill-scented and noxious exhalations that might arise in those burial-places, to which their women, more especially, were frequently induced to go, to express their attachment to the departed.

Maillet supposes the modern Egyptians lay leaves and herbs on the graves of their friends, from a notion that this was a consolation to the

dead, and believed to be refreshing to them

from their SHADE.

This must iudeed be admitted to be truly ridiculous-the supposing a body covered with many inches of earth should receive any benefit from the thin shade afforded by a few leaves, supposing the sense. of feeling still continued, which superstition itself can hardly imagine.

But was this lively French gentleman sure of the fact? I should hardly think it of the Mohammedan inhabitants of the East, who believe a resurrection. As their prayers for the dead, as well as those of the Jews, have a reference to the resurrection; why may not these vegetable ornaments of their sepulchres be understood to relate to that doctrine?

I leave at present, the examination of the opinions of the Greeks and Romans, as to the strewing leaves and flowers on the graves of those they lamented; but would, instead of that, enquire a little, whether there is any difference as to the plants made use of now in the East for this purpose, and, if there be, what those differences are. A speculation of some curiosity, and what must be amusing.

What the plants are that are used by the Barbary Jews, Dr. Addison has not told us. All that he says on that subject is this: "Enquiring after inscriptions or epitaphs, and

< Cette verdure n'est pas au reste, comme on pourroit peut-etre le penser, q'une offrande faite aux morts. Le motif de cet usage est encore plus ridicule, puisque par-là on cherche à soulager les défunts, qu'on croit refraîchir, en leur procurant de l'ombrage. Let. 10, p. 91.

though often in the burying-place for that end, I could see none, nor any other state about the graves than green turf and boughs. But this remark respects the Jews in Barbary, whom I conceive to come far short of those of other countries, in this sort of funeral pomp.' P. 220, 221.

But, as it is a matter of some curiosity, and may be amusing to some minds, I would set down what I have met with in travellers, relating to this subject.

The women in Egypt, according to Maillet, go, "at least two days in the weck, to pray and weep at the sepulchres of the dead; and the custom then is to throw upon the tombs a sort of herb which the Arabs call rihan, and which is our sweet basil. They cover them also with the leaves of the palm tree." If they use any other plants for this purpose in Egypt, he has neglected to mention them.

d

Whether these precisely were the vegetables made use of by Augustus, when he viewed the remains of Alexander the Great in Egypt, Suetonius has not informed us, in the account he has given us of the honours paid by this Roman emperor to the remains of that celebrated Greek. We may imagine they were not, if he wrote with perfect exactness, since he speaks of that emperor's strewing flowers on d Let. 10, p. 91.

• In Vit. Aug. cap. 18. Corona aurea imposita ac floribus aspersis veneratus est.

the coffin, and mentions nothing concerning herbs or leaves.

It is reasonable to believe, that other species of plants are made use of in Egypt to adorn the sepulchres of their friends; but not all indiscriminately, for, according to Hasselquist, the mitre-shaped aloe, which grows in large quantities in the gardens of Cairo, is hung over the doors of those that have returned in safety, after having made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and it is unreasonable to suppose this plant should be used, as a token of their escape from death in this dangerous journey, and at the same time laid upon the tombs of those that could not escape.

Myrtle, however, which has been frequently used on joyous occasions, is made use of by these Eastern people to adorn the tombs of the dead, for Dr. Chandler tells us, that in his travels in the Lesser Asia, he found some Turkish graves there, which had each a bough of myrtle stuck at the head and the feet.

Rauwolff mentions the same circumstance, telling us, that at Aleppo there grow many myrtles, which they diligently propagate, because they are beautiful and remain long green, to put about their graves."

P. 104.

. & P. 200.

h P. 65.

OBSERVATION XXVIII.

White-washing Sepulchres in use in the East.

THE general meaning of a comparison used by our LORD is obvious, when he said, Wo unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness, Mat. xxiii. 27; but it will appear with greater life, if we suppose, that the sepulchres about Jerusalem were just then white-washed afresh, which I should suppose is extremely probable, as the present Eastern sepulchres are fresh done upon the approach of their Ramadan.

Such is the account of Niebuhr, in the first volume of his Travels. Speaking there of Zebid, a city of Arabia, which had been the residence of a Mohammedan prince, and the most commercial city of all the country of that part of Arabia, but which had lost much of its ancient splendour in these respects, he adds, "that however, Zebid makes yet, at a distance, the most beautiful appearance of all the cities of the Tehama (or low country), which is owing to their clergy, who have found means, insensibly, to appropriate a very large part of the revenues of the city and adjoining country