The cemeteries in this kingdom are either public or private, and frequently in the centre of crowded cities. Formerly it appears, that fairs and markets were held in public cemeteries. A Scotish law of 1594 ordains, that each is to be surrounded by a wall two ells in height. Within the precincts, portions generally belong to indi viduals, which are private property. This was very re cently decided by the supreme court of justice in Scot land, in the case of an officer who had been accidentally killed, being, without authority, interred in a private bu rying place. The owner having complained of this in vasion of his rights, the body was ordered to be dug up, and interred elsewhere.
Long ago, the superstitions of mankind converted churches to cemeteries, a practice which is yet perpetu ated. But this indefensible custom was not introduced without resistance ; and about the year 381, there is one rescript in the Theodosian Code, which may be inter preted. " Let none suppose, that the churches of the apostles or martyrs are to be rendered ordinary places of sepulture ;" and another explicit prohibition, that " no one shall bury in a church." Constantine, the first Chris tian emperor, had previously been interred in the porch of a church which he had erected to the apostles, A. D. 337, on which St Chrysostom observes, that " The em peror was greatly honoured in the interment of his body being permitted at the door of the temple, and that he should be porter to fishermen." Various ecclesiastical canons contain decrees on the subject. The Spanish Council of Bracara, in 563, ordained, that every cemete ry should be without the church. Theodore, patriarch of Antioch, in 1180, decreed, that it should never be lawful to bury in churches, according to the civil law of the Grecian empire. The C01111( a Nantes permitted the porch of the church to he converted to a cemetery, but prevented interment in the interior : and an ecclesi astical council held at Tribur in Germany, prohibited the laity only from finding- a cemetery within its walls.
But interment in churches gradually came into uni versal use in Roman Catholic countries, first, from the anxiety of devotees to have their remains deposited near the relics of some favourite saint ; and, secondly, from the benefit which thence resulted to the ecclesiastics who officiated there. All sacred things were rendered the subject of traffic ; sepulture in a consecrated place, the remission of past sins, and indemnity for those to be committed, had their fixed and appointed prices. Cer tain perquisites were due to ecclesiastics for interment in the cemetery within their boundaries, which were ri go•ously exacted, and which it was dangerous to refuse. The heir of the deceased declining compliance, was in hazard of excommunication. Such perquisites were called mortuaries, a remnant of which may still he re cognised in the hire of the pall or mortcloth at funerals.
The danger of burying in churches, and of having ce meteries in large towns, has sometimes been fatally ex emplified. Some years ago, on preparing a grave for a person of rank in a church near Nantes, the body of a near relation, who had died nine months preceding, was displaced. The coffin was accidentally shattered, and an infectious principle instantly diffused itself around, with such virulence, that no less than fifteen persons of those attending the funeral died within eight days.
Cemeteries, in Christian countries, are consecrated ground : and as such, infants dying before baptism are with us denied sepulture in it, along with others. Roman Catholics, however, do not esteem the cemeteries of Pro testants sufficiently sacred to receive their ashes. The
origin or cause of consecration is extremely obscure : in the fifth century, it is said to have been unknown, and, according to Gregory of Tours, was introduced about the year 590. Perhaps it has been preserved, to demon strate the right of ecclesiastics to the mortuaries of the deceased persons deposited there : and though these are abrogated, the clergyman of the parish in this kingdom is entitled to the grass that grows in the church-yard, though it has been decided by courts of law, that he can not pasture his cattle there.
In most nations a custom has prevailed, of planting public cemeteries with trees, though one of the conti nental councils pronounced a decree against it in L565.
cimeteriis, a•bores •ugfferx, et ali•e etiaminfrugifere cujusvis gowns, ant arbusta stirpesve ottinuto convellau tor atque excidantur. The cypress was an emblem of mourning among the Romans : it was seen at the pile of the deceased, and in the cemeteries ; and to warn priests who were defiled by the sight of a corpse against enter ing for the celebration of religious rites, it appeared on the outside of the door of a house, whenever a dead bo dy was within. "The cemeteries of the Turks and Chi nese are planted with cypress trees : in Britain, for cen turies past, the yew has been chosen. An opinion has been entertained, though with little reason, that an ever green has thus been selected as an emblem of the im mortality. of the soul ; and hence the practice of deck ing the coffin with bays, and carrying branches before the bier. Perhaps it may have been designed as a more permanent mode of testifying that attention to the de ceased, which was practised by the ancients. They scat tered flowers on the pile, on the urn, and in the cemet ries of their departed friends. Thus Virgil, in descri', ing funeral ceremonies, says, Purpurcos jack florcs, ac talia ci n, /115.v Alanibus date hill, plenis : l'urpu•cos spargam 'lures. E I D, lib.
The same ceremony was known to the ancient Chi•: tiaras ; whence, St Ambrose, in his eulogy on Valenti Man, says, ./Vcc ego floribus tumulum ejus asp•rgam sed apiritum ejus Christi odore peifundanz spargant alii Jcle n2,9 till, caltrthis. " 1 will not strew his grave with flow ers, but pour on his spirit the odour of Christ : let others scatter baskets of lilies." St Jerome, in a consolotary epistle to a surviving husband, observes, that while " other husbands strewed the graves of their wives with violets, roses, lilies, and purple flowers, Pamachius be dewed the ashes of his with the balsam of alms." Those pious customs are not altogether obliterated among ourselves. In sonic parts of Wales, the graves are adorned with certain flowers, denoting the age of the deceased : the violet, the rose, or plants of rue, being appropriated to the three different stages of life. Fences or borders are made of them, which are carefully pre served from decay, and cleared of obtrusive weeds by the nearest surviving relatives. Each Saturday after noon is devoted to this office. in other parts of the world, the women conic frequently to pray or lament in the cemeteries, and scatter herbs above the graves.
See Coruna Respublica llabrceorunz ; Greg,orius Tu ronensis de Gloria Confeasionia ; Ambrosius Oratio Fune bris de Morte Valentiniani; I Iicronymus Epiatola ad Pam niachium ; Gutherius de jurc Martian: ; Navier sur lea Dangers des exhumations precipites ; A seasonable consi deration on the indecent and dangerous custom of bury ing in Churches ; Iiirnie's Blame of Kirk- Burial ; and Brand's Popular Antiquities. (c)