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thing paffes in filent folemnity round the fick bed. The patient is in agonies, looks round for pity; yet not a fingle creature will fay that he is dying. If he is poffeffed of fortune, his relations entreat him to make his will, as it may reftore the tranquillity of his mind. He is defired to undergo the rites of the church; for decency requires it. His friends take their leave only because they do not care to fee him in pain. In fhort, an hundred ftratagems are used to make him do what he might have been induced to perform only by being told, Sir, you are paft all hopes, and had as good think decently of dying.

Befides all this, the chamber is darkened, the whole house echoes to the cries of the wife, the lamentations of the children, the grief of the fervants, and the fighs of friends. The bed is furrounded with priests and doctors in black, and only flambeaux emit a yellow gloom. Where is the man, how intrepid foever, that would not fhrink at fuch a hideous folemnity? For fear of affrighting their expiring friends, the English practife all that can fill them with terror. Strange effect of human prejudice, thus to torture merely from mistaken tendernefs!

You fee, my friend, what contradictions there are in the tempers of thofe iflanders; when prompted by ambition, revenge, or difappointment, they meet death with the utmoft refolution: the very man who in his bed would have trembled at the afpect of a doctor, fhall go with intrepidity to attack a bastion, or deliberately noofe himfelf up in his garters.

The paffion of the Europeans for magnificent interments, is equally ftrong with that of the Chinese. When a tradefman dies, his frightful face is painted up by an undertaker, and placed in a proper fituation to receive company; this is called lying in ftate. To this difagreeable fpectacle all the idlers in town flock, and learn to loath the wretch dead, whom

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they defpifed when living. In this manner you fee fome, who would have refufed a fhilling to fave the life of their dearest friend, beftow thousands on adorning their putrid corpfe. I have been told of a fellow who, grown rich by the price of blood, left it in his will that he fhould lie in ftate; and thus unknowingly gibbeted himself into infamy, when he might have otherwife quietly retired into oblivion.

When the perfon is buried, the next care is to make his epitaph; they are generally reckoned beft which flatter moft; fuch relations, therefore, as have received moft benefits from the defunct, difcharge this friendly office, and generally flatter in proportion to their joy. When we read thofe monumental hiftories of the dead, it may be justly faid, that all men are equal in the dust; for, they all appear equally remarkable for being the moft fincere Chriftians, the most benevolent neighbours, and the honefteft men of their time. To go through an European cemetery, one would be apt to wonder how mankind could have fo bafely degenerated from fuch excellent ancestors; every tomb pretends to claim your reverence and regret; fome are praised for piety, in thofe infcriptions, who never entered the temple until they were dead; fome are praised for being excellent poets, who were never mentioned, except for their dulnefs, when living; others for fublime orators, who were never noted except for their impudence; and others ftill for military atchievements, who were never in any other fkirmishes but with the watch. Some even make epitaphs for themfelves, and befpeak the reader's good-will. It were indeed to be wifhed, that every man would early learn in this manner to make his own; that he would draw it up in terms as flattering as poffible; and that he would make it the employment of his whole life to deferve it!

I have not yet been in a place called Westminster Abbey, but foon intend to vifit it. There, I am told, I fhall fee juftice done to deceased merit; none, I am told, are permitted to be buried there but fuch as have adorned as well as improved mankind. There no intruders, by the influence of friends or fortune, prefume to mix their unhallowed afhes with philofophers, heroes, and poets. Nothing but true merit has a place in that awful fanctuary. The guardianship of the tombs is committed to feveral reverend priefts, who are never guilty, for a fuperior reward, of taking down the names of good men, to make room for others of equivocal character, nor ever prophane the facred walls with pageants, that pofterity cannot know, or fhall blush to own.,

I always was of opinion, that fepulchral honours of this kind fhould be confidered as a national concern, and not trufted to the care of the priests of any country, how refpectable foever; but from the conduct of the reverend perfonages, whofe difinterefted patriotifm I fhall fhortly be able to difcover, I am taught to retract my former fentiments. It is true, the Spartans and the Perfians made a fine political ufe of fepulchral vanity; they permitted none to be thus interred, who had not fallen in the vindication of their country. A monument thus became a real mark of diftinction; it nerved the hero's arm with tenfold vigour; and he fought without fear, who only fought for a grave. Farewell.

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LETTER XIII.

FROM THE SAME.

I AM juft returned from Weftminster-abbey, the place of fepulture for the philofophers, heroes, and kings of England. What a gloom do monumental infcriptions, and all the venerable remains of deceafed merit infpire! Imagine a temple marked with the hand of antiquity, folemn as religious awe, adorned with all the magnificence of barbarous profufion, dim windows, fretted pillars, long colonades, and dark cielings. Think, then, what were my fenfations at being introduced to fuch a scene. Iftood in the midst of the temple, and threw my eyes round on the walls, filled with the ftatues, the infcriptions,

and the monuments of the dead.

Alas, I faid to myfelf, how does pride attend the puny child of duft even to the grave! Even humble as I am, I poffefs more confequence in the prefent fcene than the greateft hero of them all; they have toiled for an hour to gain a tranfient immortality, and are at length retired to the grave, where they have no attendant but the worm, none to flatter but the epitaph.

As I was indulging fuch reflections, a gentleman, dreffed in black, perceiving me to be a ftranger, came up, entered into conversation, and politely offered to be my inftructor and guide through the temple. If any monument, faid he, fhould particularly excite your curiofity, I fhall endeavour to fatisfy your demands. I accepted with thanks the gentleman's offer, adding, that "I was come to "obferve the policy, the wifdom, and the juftice "of the English, in conferring rewards upon de

ceafed

ceafed merit. If adulation like this (continued I) "be properly conducted, as it can no ways injure "those who are flattered, fo it may be a glorious "incentive to those who are now capable of enjoy

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ing it. It is the duty of every good government "to turn this monumental pride to its own advan"tage; to become ftrong in the aggregate from "the weakness of the individual. If none but the "truly great have a place in this awful repofitory, a temple like this will give the fineft leffons of morality, and be a strong incentive to true ambi"tion. I am told, that none have a place here but "characters of the most diftinguished merit." The man in black feemed impatient at my obfervations, fo I difcontinued my remarks, and we walked on together to take a view of every particular monument in order as it lay.

As the eye is naturally caught by the fineft objects, I could not avoid being particularly curious about one monument, which appeared more beautiful than the reft: that, faid I to my guide, I take to be the tomb of fome very great man. By the peculiar excellence of the workmanship, and the magnificence of the defign, this must be a trophy raised to the memory of fome king who has faved his country from ruin, or law-giver, who has reduced his fellow-citizens from anarchy into just subjection. It is not requifite, replied my companion fmiling, to have fuch qualifications in order to have a very fine monument here. More humble abilities will fuffice. What, I fuppofe then, the gaining two or three battles, or the taking half a score towns, is thought a fufficient qualification? Gaining battles, or taking towns, replied the man in black, may be of fervice; but a gentleman may have a very fine monument here without ever feeing a battle or a fiege. This, then, is the monument of Jome poet, I prejme, of one whofe wit has gained him immortality? No,

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fir,

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