Chapter IV: Letter I (1)

_To_ Charles Bernard, _Esq; Sergeant-Surgeon to Her MAJESTY, Present
Master of the Surgeons Company, and one of the Surgeons of St._
Bartholomew_’s Hospital_.

SIR,

[Sidenote: _Surgery_ the Chief of _Art_]

If the Excellency of any _Art_ consist only in its Usefulness, or if it derive its Preeminence from the Object, with which it converses, it necessarily must follow, That the Profession of _Surgery_ is the Chief of _Arts_, since it is employ’d about so noble a Subject as _Man_; and therefore the _Greeks_ have thought fit to call such manual Operations _The Art of Surgery_, which otherwise might as well have been apply’d to any Mechanick Trade.

[Sidenote: Has two useful Branches;]

Thence it is _Anatomy_ and _Embalming_ are also equally to be esteem’d, since they are not only Branches of this _Art_, but likewise absolutely necessary to be known by its Professors; the one informing us of the constituent Parts of the Body, and the other preserving it for ever in our Memories.

[Sidenote: One Taught in our _Theatre_, and the other to be wish’d
there, yet _Embalming_ practis’d only by _Undertakers_.]

The first has been Learnedly Treated of by our own Countrymen, as well as Foreigners, and is admirably perform’d even at this Day in our _Anatomical Theatre_; whereas the last, I know not by what Fate, is surreptitiously cut off from _Surgery_, and chiefly practis’d by ignorant _Undertakers_.

[Sidenote: The Author vindicates the Right of it.]

For the Honour therefore of our Profession, I have undertaken to vindicate _The Art of Embalming_, and will prove it to be no less antient and noble than _Surgery_ it self. In order to this, I will first shew both the antient and modern Methods of _Embalming_, as practis’d by the most learned and expert _Physicians_, _Surgeons_ and _Anatomists_, and then proceed to detect the Frauds and Subtilties of the _Undertakers_ or _Burial-Men_, to the end the World being made sensible of their Abuses, may the easier be reconcil’d to a right Opinion of the legal and skilful Artist; but before I proceed to acquaint you with any farther particulars, I shall content my self to shew you the Authority and Reasonableness of the Use of _Embalming_, together with the many Advantages that accrue thereby. [Sidenote: Useful in _Natural Philosophy_ and _Physiology_.] First, I presume, it may not be a little Entertaining, should I relate how far the Knowledge of this _Art_ may be necessary in our very Domestic and Culinary Affairs, such as, Tanning, Painting, Dying, Brewing, Baking, _&c._ as also in Confectionery, by Conserving all sorts of Roots, Herbs and Fruits, and Preserving Wines and Juices; for this _Art_ being grounded as well on _Natural Philosophy_ as _Physiology_, it not only teaches us how to Improve our Drinks, but our Aliments likewise, and not only to give a grateful Taste in Cookery, and thereby to whet the Appetite, but also to Preserve fresh Meats, Fish, Fruits, _&c._ beyond their wonted duration.

[Sidenote: Particularly in _Anatomy_, _Surgery_, &c.]

These Things however I will pass by for the present, that I may come more immediately to my principal _Intent_, which is to shew how a Body may be so Preserv’d, that by the help of _Anatomy_ we may trace its minute _Meanders_, and investigate the secret Passages thereof, without being hindred by any offensive _Odour_ or contaminating _Cruor_.

[Sidenote: How Useful to the _Naturalist_,]

By this _Art_ the _Naturalist_ may be enabled to Collect and Preserve a numberless variety of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Reptiles, Herbs, Shrubs, Trees, with Things monstrous and preternatural; as likewise those which are more rare and not appropriate to his own Climate, and this for compleating his _Musæum_ or Repository with all the Curiosities and Rarities in the Animal and Vegetable World.

[Sidenote: To the _Physician_,]

By this _Art_ the _Physician_ learns the situation and use of the Parts of Man’s Body, with the several alterations and changes in the Juices, as well in their healthful as morbid State; and consequently knows how to preserve and confirm them free from all Diseases, as likewise to correct and put a stop to malignant and putrid Fevers, which otherwise must inevitably destroy the sick and weak Patient.

[Sidenote: To the _Surgeon_.]

By this _Art_ the _Surgeon_, in a rightly prepar’d Skeleton, sees the natural Position of the Bones, and proper Motions of each Part, with the true and natural Schemes of the Veins, Arteries, Nerves and other curious Preparations; which not only teach him the difference between the Muscles, the _similar_, _dissimilar_, and _containing_ as well as _contained_ Parts of the Body; but likewise how, in performing each Operation, he should skilfully avoid Cutting what he should not, and destroying the Function of that he is to relieve. He is also hereby instructed what Remedies may be found out against _Gangrenes_, _Sphacelus_ and other Distempers that are judg’d Incurable without being extirpated by Knife or Fire: Who then can sufficiently admire and value this Noble _Art of Embalming_ since it tends to the Conservation both of Life and Limb?

[Sidenote: _Anatomy_ deficient without it.]

For tho’ _Anatomy_ gives us an Insight into these Things in general, yet is it deficient without the _Balsamic Art_, in as much as it can neither so particularly nor frequently shew us, what in conjunction with it, may without any offence be Contemplated at any Time, and as often as we please.

[Sidenote: How useful in _Divinity_.]

Thus may we entirely conquer and accomplish that _Delphian_ Oracle, Γνῶθι σεαυτὸν, by making most of our Disquisitions into Human Nature by _Dissections_: And tho’ Brutes may sometimes be useful in _Comparative Anatomy_, yet Man being the _Epitome_ and Perfection of the _Macrocosm_, his Body shews a more wonderful Mechanism than all other Creatures can do, as one thus very elegantly expresses in Latin: _Hominem_ (says he) _a DEO post reliqua factum fuisse; ut DEUS in ipso exprimeret, sub brevi quodam Compendio, quicquid diffuse ante fecerat_.

[Sidenote: What accounted by this Age and what by the _Antients_.]

The present Age therefore accounts the chief Use of this _Art_ to be in _Anatomical_ Preparations; but I shall shew another more antient and more general, which is the Preserving a Human Dead Body entire, and which is properly term’d _Embalming_: More antient, I say, as having been first devis’d and practis’d by the Wise and Learned _Egyptians_, and more general in that it relates to every particular Person, yet is it by most despis’d and look’d on meerly as an unnecessary expensive Trouble; so that unless I can convince these People to the contrary, I must not expect to find my ensuing Labours meet with any Favour. But before I affirm _The Art of Embalming_ to be a particular part of that Duty, which obliges all Mankind to take care of their Dead, [Sidenote: The Right of Burial and Funeral Ceremonies.] I shall give some cogent Reasons to prove the Right of Burial, what Things are necessary thereto, whether Ceremonies are needless and superstitious, or Monuments vain-glorious, _&c._ and this shall be as Nature dictates, the Law of GOD appoints, and the Law of Nations directs and obliges.

[Sidenote: _Sepulture_ a Debt to Nature.]

First, _Sepulture_ is truly and rightly accounted to be _Jus Naturæ_, by reason the very condition of Human Nature admonishes us, that the spiritless Body should be restor’d to the Earth, from whence it was deriv’d; so that it only pays that Debt of its own accord, which otherwise Nature would require against its Will. Thus, in the beginning of the World, so soon as _Adam_ had transgressed, [Sidenote: Ordain’d by GOD himself.] GOD said to him, _Gen._ 3. 19. _Thou shalt return to the Ground, from whence thou wert taken; for Dust thou art, and unto Dust thou shalt return_. Whence _Ecclesiastes_, 12. 7. says, _The Dust shall return to the Earth as it was: and the Spirit to GOD who gave it_. Likewise patient _Job_ thus expresses himself, _Job_ 1. 21. _Naked came I out of my Mothers Womb_ (which _David_ also calls the _Lowest part of the Earth_, Psalm 139. 15.) _and naked shall I return thither_. Upon which _Quenstedt_ thus Comments, _p._ 10. De Sepult. vet. _He shall not return again into his Mothers Womb, but unto the Earth which is the Mother of all Things_. Upon which occasion read also _Ecclesiasticus_, 40. 1.

[Sidenote: Practis’d by the _Heathens_.]

Hence it is the _Heathens_ have generally follow’d the same Custom of restoring the Dead to their Mother Earth; since it is but according to the course of Nature, for all Things to return at last to their first Principles, and that so soon as ever a Disunion or Dissolution of the Parts of Man’s Body shall be caused by Death. That each Thing has ever immediately requir’d what it gave, is excellently describ’d by _Euripides_, in one of his _Tragedies_ call’d the _Supplicants_, where he introduces _Theseus_ Talking after this manner:

Ἐάσατ’ ἤδη γῇ καλυφθῆναι νεκρούς.
Ὅθεν δ’ ἕκαστον εἰς τὸ σῶμ’ ἀφίκετο,
Ἐνταῦθ’ ἀπῆλθε, πνεῦμα μὲν πρὸς αἰθέρα,
Τὸ σῶμα δ’ εἰς γῆν· οὔ τι γὰρ κεκτήμεθα
Ἡμέτερον αὐτὸ πλὴν ἐνοικῆσαι βίον·
Κᾄπειτα τὴν θρέψασαν αὐτὸ δεῖ λαβεῖν.

_Jam sinite Terræ Mortuos Gremio tegi:
Res unde quæque sumpserat Primordium,
Eo recipitur: Spiritus Cælo redit
Corpusque Terræ: Jure nec enim mancupi:
Sed brevis ad Ævi Tempus utendum datur:
Mox Terra repetit ipsa quod nutriverat._

Suffer the Dead within the Earths cold Womb
To be Interr’d, nor envy them a Tomb;
For all Things, whence they did their Being draw,
Thither, at last, return by Natures Law:
The Soul flies back to Heav’n from whence it came,
Our mouldring Bodies Mother Earth does claim;
Lent us but for a fleeting space to wear,
And then they to their first Abodes repair.

[Sidenote: Asserted in the _Scripture_.]

Hereby it plainly appears that we really possess nothing of our own, and what we seem to enjoy, is but only lent us for a season, and must be restor’d again when ever we die, which is agreeable to that Expression of _Job_, in the latter part of the above-mentioned Verse and Chapter. _The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord._ Also Holy _David_, Psalm 146. 4. (speaking of Man’s Frailty and Mortality) says, _His Breath goes forth, he returns to his Earth_. Here he emphatically calls it _his Earth_, both because he was made of it, _Gen._ 2. 27. and must return to it again, _Gen._ 3. 19. and by reason he has a Right to a Burial-Place in it.

[Sidenote: Confirm’d by the _Philosophers_ and _Poets_.]

The same is likewise Taught us by _Cicero_, where he says, _Reddenda Terra Terræ_: _That the Earth_ (meaning Man’s Body) _must be restor’d to its Earth_; which also gave occasion to the antient Philosophers to contemplate the Beginning and End, or the Life and Death of Man, that thereby they might be the better able to Teach us what we really are in Nature, and how little we have to Boast of: The very Thought of which put an old Poet into a Passion and Admiration, expressing himself thus in gingling _Monkish_ Verses:

_Cum Fæx, cum Limus, cum Res vilissima simus,
Unde superbimus, ad Terram Terra redimus._

Man who is made of _Earth_, Can he be vain
And know he must return to _Earth_ again?

Methinks the very Consideration of this should cause us to lay aside all Pride and Vanity, and serve for a perpetual Memorial of Humility and Obedience to our _Creator_, who as he was pleas’d to endue us with Rational Souls, and to give us Dominion over all Things here below, yet, that we might not be thereby puffed up and tempted to forget him, he wisely formed us of the _Dust_, and, in his good Time, will reduce us to _Dust_ again. Thence Divine _Plato_ assures us, that the End and Scope of his Philosophy was only _The Consideration of Death_.

[Sidenote: Its Rise and Antiquity.]

In Obedience therefore to the Laws both of GOD and Nature, _Sepulture_ undoubtedly was at first Instituted, and if either Antiquity or universal Custom can prove a convincing Argument, you may account it as antient as the World it self, and us’d by all Nations tho’ perhaps in different manners; for you must allow, so soon as Death came in by Man’s Transgression, it necessarily follow’d that some care must have been taken to Bury his Carcass. The first Instance of this that we read of, in the Sacred History of the old Testament, is how _Abraham_, the Father of the _Faithful_, Buried his Wife _Sarah_ in the Cave of the Field _Machpelah_, which he had bought of the Sons of _Heth_ for a Burying-Place for his Family, _Gen._ 23. 19, 20. There also St. _Jerome_ asserts _Adam_ the first Man was Buried; and _Nicolaus Lyranus_ and _Alphonsus Tostatus_ are of Opinion the Four Patriarchs were Buried there likewise with their Wives, _Eve_, _Sarah_, _Rebecca_ and _Lea_, all which you may find explain’d more at large in _Quenstedt_, p. 2, 3, 4.

[Sidenote: First Cause of it.]

Now this seems to have been one of the _first Causes of Interment_, to wit, that it being the course of Nature, for Bodies depriv’d of Spirit or Life to corrupt or stink; and the Medicinal Art being little known and less us’d in those early Days (without the Knowledge of which it was impossible to preserve them) there remained no other way of securing the Living from the pestiferous Exhalations of the Dead, than by burying their Carcasses in the Earth, and so removing such miserable Objects out of their sight; which seems clearly intimated by the aforesaid Example of _Abraham_, when, being in much trouble for the Loss and Death of _Sarah_ his _Delight_, he spake thus unto the Sons of _Heth_, Gen. 23. 4. _Give me a Possession of a Burial-Place with you, that I may Bury my Dead out of my Sight._ (LXX. θάψω τὸν νεκρόν μου, ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ) where it is to be observ’d, that he no longer calls her his Wife, but his Dead; as knowing that those alterations, which she must in a few Days inevitably undergo, would have deterr’d him from the very Thoughts of her, if he had not earnestly sought for and obtain’d a _Burying-Place_, where he might hide her out of his _Sight_.

[Sidenote: Second Cause.]

This is to be look’d upon as the _second Cause_ or _End of Burial_, to wit, that it being not only disagreeable to the dignity of our Nature, but also occasioning great sadness of Mind, for the Living to see what dismal Accidents and Calamities befall the Dead, that we should free our selves from the Apprehensions and black _Idea’s_ such Objects are naturally apt to inspire, by removing them out of our Sight and Mind, by a timely Sepulture: For as _Demosthenes_ said in a Funeral Oration, _Leniatur ita Luctus Eorum, qui Suis sunt Orbati_; _By this means the Grief of those, who are depriv’d of their Friends, is alleviated_. [Sidenote: Thought more Beneficial to the _Living_ than the _Dead_.] So that these two Reasons seeming to conduce more to the Benefit of the Living than the Dead, it has given occasion to some to believe, that Burial was from thence invented, and of this Opinion was _Grotius_, who thus writes: _Hinc est, quod Officium Sepeliendi, non tam Homini, id est, Personæ, quam Humanitati, id est, Naturæ Humanæ, præstari dicitur_; _For this Reason it is that the Office of Burial is said not to be paid so much to the Man_, viz. _To the particular Person, as to Humanity it self, that is, to Human Nature in general_. And St. _Austin_, Lib. 1. _De Civit. DEI_, cap. 12. and _Lib. De Cura pro Mortuis_, cap. 2. affirms, _Curationem Funeris, Conditionem Sepulturæ, Pompas Exequiarum, magis esse Vivorum Solatia, quam Mortuorum Subsidia_; that _The regulating and management of the Funeral, the manner of Burial, the Magnificence and Pomp of the Exequies, were devised rather as a Consolation to the Living than any Relief to the Dead_. But _Seneca_, Lib. 1. _De Remed._ hath more plainly confirm’d both the foregoing Reasons, saying, _Non Defunctorum Causa, sed Vivorum inventa est Sepultura, ut Corpora & Visu & Odore fœda submoverentur_; _Burial was found out not so much for the sake of the Dead as the Living, that by means thereof Bodies noisom both to Sight and Smell might be remov’d_: Therefore _Andrew Rivet_, in his 19th _Exercise_, on the 23 Chap. of _Genesis_, commends _Sepulture_ as a laudable Custom, pertaining to common Policy and Honesty. Human Nature would be asham’d to see Man, the Master-Piece of the Creation, left unregarded or lye unburied and naked, expos’d to the Insults of all Creatures, and become a Herritage to the most vile Worms and Serpents, or lye Rotting like Dung upon the face of the Earth; so that if Pity and Compassion will not move our obdurate Hearts to Bury him, the very Stench and Corruption of the Dead will compel us to it. Hence _Chytræus_:

_Corpus inane Animæ, tandem Fætore maligno,
A se abigit Cunctos_——

A breathless Body, tho’ our Pity fails
To make us Bury it, its Stench prevails.

By these two fore-going Causes of Burial appears yet a farther Benefit to Mankind, that they may live without that continual Terror of Death, [Sidenote: Frees from the _Terror_ of _Death_.] which is occasion’d by seeing such miserable Emblems of Mortality. If you do but consider, when Men at first liv’d dispers’d, the very Abhorrence and Detestation of meeting Dead Bodies, made them to remove such unpleasant Objects out of their sight: Afterwards, when they assembl’d together and built Cities to dwell in, they used Burial for this Reason says _Lilius Gyraldus_, Lib. _De var. Sepult. Ritu._ pag. 4. _That the Living might not be infected by the most noisom stench of the Dead_. The before-going Arguments for Interment have been deduc’d from Natural and Political Reasons, but the latter likewise relating to Physic, and particularly conducing to the Health and long Life of Man (since _The Art of Embalming_ was not known in those Days) we will a little more accurately enquire into the pernicious Effects of _Putrefaction_, and the fatal Consequences that from thence ensue; for this being the most potent Enemy to Life, [Sidenote: From _Putrefaction_ the _Enemy_ of _Life_.] Nature is very careful to expel it so soon as ever she perceives, by its odious Scents, its invisible Approaches: Nor can she endure the lesser ill Scents of Sweat or Urine, or those Excrements of the Belly, which are necessarily produc’d from the Aliments of the Body, but the Body it self as well as Spirits reject them; for this is to be observ’d, that the Excrements and Putrefactions of all Creatures smell worst and are most offensive to their own _Species_, which we may see by Cats, which voiding a more than ordinary fetid Dung, always take care to bury it. And such cleanliness of Living renders all Creatures the more Healthful, as we daily find by Birds, Pigeons, Horses, Dogs, _&c._ which thrive best when their Houses, Stables and Kennels are kept sweetest. There is not only an unhealthy, but oftentimes a secret poysoning Quality in the fetid Odours of a putrid Air, which are made so malignant by Bodies corrupt and exposed therein; and thus, in several Countries, [Sidenote: From the _Plague_.] great Plagues have been occasion’d only by the Putrefaction of prodigious swarms of dead Grasshoppers and Locusts cast up on heaps. Thus, the _Scripture_ testifies, the Land of _Egypt_ was corrupted with Lice, Flies, Frogs and Locusts as a Punishment to _Pharaoh_: The Fish of the Rivers died, and the Waters stank; also there was a Murrain among the Beasts, and a Plague of Boils and Blains among the Inhabitants, _Exod._ chap. 7, 8, 9, 10.

The infectious Atoms of a putrid Air are so very subtile and invisible, that they meet with an easie reception into the Brain and Lungs, as often as we breath, and thereby immediately occasion in the Brain either an Apoplexy or _Delirium_, a _Syncope_ to the Spirits, a general Convulsion of the Nerves, or else more slowly corrupt the Blood, by mixing with it in its passage thro’ the Lungs, where they either produce Imposthumes, Ulcers, Consumptions or _Hectic_-Fevers which prey upon the Spirits and Vitals, or bring Gangrenes to the extreamest Parts, or the Small-Pox, Purple Fevers, and other malignant Distempers to the whole Body; nay, they too frequently prove the very principal Ingredient of the Plague it self, that inexorable Spirit which so swiftly dispatches many thousands of Souls to the other World.

[Sidenote: The _Art_ of _Poisoning_ the _Air_.]

Thus Poison’d _Air_, or _The Art of Empoisoning by Odours_, is more dangerous than Poison’d Water, forasmuch as it is impossible Man should live without Breathing, or subsist in an infectious Air, without a proper Antidote. This _Art_ has been effectually practis’d by the _Indians_ in their Trafficks, and the _Turks_ in their Wars, and was particularly us’d by _Emanuel Comnenus_ towards the _Christians_, when they pass’d thro’ his Country, in their way to the _Holy-Land_. This the Lord _Bacon_ relates in the 10th Century of his _Natural History_, p. 201. where he is of Opinion, That foul Smells, rais’d by _Art_ for Poisoning the _Air_, consist chiefly of _Man’s Flesh_ or _Sweat putrefied_, since those Stinks, which the Nostrils immediately abhor and expel, are not the most pernicious, but such as have some similitude with _Man’s Body_, which thereby the easier insinuate themselves and betray the Spirits. Thus in _Agues_, Spirits coming from _Putrefaction_ of _Humours_ bred within the Body, extinguish and suffocate the _Natural Heat_, p. 74. The same effect is likewise to be observ’d in _Pestilences_, in that the malignity of the infecting Vapour, daunts the _principal Spirits_, and makes them to fly and leave their _Regiment_, whereby the _Humours_, _Flesh_ and _Secundary Spirits_ dissolve and break as it were in an _Anarchy_, Exper. 333. p. 74.

Also because the _Canibals_, in the _West-Indies_, eat _Man’s Flesh_, the same Author thought it not improbable, but that the _Lues Venerea_ might owe its Origin to that foul and high Nourishment, since those People were found full of the _Pox_ at their first Discovery, and at this Day the most _Mortal Poisons_, practis’d by them, [Sidenote: Consists partly of _Man’s Flesh_, &c.] have a mixture of _Man’s Flesh_, _Fat_ or _Blood_. Likewise the Ointments that _Witches_ have us’d, are reported to have been made of the _Fat_ of _Children_ dug out of their Graves; and diverse _Sorceresses_, as well among the Heathens as Christians, have fed upon _Man’s Flesh_, to help, as they thought, their wicked Imaginations with high and foul Vapours, _Exper._ 26. and 859.

The most pernicious Infection, next the _Plague_ or _Air Poison’d by Art_, is the Smell of a _Goal_ where Prisoners have been long, close and nastily kept, whereof, says the Lord _Bacon_, we have in our Time had Experience twice or thrice, when both the Judges that sat on the Trials, and numbers of those that assisted, sickn’d on the spot and Died, _Exper._ 914. The like would frequently befall those that visit _Hospitals_, and other such Places, where either the _Leprosie_, _French Pox_ or _Malignant Fevers_ rage, were not the Attendants dayly accustom’d to it, or did they not use proper _Antidotes_ to keep them from it. If therefore the morbid State of the Living only be so pernicious to healthful Bodies, [Sidenote: _Air_ most _Infected_ by a _putrid Carcass_.] what Destruction must that _Air_ produce, which is replete with the volatile Steams and Spirits, that issue from a dead and putrid Carcass?

——_Sicut Grex totus in Agris
Unius Scabie cadit & Porrigine Porci,
Uvaq; conspecta Livorem ducit ab Uva._ says _Juvenal_.

From one infected Hog, Experience shows, }
Thro’ the whole Herd the dire Contagion goes; }
Thus from one tainted Grape the Bunch corrupted grows. }

For every Thing in Nature easiest Corrupts that of its own kind. The Reason of this is because it is _Homogeneal_, as is commonly seen in _Church-Yards_, where they bury much; for a Corps will consume in a far shorter Time there, than it would have done in another place where few have been buried.

It therefore necessarily follows, that if the Dead were not inhum’d, whole Cities would Corrupt and be fill’d with the _Plague_; and after great Battels, if the Dead should lie unbury’d, whole Countries would be destroy’d; [Sidenote: _Sepulture_ defends from the _Plague_,] all which Mischiefs are prevented by a timely _Sepulture_: For the Earth by its weight and closeness not only suppresses and dissipates the Vapours that arise from a _putrid Carcass_, but also imbibes and sucks up the _stinking Gore_; and being a _Medium_ between that and the _Sun_, prevents the Beams of that Planet from suddenly exhaling such fetid Odours. [Sidenote: Likewise _preserves Bodies_.] Nay the Lord _Bacon_ farther assures us, That _Burying_ in the _Earth_, which is _cold_ and _dry_, serves for _Preservation_, _Condensation_ and _Induration_ of _Bodies_, as you may find in his 4th Century of his _Natural History_, Exper. 376, 377. But this needs no farther Confirmation, since Bodies are dug up in every Age perfect and uncorrupt, which perhaps had been buried above 40 or 50 Years, and some have been found petrified to a perfect Stone, of which we shall discourse more hereafter, therefore will at present proceed to acquaint you with other _final Causes_ or _Ends of Burial_.

[Sidenote: Third Cause of _Burial_.]

A _Third Cause of Burial_ is, That _Man’s Body_ may not be torn to pieces and devour’d by savage Beasts, and Birds of Prey, which would be a sight wholly unbecoming the Dignity of _Human Nature_, as _Seneca_ observes _Lib._ 6. De Beneficiis: _Inter maxima Rerum suarum_, says he, _nihil habet Natura, quo magis glorietur_. _Nature has nothing in the whole Creation of which she may boast more than of Man_: So that it must needs be a grievous Trouble and Concern to her to see the _Master-Piece_ and _Perfection_ of all _Creatures_ become thus a Prey to the vilest of Animals; and that he who whilst living had all of them under Subjection, so soon as ever his Spirit is separated from his Body, they should forget all Allegiance to their late Sovereign, and rebelliously Tear him to Pieces: Therefore we who are his Fellow-Creatures, and endu’d with Humanity, take care to bury him out of the way of such Harpies; and ought to perform all his Funeral Obsequies with the same Respect we were wont to show him whilst alive. Hence _Hugo Grotius_ is of Opinion, That _Burial_ was invented in respect to the Excellency of _Man’s Body_. [Sidenote: Taken from the Excellency of _Man’s Body_.] _Cum Homo cæteris Animalibus præstet, indignum visum, si ejus Corpore alia Animantia pascerentur, quare inventam Sepulturam, ut id quantum posset, caveretur._ _Since Man excells all other Creatures, it was thought unworthy they should feed upon his Body; for which reason Sepulture was found out, that this Mischief might be prevented as far as possible._ Likewise _Lactantius_, Lib. 6. _Institut._ cap. 12. says, _Non patiemur Figuram & Figmentum DEI, Feris & Volucribus in Prædam jacere, sed reddamus id Terræ, unde ortum est_. _Let us not suffer the Image and Workmanship of GOD to lie expos’d as a Prey to the Beasts and Birds, but let us return it back to the Earth from whence it had its Origin._

[Sidenote: Accounted by us the Fourth _Cause_.]

So that we will account the _Fourth Reason for Burial_, to be the _Excellency of Man’s Body_, to which we ought to show the greater Honour and Respect, in that it is the Receptacle of the _Immortal Soul_. Hence _Origen_, Lib. 8. _Contra Celsum_ says, _Rationalem Animam honorare didicimus, & hujus Organa Sepulchro honorifice demandare_. _We have learn’d to Honour the Rational Soul, and respectfully to convey its Organs to the Grave._ And thus St. _Austin_ very elegantly expresses himself, _Lib._ 1. De Civit. DEI, _cap._ 13. _Si Paterna Vestis & Annulus, vel si quid hujusmodi, tanto carius Posteris, quanto erga Parentes Affectus major, nullo modo ipsa spernenda sunt Corpora, quæ utiq; multo familiarius, atq; conjunctius, quam quælibet Indumenta gestamus._ _If we take so much the more care to preserve our Fathers Apparel, Ring, and other Remainders of the like nature, as we bore an Affection to them, ’tis plain their Bodies are by no means to be neglected, which we wear closer and nearer to us than any Cloaths whatever._

[Sidenote: Fifth _Cause_ of _Burial_.]

But the _Fifth Cause_ and _ultimate End of Burial_ is in order to a future _Resurrection_, and as B. _Gerhard_ asserts, agreeable to that Companion of _Christ_ and St. _Paul_ his Apostle, _John_ 12. 24. 1 _Corinth._ 15. 37, 38. That Bodies are piously to be laid up in the Earth, like to Corn sowed, to confirm the assured Hope of the _Resurrection_: And therefore the _place_ of _Burial_ was call’d by St. _Paul_, _Seminatio_, as others term it _Templi Hortus_, the _Churches Orchard_ or _Garden_. By the _Greeks_ it was call’d, Κοιμητήριον, _Dormitorium_, a _Sleeping Place_. By the _Hebrews_, בית חיים, _Beth-chajim_, i. e. _Domus Viventium_, the _House of the Living_, in the same respect as the _Germans_ call _Church-Yards_, =Gotsacker=, i. e. _DEI Ager, aut Fundus_, _GOD’s Field_, in which the Bodies of the Pious are sowed like to Grain or Corn, in expectation of a future Harvest. By these Appellations we are admonish’d of the Resurrection of the Body, and of the Immortality which is given by GOD to the Soul. _For as they that Sleep awake again, and as Christ who is the Head arose again, so shall we who are his Members arise._ Hence _Calvin_ (Commenting on _Isaiah_ 14. 18.) says, _The Carcasses of Beasts are thrown out, because they were Born to Putrefaction; but our Bodies are interr’d in the Earth, and being there deposited, expect the last Day, that they may arise from thence to lead a Blessed and Immortal Life with the Soul_. Also _Aurelius Prudentius_, a Christian Poet, rightly asserts _The Hope of the Resurrection to be the chief Cause why the greatest Care is taken of Burial_, whereof he has most excellently describ’d every particular Circumstance in a Latin Funeral Hymn, which being Translated by Sir _John Beaumont_, Baronet, into 172 Verses, I will for brevity sake refer you to _Weaver_’s _Funeral Monuments_, pag. 25. where you will find them inserted, and worth your Perusal.

[Sidenote: Want of _Burial_ not prejudicial to the _Soul_.]

Nevertheless, we are not to think, tho’ _Burial_ was ordain’d by GOD as a Work both pleasing and acceptable to him, and consequently approv’d and practis’d by all Men, that therefore the want of it, or any particular Ceremony thereof, can any ways be prejudicial to a Christian Soul, as St. _Austin_ and _Ludovicus Vives_ his Commentator alledges, _Lib._ 1. De Civit. DEI, _cap._ 11. And that Complaint which the _Royal Prophet_ makes, _Psalm_ 79. 3. _That there was none to bury the dead Bodies of GOD’s Servants_, was spoken rather to intimate their Villany that neglected it, than any Misery to them that underwent it. ’Tis true such Actions may appear heinous and tyranous in the Eye of Man, but precious in the Sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints: Neither is our _Faith_ in his assured Promise so frail, as to think ravenous Beasts or Birds of Prey can any ways make the Body want any part at the _Resurrection_; but, on the contrary, we are well satisfied that in a Moment there shall be given such a new Restitution, not only out of the Earth, but out of the most minute Particles of all the other Elements, wherein any Bodies can possibly be included, that not a Hair of our Heads shall be missing. We read how the Bodies of the _Christians_ (after great Battels, and the Sacking and Subverting of Towns and Cities) stood in want of the Rights and Ceremonies of _Burial_, which neither is to be accounted any Omission in the living Christians, who could not perform them, nor any Hurt to the Dead, who could not feel them. We may, moreover, find in the History of Martyrs, and such like Persecutions, how barbarous and cruel Tyrants have raged over the Bodies of Christians, who, not content with tormenting them to Death several thousands of ways, still persever’d with inhumanity to insult over their mangled Corps, and at length to shew their utmost Contempt, bury’d them in the Bowels of rapacious Creatures, or what other ignominious ways their wickedness could invent. Nevertheless, we have all the reason to believe their Souls were receiv’d into Heaven, and that their Bodies will at the last Day be reunited intire to them again; after which, Death will have no more Power over their Bodies than their Souls, but as St. _Paul_ says, 1 _Cor._ 15. 44. _They will become Spiritual Bodies_. [Sidenote: Nor any kind thereof hurtful.] So that in this respect it matters not after what manner the Body be destroy’d, dissolv’d or bury’d, as _Tatian_ in his Book _Contra Gentes_ says, _Quamvis Caro tota Incendio absumatur tamen Materiam evaporatam Mundus excipit, quanquam aut in Fluviis, aut in Mari contabescam, aut Feriis dilanior, condor tamen in Penu locupletis Domini_. _Altho’ the Flesh be wholly consum’d by Fire, yet the World receives the evaporated Matter, nay, altho’ I am wash’d to nothing in Rivers or Seas, or am devour’d by wild Beasts, yet shall I be reposited in the Store-House of a most wealthy Lord._ Likewise _Minutius Fælix_ in _Octavio_ has these Words: _Corpus omne sive arescit in Pulverem, sive in Humorem solvitur, vel in Cinerem comprimitur, vel in Nidorem tenuatur, subducitur Bonis, sed DEO Elementorum custodio reservatur_. _The Body whether it be dry’d into Powder, resolv’d into Moisture, reduc’d to Ashes, or evaporated into Air, is indeed taken away from Good Men, but still the custody of the Elements is reserv’d to GOD._ Some have been accounted a rigid sort of _Stoicks_, and void of all Humanity, for this Reason only, because they averr’d it profited nothing, whether the Body corrupted above or beneath the Earth. Thus _Lucan_, Lib. 7.

————_Tabesne Cadavera solvat
An Rogus haud refert: Placido Natura receptat
Cuncta Sinu, Finemq; sui sibi Corpora debent.
——Cælo tegitur qui non habet Urnam._

——————For ’tis all one
Whether the Fire or Putrefaction
Dissolve ’em; all to Natures Bosom go,
Since to themselves their Ends the Bodies owe.
The Skie shall cover him who wants a Grave.

And that Favorite-Courtier _Mecænas_ was wont to say:

_Non Tumulum curo, sepelit Natura Relictos._

I value not a Tomb, Nature provides that for me.

But this these spoke only in respect to the Soul, which could receive no Hurt nor Damage from the Bodies being cast out unbury’d; therefore they seemingly ridicul’d and despis’d it, the better to fortifie Men against any fear of the want of Burial, yet they firmly believ’d that all those who were depriv’d thereof, were the most miserable and wretched of Creatures, and that their Souls continually wander’d, as _Virgil_ elegantly expresses, _Æneid._ 6. _v._ 325. where _Æneas_ asking the _Cybil_ why such a number of Souls stood crowding near the Stygian Lake, and were refus’d a Passage, he receiv’d this Answer:

_Hæc Omnis, quam cernis, inops inhumataq; Turba est: Portitor ille, Charon: Hi, quos vehit unda, Sepulti. Nec Ripa datur horrendas, nec rauca Fluenta [Sidenote: Some have fear’d the want of it.] Transportare prius, quam Sedibus ossa quierunt. Centum errant Annos volitantq; hæc Littora circum, Tum demum admissi Stagna exoptata revisunt. Constitit Anchisa Satus, & Vestigia pressit, Multa putans, Sortemq; Animo miseratus iniquam Cernit ibi mæstos, & Mortis Honore carentes_, &c.

These Ghosts rejected, are the unhappy Crew
Depriv’d of Sepulchers and Funeral due.
The Boat-Man, _Charon_; those the buried Host,
He Ferries over to the farther Coast.
Nor dares his Transport Vessel cross the Waves
With such whose Bones are not compos’d in Graves.
A Hundred Years they wander on the Shore,
At length, their Pennance done, are wafted o’er.
The _Trojan_ Chief his forward Pace repress’d,
Revolving Anxious Thoughts within his Breast;
He saw his Friends, who whelm’d beneath the Waves,
Their Funeral Honours claim’d, and ask’d their quiet Graves.
_Dryden._

Some again are induc’d perhaps to think the care of Burial needless, because there is no Sense in a Dead Body, as the Proverb has it, _Mortui non dolent_; and others reject it for this Reason, _Quia sentienti Onus est Terra, nihil sentienti, supervacaneum_. _For the Earth’s a Burthen to him that is sensible of it, but none to him that is not._

[Sidenote: Others have Despis’d it.]

_Diogenes_ the Cynic Philosopher, among the rest of his Whimsies, despis’d Sepulture, and when he was told he must thereby become a Prey to the Beasts and Birds, he gave them this jocose Advice, _Si id metues, ponite juxta me Bacillum, quo abigam eos_. _If you fear that, place my Staff by me that I may drive them away._ _Quid poteris nihil sentiens?_ _What can you do if you are sensible of nothing?_ Reply’d his Friend. To which he answer’d, _Quid igitur Ferarum laniatus oberit nihil sentienti?_ _If I am not sensible, how can their Teeth affect me?_ At other times he was wont to say on the like Occasion, _Si Canes meum lacerabunt Cadaver, Hyrcanorum nactus fuero Sepulturam, Si Vultures, Iberiorum; quod si nullum Animal accederet, ipsum Tempus: Pulcherimam fore Sepulturam, Corpore pretiosissimis Rebus, Sole, inquam & Imbribus absumpto_. _If the Dogs eat my Carcass, I shall have the Sepulture of the_ Hyrcanians, _if Vultures, of the_ Iberians; _but if no Animal come near me, then shall I be consum’d by Time, and, What a fine sort of Burial must that needs be, to have my Body reduc’d to Dust by two of the most precious Things in Nature, the Sun and Showers?_ Likewise _Demonactes_ being told, if he were flung out unbury’d, as he desir’d, the Dogs would tear him to pieces, he wittily answer’d, _Quid incommodi, si mortuus alicui sim usui?_ _What hurt can it do me, if after I am Dead I do somebody Good?_

[Sidenote: In what Sense the _Philosophers_ slighted it.]

It may farther be ask’d, Why _Plato_, _Aristotle_, and other Philosophers, famous for Learning and Piety, despis’d the Rites and Ceremonies of Sepulture? To which I answer, They did not really Despise them, nor durst they say they were not to be at all: They said only, if by chance they were neglected, it could do no hurt. Nor lastly did _Lucretius_ contemn Sepulture, he only laughed at those who procur’d it for this Reason, because they thought there still remain’d a Sense in the Dead, as you will perceive by these Lines of his, _Lib._ 3.

_Proin’ cum videas, Hominem indignarier ipsum,
Post Mortem fore, ut aut putrescat Corpore posto;
Aut Flammis interfiat, Malisve Ferarum_, &c.

Now when you hear a Man complain and moan,
And mourn his Fate, because when Life is gone
His Limbs must waste, or rot i’th’ Earth, or feast
The greedy Flames, or some devouring Beast;
All is not well; He, by strong Fancy led,
Imagines Sense remains amongst the Dead;
Nor can I think, tho’ He Himself denies,
And openly declares the whole Man Dies;
But that from strong Conceits he still believes,
Fond Fool, that He Himself, Himself survives:
For now e’en whilst He breaths, e’en whilst He lives,
And thinks He must be Torn or Burnt, He grieves;
Thinks still the Carcass must be He, and thence
His wanton Fears infer there must be Sense.
And hence He grieves that He was Born to Die,
Subject to treacherous Mortality:
But never thinks, fond Fool, that when kind Death
Shall close His Eyes in Night, and stop His Breath;
Then nothing of this thinking Thing remains
To mourn His Fate, and feel sharp Grief and Pains.
_Creech._

Hereby ’tis plain _Lucretius_ only blames and chides those who are of a doubtful and wavering Mind, and that openly confess there can be no future Sense remaining after Death, yet privately hope within themselves that some Parts will remain, and therefore mightily dread the want of Burial, nay, violently abhor being a Prey to wild Beasts and Birds. This I take to be a natural hint of the Resurrection of the Body and Immortality of the Soul, tho’ outwardly these _Pagans_ disown’d both:

_Eripe me his invicte Malis; aut tu mihi Terram
Injice, sic saltem placidis in Morte quiescam
Sedibus_, &c. as _Palinurus_’s Ghost said to _Æneas_, Æne. 6.

From lasting Miseries my wandring Soul relieve,
That she in pleasant Shades and perfect Rest may live.

We cannot believe there were ever any Philosophers in the World, of such obdurate Hearts, as strictly to deny Burial, tho’ out of a seeming Arrogance they despis’d it; but that they only pretended so lest their Antagonists should think the want of Burial an inflicted Punishment, therefore they were the easier mov’d, as much as in them lay, to expose them. [Sidenote: Why the _French_deny’d it.] Thus _Pausanias_ in _Phocic._ gives an Instance of some _French_ who deny’d Burial to the slain in Battel, alledging it was a Ceremony nothing to be esteem’d of; but the true Reason they did it was, That they might bring the greater Terror on their Enemies, and make them to have the worse Opinion of their Cruelty. It must be granted, the Dead have no sense of any Change or Dissolution they undergo, and that it is a ridiculous Opinion of Tyrants, to think to punish the Body by mangling it, and delivering it to be torn to pieces and devour’d; neither do Bodies suffer any Hurt or Damage in respect to the Soul, after what manner soever they are bury’d: Yet you must grant these sufficient Reasons why the Dead should be taken care of, and not be despis’d and cast away; for as we esteem the Body the Temple of GOD, and Receptacle of the Soul, so ought we honourably to Interr it with those Funeral Obsequies as are becoming its Quality and Dignity.

[Sidenote: Right of _Burial_ grounded on the Law of GOD and Nature.]

Now we must look upon Burial to be a Work enjoin’d both by the Law of Nature and Nations, and not only by the Human but by the Divine Law; for the most Barbarous as well as Civiliz’d People of the World have ever paid some Respect and Observance to their Dead, tho’ perhaps after different Manners, by Burying them in the Water, Earth, Air, Fire, _&c._ The common Dictates of Nature have taught them to abhor such dismal Objects and offensive Smells as dead Bodies must necessarily present, and their Religion has shown them the Inhumanity and Cruelty of neglecting their Duty to them: Nay, if we look into the Natural History of Animals, we shall find some of them excelling Man in this particular, by taking a more than ordinary Care of their Dead, as is to be seen not only in Cranes, Elephants and Dolphins, _&c._ As _Ælian de Animalibus_, Lib. 2. cap. 1. and _Lib._ 12. _cap._ 6. and _Franzius_ in his History of Animals, _cap._ 4. _Peter Faber_ in his _Semestrium_, _Pliny_ and others observe, but likewise in Ants, Bees and other Insects; for as _Grotius_ in his Treatise, _De Jure Belli & Pacis_, Lib. 11. cap. 19. rightly observes, [Sidenote: Observ’d by Brutes, _&c._ as well as Men.] _Nullum est in Homine Factum laudabile, quin non Vestigium, in alio aliquo Animantium Genere DEUS posuerit_. _There is nothing done by Man worthy of Commendation, but GOD has imprinted some Imitation of it even in Brutes._

A Corps lying unbury’d and Putrifying, is not only a dismal Aspect to our Eyes, offensive to our Nose, and ungrateful to all our External Senses, but even horrid in our very private Apprehensions and secret Conceptions; nay to hear it but only nam’d, is so very unnatural and unpleasant to us, that we care not to entertain the least Thought of Death, even to the deferr’d Time of our Expiration. What presence of Mind can enable a Fellow-Creature to behold such a miserable Object as this, express’d by its dismal Aspect, deform’d Proportion, fœtid Smell, putrid Carcass, and the like, and this perhaps of one who was but just now your Bosom-Friend or the World’s Favorite, a Prince worthy of Immortality for his Wisdom, Piety, Valour, Conduct, _&c._ and justly admir’d for the Beauty of his Person, Gracefulness of his Mien, and Conformity of all the External Parts of his Body, as well as Internal Qualifications of his Mind? Certainly common Humanity and Self-Preservation would alone persuade us to Inter him out of our Sight, or else preserve him from a State of Corruption and Deformity by _Embalming_.

[Sidenote: By both to prevent infection, _&c._]

I have before observ’d how Beasts receiv’d the Infection of the Murrain from a Putrefaction of their own Bodies; now I will shew you how they likewise, by Natural Instinct, avoid each other in such like Calamities: The Sound shun the Company of the Infected, and they reciprocally separate from the rest to Mourn by themselves. A wounded Bird leaves the Flight: A Stag (when Shot) forsakes the Herd and flies to the Desarts: And every Diseas’d Creature retires into some solitary Place, where its last Care seems to be, that of providing for its Burial. [Sidenote: Every Creature takes care of its own _Burial_.] Reptiles creep into Holes, and Birds into their Nests, or the Bottoms of thick Hedges: Rabbets die in their Burrows: Foxes, Badgers and Wolves, _&c._ in their Dens, after which nothing will Inhabit there. So that they seem to know they shall lie undisturb’d in those Dormitories, which they took care in their Lives Time to provide and dig in order to their Interment; like as some Hermits, who, during their Lives, made their Cave their Habitation, but when Dead their Tomb.

The larger sort of Domestic and Tame Creatures seem likewise to endeavour this, as much as they can, as may be observ’d from Horses, Oxen, Sheep, _&c._ who when they decline and draw near their Deaths, seek either the thickest part of a Wood, a Dell or Gravel-Pit in a Common, or deep Ditch in a Field, where they may lay themselves down, as in a Grave, and die: They seem to desire nothing more of their Master, whom they have all their Lives faithfully serv’d, than to cover their Bodies with the Earth.

The lesser Tame Animals, as Dogs, Cats, _&c._ know they have no occasion to take that Care of themselves, for when they die, their Master is oblig’d to remove them out of his House and bury them: [Sidenote: How Insects bury themselves.] But as for Insects, they (fearing Mankind should be regardless of their inconsiderable Bodies, and not be so grateful as to take care of their Funerals, tho’ they had consum’d their Lives in making Food and Raiment for their Master) seem with a more extraordinary Contrivance, and admirable Art, to provide for their own Burial. The little Bee works its Honey-Comb for the Benefit of Man while it lives, and for its own Sepulture when it dies; the Comb serving for its Tomb, and the Wax and remaining Honey for its Embalment, conformable to that Saying of _Martial_, in his Fourth Book and Thirty Second Epigram:

_Et latet, & lucet Phaetontide condita Gutta,
Ut videatur Apis Nectare clausa suo:
Dignum tantorum Pretium tulit illa Laborum,
Credibile est ipsam sic voluisse mori._

She lurks, she shines within her balmy Nest,
That there securely she may take her Rest;
For all her Labours past she asks but this,
That she may lye thus bury’d when she dies.

The Silk-Worm (which also willingly parts with her Stock and Labour for the Benefit of Mankind) makes a small reserve of Silk, sufficient for her Winding-Sheet, which when she has finish’d, she dies therein, and is as nobly Interr’d, as all the _Egyptian Art_, with its fine Painted Rowlers of Cyprus, Lawn or Silk could make her.

Other Insects, as Flies, Ants, Gnats, and the like, which are not dispos’d with Organs to perform such Works, yet have this in particular, that they can outdare the most resolute _Indian_ [Sidenote: Some are _Burn’d_ and others _Embalm’d_.] (when, without any previous Exhortation, they suddenly leap into the Funeral Pyre of a Candle or Torch, and outvie the costly Embalming of _Arabia_) when they voluntarily fly into liquid Amber, and by that means obtain a more noble and incorruptible Sepulture than any other Creature. These have had Poets to write Funeral Orations to their immortal Praise, as the two Epigrams in _Martial_ of a Viper and Pismire in some measure testifie, _Lib._ 4. _Ep._ 59. and _Lib._ 6. _Ep._ 15. Witness also _Brassavolus_ of the Pismire, and _Cardanus_’s _Mausoleum_ for a Flie: Nor could _Virgil_ (the Prince of Poets) omit taking notice of the well order’d Funerals of the Bees, _Georg._ _Lib._ 4. _l._ 255.

——_Tum Corpora Luce carentum
Exportant Tectis, & tristia Funera ducunt._

And crowds of Dead, that never must return }
To their lov’d Hives, in decent Pomp are born; }
Their Friends attend the Herse, and near Relations mourn. }
_Dryden._

_Ælian_, Lib. 5. cap. 49. reports, That if one Elephant finds another dead, he will not pass by ’till he has got together a great heap of Earth and flung it over his Carcass; so, in all other Creatures, Nature has provided both Burial and a Grave for them. [Sidenote: Brutes Bury’d with Pomp and Magnificence.] Nay it is yet further remarkable, that such Brutes as have either prov’d faithful or loving to their Masters, or done any extraordinary Action, have been bury’d with wonderful Magnificence, and had Tombs and Inscriptions made in Honour of them. _Cimon_ the _Athenian_ bury’d those Horses he had been thrice a Victor with in the _Olympick_ Games, with great Pomp near his own Sepulchre. Also _Alexander_ the _Great_ made a magnificent Funeral for his Horse _Bucephalus_, building a City where he dy’d, and calling it after that Beast’s Name in memory of him. After his Example, several of the _Roman_ Emperors and _Cæsars_, such as _Augustus_, _Caligula_, _Nero_, _Adrian_, _Antoninus_, _Commodus_, &c. bury’d their favourite Horses, and adorn’d their Tombs with Epitaphs, as you may find in _Barthius_, Lib. 23. cap. 8. _Pliny_, Lib. 8. cap. 22. Affirms such Horses as had conquer’d at the _Olympick_ Games, were bury’d and had Tombs and Pyramids erected to perpetuate their Fame.

[Sidenote: Tombs and Epitaphs in Honour of Brutes.]

_Xantippus_ carefully bury’d his Dogs, and, as _Kornmannus_ reports, _Polliacus_ erected, in the Garden of Cardinal _Urbin_ at _Rome_, Columns of the finest Marble, of vast Expence, in Memory of his beloved Bitch, on which he inscrib’d this Epitaph:

_Quod potui, posui tibi, fida Catella, Sepulcrum;
Digna magis Cæli Munere, quam Tumuli.
Candenti ex Lapide hæc tibi convenit Urna: fuisti
Candida tota Fide, candida tota Pilo.
Si Cœlum, ut quondam, Canibus patet, haud tua Terras
Incendet, sed Ver Stella perenne dabit._

My Faithful Bitch, to thee this Pile is meant;
More worthy Heaven than Mortal Monument:
Of whitest Stone ’tis fit thy Tomb I rear,
Since candid were thy Actions, white thy Hair.
If Heav’n, as formerly, to Dogs gives Place,
[2]Thy Star will never scorch, but cherish Human Race.

Footnote 2:

Alluding to the _Dog Days_.

Also in the House of that Famous _Italian_ Poet _Francis Petrarch_, at _Arqua_, near _Padua_, there is a Tomb of a Cat, adorn’d with an Elegy, which _Santorellus_ in his _Post-Praxis Medica_, p. 5. has Printed, with others of a Mule, a Crane, _&c._ _Pliny_, Lib. 10. cap. 43. says, a Crow (which imitated Human Voice, and which was wont every Morning to salute the Senators by their Names) was bury’d honourably, being carry’d out on the Shoulders of two _Æthiopians_, with a Crown before it, and a Trumpet sounding; the Person that kill’d it being ston’d to Death. _Ælian_, Lib 6. _Animal._ cap. 7. tells us, _Marrhes_, King of _Egypt_, built a Sepulchre for a Raven, which was wont to carry his Letters to and fro under its Wing; and, _Lib._ 7. _cap._ 41. he says, _Lacydes_, a Peripatetic Philosopher, had a Goose which us’d to follow him up and down, both at home and abroad, and whom for that Reason he Bury’d with the same Honour and Respect as he would have done a Brother or Son. The Stag which warr’d against the _Trojans_, was also honour’d with a Tomb; but it were endless to relate all the Brutes the _Pagans_ have given Burial to, as _Rhodiginus_ witnesses in _Antiq. Lect._ 58. cap. 13. The _Parthians_ were accustom’d to bury their Horses, and the _Molossians_ their Dogs, as _Statius_ the Poet observes, _Lib._ 2. Sylvar. in Epicedio Pileti.

——_Gemit inter Bella peremptum
Parthus Equum, fidosq; Canes flevere Molossi:
Et Volucres habuere Rogos, Cervusq; Maronis._

The _Parthian_ mourns his Horse in Battel slain;
For faithful Dogs _Molossians_ weep in vain.
Ev’n Birds had Funeral Piles, and _Virgil_’s Stag.

But the _Egyptians_ surpass’d them all, for they Embalm’d the Bodies of several Animals, as Cats, Crocodiles, Hawks and the like, that so they might keep them the longer to adore and admire: If therefore _Pagans_ have been thus careful to honour Brutes with all the Rights of Burial, how much more ought we who are _Christians_ to afford this last Duty to one another?