At the period, when Herlicius unfortunately predicted the destruction of the Ottoman power, Judicial Astrology was in the highest favor in England. The date of the prediction, 1665, was the sixth year of Charles the Second. Whatever space remained, unoccupied by other follies, during the reign of the Stuarts, and even during the interregnum, was filled by the preposterous doctrines of Judicial Astrology. It is perfectly well established, that Charles the First, when meditating his escape from Carisbrook castle, in 1647, consulted the famous astrologer, Sir William Lilly.
Isabel, Countess of Warwick, 1439—“My body is to be buried, in the Abbey of Tewksbury; and I desire, that my greatTemplys[19]with the Baleys[20]be sold to the utmost, and delivered to the monks of that house, so that they grutched not my burial there. Also I will that my statue be made, all naked, with my hair cast backwards, according to the design and model, which Thomas Porchalion[21]has, for that purpose, with Mary Magdalen laying her hand across, and St. John the Evangelist on the right side, and St. Anthony on the left.” The singularity of this provision would lead one to believe that the testatrix made her will, under the influence of St. Anthony’s fire.
John, Lord Fanhope, 1443—“To John, my bastard son, now at Ampthill, ccc. marks; and, in case he should die, before he attain the age of twenty-one, I will that Thomas, my other bastard son, shall have the said ccc. marks.”
Henry Beaufort was the second son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, by Katherine Swinford, a bastard born, but with his brothers and sister, legitimated by act of Parliament, 20 Rich. II., became Bishop of Lincoln 1397—translated to Winchester, 1404, and made a Cardinal. He was remarkable, for his immense wealth, prudence, and frugality. He was four times Chancellor of England. He is reported to have clung to life with a remarkable tenacity. Rapin says, he died for grief, that wealth could not save him from death. The death bed of this Cardinal is admirably described by Shakspeare, in the second part of King Henry VI., Act III., Scene III.:
The Cardinal’s will, though without date, was made about 1443.—“I will that ten thousand masses be said for my soul,as soon as possible after my decease, three thousand of requiem, three thousand ofde rorate cœli desuper, three thousand of the Holy Ghost, and one thousand of the Trinity. * * * * Item, I bequeath to my Lord, King Henry, a tablet with reliques, which is called the tablet of Bourbon, and a cup of gold with a ewer, which belonged to the illustrious prince, his father, and offered by him on Easter Eve, and out of which cup he usually drunk, and for the last time drank. * * * * Item, I bequeath to my Lord the King, my dish or plate of gold for spices, and my cup of gold, enamelled with images.”
In two codicils to this will, Cardinal Beaufort refers to certain crown jewels, and vessels of silver and gold, pledged to him by the King and Parliament, for certain sums lent. When the King went into France and Normandy, and upon other subsequent occasions, the Cardinal had loaned the King £22,306 18s.8d.It appears in Rymer, vol. x. page 502, that the King redeemed the sword of Spain and sundry jewels, pledged to the Cardinal, for £493 6s.8d.
John, Duke of Exeter, 1447—“I will that four honest and cunning priests be provided, to pray perpetually every year, for my soul.” He then conveys certain manors to his son Henry, “provided always, that an annuity ofXLl.be reserved for my two bastard sons, William and Thomas.”
William Burges, garter King of Arms, 1449, bequeaths to the church of St. George at Staunford—“to the seyd chirch for ther solempne feste dayes to stand upon the high awter 11 grete basque of silver, and 11 high candlesticks of sylver, 1 coupe of sylver, in the whych is one litel box of yvory, to put in the blessid sacrament.” He also gives to said church “two greter candelstykkes, and for eiche of these candelstykkes to be ordayned a taper of waxe of 1 pound wight, and so served, to be lighted atte dyvyne servyce at pryncipal fest dayes, and al other solempne festes, as, at matyns, pryme, masse, and the yeven songs.”
John, Lord Scrope, 1451—“To the altar, in the chapel of St. Mary, at York, a jewel, with a bone of St. Margaret, andXLs.for ringing their bells, at my funeral.”
Ann, Duchess of Exeter, 1457—“I forbid my executors to make any great feast, or to have a solemn hearse, or any costly lights, or largess of liveries according to the glory or vain pomp of the world, at my funeral, but only to the worship of God, after the discretion of Mr. John Pynchebeke, Doctor of Divinity.”
Edmund Brudenell, 1457—“To Agmondesham Church; to the Provosts of the Church for the maintenance of the great light before the crossXXs.To the maintenance of the light before St. Katherine’s Cross,IIIs.IVd.”
John Younge, 1458—“To the fabrick of the Church of Herne, viz., to make seats, called puyinge,X.marks.”
John Sprot, Clerk, 1461—“To each of my parishionersXLd.”
The passion for books, merely because of their antique rarity, and not for their intrinsic value, is not less dangerous, for the pursuer, than that, for collecting rare animals, and forming a private menagerie, at vast expense. Even the entomologist has been known to diminish the comforts of his family, by investing his ready money in rare and valuable bugs. It has been pleasantly said of him,
“He leaves his children, when he dies,The richest cabinet of flies.”
There is no doubt, that, in those superstitious days, the traffic in relics must have been a source of very great profit to the priests; equal, at least, to the traffic inancient terra cottas, in the days of Nollekens. The sleeves of those crafty friars could not have been large enough, to hold their laughter, at the expense of the faithful. The heir apparent, whose grief, for the death of his ancestor, was sufficiently subdued, by his refreshing anticipations of some thousands of marks in ready money, must have been somewhat startled, upon the reading of the will, to find himself residuary legatee,for life, of the testator’s “reliques, remainder over to the Carthusian Friars!”
Such, and similar, things were of actual occurrence. William Haute, Esquire, made his will, May 9, 1462, of course, in the reign of Edward the Fourth. This worthy gentleman ordains—“My body to be buried, in the Church of the Augustine Friars, before the image of St. Catherine, between my wives. * * * * I bequeath one piece of that stone, on which the Archangel Gabriel descended, when he saluted the Blessed Virgin Mary, to the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Church of Bourne, the same to stand under the foot of the said image. I bequeath one piece of the bone of St. Bartholomew to the Church of Waltham. One piece of the hair cloth of St. Catherine, the Virgin, and a piece of the bone of St. Nicholas, to the Church of the Augustine Friars aforesaid. I bequeath all the remainder ofmy relicks to my son William,for life, with remainder to the Augustine Friars forever.”
Humphrey, Earl of Devon, 1463—“I will, that Mr. Nicholas Goss and Mr. Watts, Warden of the Grey Friars, at Exeter, shall, for the salvation of my soul, go to every Parish Church, in the Counties of Dorset, Somerset, Wilts, Devon, and Cornwall, and say a sermon, in every Church, town, or other; and as I cannot recompense such as I have offended, I desire them to forgive my poor soul, that it be not endangered.”
William, Earl of Pembroke, 1469—“In nomine Jesu, &c. And wyfe, that ye remember your promise to me, that ye take the ordre of widowhood, as ye may the better mayster your owne * * * * Wyfe pray for me, and take the said ordre, that ye promised me, as ye had, in my lyfe, my hert and love.” This lady, who was the daughter of Sir Walter Devereux, observed her vow, and died the widow of the Earl; which is the more remarkable, as these injunctions have often produced an opposite effect, and abbreviated the term of continency.
Sir Harry Stafford, Kt., 1471—“To my son-in-law, the Earl of Richmond, a trappur, four new horse harness of velvet; to my brother, John, Earl of Wiltshire, my bay courser; to Reynold Bray, my Receiver General, my grizzled horse.”
Cecilia Lady Kirriel, 1472—“In my pure widowhood, &c. To John Kirriel, bastard, &c.”
It is not unusual for the consciences of men, in a dying hour, to clutch, for security, at the veriest straws. It is instructive to consider the evidences, exhibited in these ancient testaments, of superfluous compunction. Sir Walter Moyle, Knt., 1479, directs his feoffees “to make an estate, in two acres of land, more or less, lying in the parish of Estwell, in a field called Calinglond, and deliver the same, in fee simple, to three or four honest men, to the use and behoof of the Church of Estwell aforesaid, in recompense of a certain annual rent of £2 of wax, by me wrested and detained from the said Church, against my conscience.”
It was not unusual, to appoint overseers, to have an eye upon executors; a provision, which may not be without its advantages, occasionally, even in these days of more perfect morality, and higher law. Sir Ralph Verney, Knt., 1478, appoints four executors, and “my trewe lover, John Browne, Alderman of London, to be one of theoverseersof this my present testament, andto have a remembrance upon my soul, one of my cups, covered with silver gilt.”
Monks and Friars were pleasant fellows in the olden time, and Nuns are not supposed to have been without their holy comforts. Landseer’s fine picture of Bolton Abbey is a faithful illustration. The fat of the land, when offered to idols, has commonly been eaten up by deputy. However shadowy and attenuated the souls of their humble and confiding tributaries, the carcasses of abbots are commonly represented as superlatively fat and rubicund.
Bequests and devises to Lights and Altars were very common. Eustace Greville, Esquire, 1479, bequeaths “to the Light of the Blessed Mary, in the said Church of Wolton, three pounds of wax in candles and two torches; to the Altar of the Blessed Mary in the said church, one bushel of wheat and as much of barley; and to the Lights of the Holy Cross there one bushel of barley and as much of beans; and the same to the Light of St. Katherine there.”
FINIS.
In utter disregard of all precedent, I have placed this dedication at the end of the volume, deeming it meet and right, that the corpse should go before.
How very often the publication of a ponderous tome has been found to resemble the interment of a portly corpse! How truly, ere long, it may be equally affirmed, of both—the places, that knew them, shall know them no more!
Mæcenas was the friend and privy counsellor of Augustus Cæsar; and, accordingly, became, in some measure, the dispenser of executive patronage. The name of Mæcenas has been employed, ever since, to signify a patron of letters and the arts. Dedications are said to have been coeval with the days of his power.
In almost every case, a dedication is neither more nor less, than an application for convoy, from the literary mariner, who is scarcely willing to venture, with his fragile bark, “in mare Creticum” orcriticum, unaided and alone. He solicits permission to dedicate his work to some distinguished individual—in other words, to place his influential name, upon the very front of the volume, as an amulet—a sort of passover—to keep evil spirits and critics, at adistance. If the permission be granted, of which the public is sure to be informed, the presumption, that the patron has read and approved the work, amounts to a sanction, of course, to the extent of his credit and authority. In some cases, however, I have reason to believe, that the only part of the work, which the patron ever reads, is the dedication itself. That most amiable and excellent man, and high-minded bibliopolist, the late Mr.James Brown, informed me, that an author once requested permission, to dedicate his work, to a certain professor, in the State of New York, tendering the manuscript, for his perusal; and that the professor declined reading the work, as superfluous; but readily accepted the dedication, observing, that he usually received five dollars, on such occasions.
There was one, to whom it would afford me real pleasure to dedicate this volume, were he here, in the flesh; but he has gone to his account.Grossmanis numbered with the dead!
Reader—if you can lay your hand upon your heart, and honestly say, that you have read these pages, or any considerable portion of them, with pleasure—that they have afforded you instruction, or amusement—I dedicate this volume—with your permission, of course—most respectfully, to you; having conceived the most exalted opinion of your taste and judgment.
L. M. SARGENT,Rock Hill, December, 1855.
GENERAL INDEX.
The figures refer to the numbers—not to the pages.
A.Abner, cautioned by his father, as to his behavior to aged people, 1.Adams, John, anecdote of, 45:—lines written under his name, in a lady’s album, 46.Airs, national, authorship of,106.Almsgiving, 56.Ambassadors, from U. S. A. to G. B. 73.Ancestry, pride of,97.Antiquaries, sometimes malicious,126.Apothecaries, in Boston—some notice of,112.Aristocracy, of Boston—examples of,90:—among the dead, 1.Arms, reversed, at military funerals, of great antiquity, 30.Arnold, Benedict, what made him a traitor, 87.Arundines Cami,92.Asclepiades, of Prusa, his medical practice,114.Astrologers, Judicial, formerly part of a nobleman’s household,157.—False prediction of, in 1186.Ibid.—Consulted by Louis XIV. and Madame de Maintenon,159.Astrology, Judicial, Q. Elizabeth addicted to.—Much practised, in the middle ages,157,159.Avarice, 31.Avery, steals three negroes:—attempts to sell them:—their rescue, 47.Aymar, James, a famous impostor,113.Auctions, various modes of:—by inch of candle:—by sand glass:—of fish among the Dutch:—various modes of notifying, and bidding at,139.Auctioneer’s Bell, used at the Hague:—formerly in Boston,139.B.Babylonians, their mode of obtaining husbands, for homely women,115.Bachelorspunished by the Lacedemonians for their celibacy:—not trusted with affairs of state at Athens,115.Barbers,140,141,142,143:—their antiquity,140:—formerly peripatetics,141:—their shops and poles,141:—female,141:—their citternes and “knack with the fingers,”142.Baptism, vicarious,109.Baths, ancient,114.Battel, wager of,145.Beards, habits of the ancients, respecting,140:—modern,142:—dyeing them an ancient practice,142.Belknap, Jeremy, Rev. 47:—his desire for a sudden death, 75:—regard for historical truth, 75:—error, as to Gosnold, 75.Bells, and bell ringing:—weight of several:—a terror to “evill spirytes,” 37.Benevolence, remarkable example of, 55.Bentham, Jeremy, dissected by his own request, 8.“Bleed and purgeall Kensington,”111.Bodies, posthumous preservation of, 20.Bodkin, the famous root and herb doctor,109.Boiling to death, a mode of punishment,151.Boodle, William, his self-conceit, 49.Boorn, Stephen and Jesse, remarkable case of erroneous conviction, on circumstantial evidence, 79 to 85, both inclusive.Borri, Joseph Francis, a famous impostor,113.Bradford, Sheriff, anecdote of, 5.Brocklebank, Parson, anecdote of, 49.Burial, joint stock companies, 58:—their profits enormous, 58:—of weapons, by the slaves, at Charleston, 34.“Bring out your dead,” 27.Buchanan, James, his errors, in relation to Major André, corrected, 19.Burke and Bishop, executed, for murder, with intent to sell the bodies, 7.Burying the dead, manner of, commended, 21:—in cities and under churches, objections to, 10, 11, 60, 61:—manner of, and practices, connected therewith, in different ages and nations, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 21, 30, 38,96,101:—premature, 15,91,95:—means for preventing,91,95.Bull John, and brother Jonathan,104:—John, the musician, author of “God save the King,”106.Byles, Mather, anecdotes of,93,94.C.Cades, sexton, how he lost his office, 44.Californiafever, 31.Campbell, hung for killing Boyd in a duel,145.Campbell, Captain, steals an heiress,115.Candles, burnt in the day, at a church, in Nantucket, 24:—of wax, at Popish funerals, in old times, 2.—by inch of, ancient mode of selling at auction,139.Caner, Rev. Dr., some notice of, 78.Capital punishment, 50, 51, 53, 54, 57, 89.Capital offences, in Massachusetts, in 1618, 62.Carter, sexton, insulted by a chirurgeon, 43.Catacombs, 10:—of Paris, 12, 13.Catafalque, its import,103.Chadwick, Edwin, his report on interments, to the British Parliament, 58.Chapel, King’s, some account of, 78.Charles I.funeral of, 39:—his body discovered, in 1813, 40:—V. legend of his mock funeral, denied,99.Children, female, destruction of, in China, and elsewhere, 29.Chinese, habits of the,101.Chuang-tsze, story of,119,120.Clarendon, in error, as to the burial place of King Charles I. 40.Clarke, Barnabas, anecdote of,90.Clark, Alvan, his versatility of talent, 46.Clay, Henry, his frequent leavetakings,99.Cobbett, William, his letter to Lord Liverpool, on the American triumphs,104.Congress, American, Lord Chatham’s opinion of,104.Courage, personal, externals no sure criterion of—two remarkable examples,149.Conscience parties, 29.Corday, Charlottede, an interesting question, connected with her decapitation,153.Cremation, cost of—least expensive mode, excepting the urns, 74:—of Henry Laurens,95:—of Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley:—their diet in prison, 74.Criminals, how to dispose of, 89:—bodies of, delivered for dissection, 7:—number waiting to be hung, 51.Cromwell, Oliver, various estimates of his character:—views and handles the dead body of Charles I.:—his funeral:—his body dug up, and hung, at Tyburn, 39.Crucifixion,151.D.Daddy Osgood, sold at auction,139.Danforth, Dr. Samuel, notice of,111.Deacons, their dispute about a tomb, 11.Dead Sea, some account of, 35, 36.Death, certain evidence of,91:—condition of the soul, after,96:—imitation of,137:—by shipwreck,102.Dentists, in Boston, some notice of,112.Desecration, of the dead, 14, 21, 23.Dickson, provost of Dundee, his epitaph, 9.Diedrick Van Pronk’swidow, anecdote of, 7.Digby, Everard, account of his having spoken, after the removal of his heart,153.Dinah Furbush, her corpse insulted, 77.Diogenes, anecdote of, 4.Distillers, in Boston, number of,112.Divination, some account of,157,158.Divining rod, of James Aymar,113.“Don’t gotoo near that hedge,”91.Dreams, of Martin Smith and King’s Chapel, by the Old Sexton, 76, 77, 78.Drunkenness, at ordinations, 37.Dryden, John, disturbance at his funeral,118.Duels, between Benjamin Woodbridge and Henry Phillips, on Boston Common,133 to 136, both inclusive:—various,144 to 149, both inclusive:—punishment of,145:—number killed in,145:—Decatur and Barron,146:—Lord Bruce and Sir Edward Sackville,147:—Lords Mohun and Hamilton,147:—Sheridan and Matthews,147:—M’keon and Reynolds,147:—Campbell and Boyd,147:—Colclough and Alcock,147:—David and Goliath,147:—Titus Manlius and the Gaul,148:—Hector and Ajax,148:—Turnus and Æneas,148:—Rauber and a Spanish gentleman,148:—Cameron, and McLean,148:—Lord Mark Kerr and a French Colonel,149:—Joseph Bainbridge and the Secretary of Sir Alexander Ball,149:—Rand and Millar,153.Dugdale, Sir William, the antiquary,155.Dyonisius, to save his throat, taught his daughters to shave,140.E.Effigiesof the dead, made of cinnamon, and carried in the procession, 30.Egyptians, trials of their kings, after death, 5:—every Egyptian a doctor,107.Eli, the sexton, his hallucinations, 55.Eliot, Rev. Andrew, gloves and rings, given him at funerals, and the sale of, 28.Embalming, process of, 4.Empirics,109,110,111,113,114.Epitaphs, 5, 9.Estimate of Americansby the English people, in 1775 and 1812,104.Evidence, circumstantial, remarkable examples of, 79 to 85, both inclusive:—Webster’s case, 86.Execution, in Ballyconnel, 54.F.Fakeer, East India, account of his apparent death, and resurrection,137,138.Famine, Keayne’s granary in case of,112.Faneuil Hall, origin of:—burnt:—rebuilt and enlarged,130,131.Faneuil Peter, and his relatives, some account of,122 to 132, both inclusive:—aids Henry Phillips, to escape, after his fatal duel, with Woodbridge,134.Foodfor ghosts, 25.Fortune-hunters, remarkable disappointment of one,115,116.Franklin, Benjamin, his account of the resurrection of flies, drowned in wine,138:—his letter to Thomas Percival, on duelling,144:—Sir John, probably lost,154.Freeman, Dr., manner of his ordination, 78.Friendships, rarely lifelong:—examples of, 59:—Cicero’s first law of, 59.Frizzell’s bell, 37.Funerals, invitations to, 8:—baked meats at:—games, and festivals at, 25.G.Gifts, New Year’s,117.Glovesand rings, at funerals, 28.Gosnold, Bartholomew, his abode, at Cuttyhunk, 75.Governorof Mass., anecdote of a, 52.Granny, anecdote of skinning, 58.Grossmanthreatened to be shot, 13.Guillotin, Dr.151:—the instrument that bears his name,151,152.H.Hair, management of the,143.Halley, Thomas, great pomp, and much guzzling, at his funeral, 25.Halifax gibbetand the guillotine identical,151.Handel, rivalry, between him, and Senesino, and Buononeini,105:—Swift’s epigram, on their squabbles,105.Hanging, sensations produced by,95:—vicarious,150:—persons differently moved, in prospect of,150.Hanway, Sir Jonas, his account of the practice of giving vales, 28.Happiness, 48.Hastæ, why auctions were so called, at Rome,139.Hawes, Dr. William, his work on premature interment,95.Heiress, stealing an, made felony:—remarkable examples of,115.Henry VIII.bone stolen from his corpse, 39:—some account of his funeral,103.Herse, ancient import of the word,103.Hook, Theodore, anecdote of, 24.“Howcould the poor Abbé sustain himself against you all four?”113.Howlers, at funerals, ancient and modern, 32, 38.Huguenots, in Boston:—their early settlement, in Oxford, Mass.122:—their church in Boston,122,123.I.Idleness, effects of, 22.Infanticide, 29.Innholders, in Boston, number of,112.Intolerance, in Massachusetts, 62.J.James II., his gallantry, when Duke of York, in a sea-fight, 66.Jewsusurious, 15,000 banished, 52.Jevous sauter le tête,151.L.Laceration, of the cheeks and hair, at funerals, in Greece, Rome, and elsewhere, 30, 32, 38.Largessesat funerals, 25.Laurens, Henry, his body burnt, after death, by his request,95.Lawyers, in Boston, their number at different periods,112.Le Mercier, André, minister of the Huguenots, in Boston,132.Levi, M. de, his pride of ancestry,97.Liberty Tree, 41, 42.Philip Billes devises his estate, on condition of being buried under that tree, 42.Licinius, P., games, &c., at his funeral, 25.Lilly, Sir William, the astrologer, notice of,157.Lind, Jenny, some account of,105.Lloyd, Dr. James, his appearance,111.Localities, certain interesting, 7.Longevity, some examples of, 45.Lot’s wife, pillar of salt, &c., 35, 36:—seen by Irenæuis and others, after she was salted, 36.Louis XVI., brutal behaviour of the French people, at his execution,152.Lovat, Lord, his repartee, on his way to be hung,150.Ludii, Histriones, Scurræ, 30.Luxury, ever injurious, and often fatal, to Republics, 87, 88.Lyman, Theodore, notice of him, and his public and private charities, 56.M.Marcus Flavius, anecdote of, 25.Marriages, taxed:—first celebration of, in churches:—forbidden during Lent,115.Marinerbound for Africa, reaches Norway, 48.Marshall, Tommy, anecdote of,90.Martyrs, cremation of:—cost of burning Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, 24.Mashee, Tooley, plays corpse,137.McPhee, widow Nelly, anecdote of, 7.Medicine, origin of the practice of,107:—practice of, among the Babylonians, Greeks, Egyptians, Israelites, and Hindoos,108.Mediums, some notice of,157.Mexican beggars, how employed by Montezuma,142.Milton, John, his marriages,98:—writes in favor of polygamy,98:—desecration of his remains,118.Minglingthe ashes of dear friends, in the same urn, practice of, 21.Ministersof the Gospel, in Boston, in 1740,132.Mirthfulness, its advantages,92.Money, George Herbert’s address to, 31.Montgomery, Gen. Richard, his exhumation, and reinterment, 18.Monuments, Dryden’s, Ben Jonson’s, and Cowley’s, mutilation of,118.Mooncursers, laws for their punishment:—anecdote of,102.Moorhead, Rev. John, some notice of,99.Moses, an apothecary,107.Mourners, their peculiar consolations, 32:—for the year 1848, 33.Mourning, time allowed for:—color of the vesture, in different countries, 32.Irish, consists in the number of coaches and the quantity of whiskey, 74.Mule, a bad one, 30.N.Napoleon’slast words, 31.New Year’s Day, when,117,123.New North Church, uproar there, 37.North Church, peal of bells there, 37.Nuisance, affecting the air, not necessary to prove it noxious, 60.O.Obsequies, provisions for, by persons, while living, 7.Otis, James, anecdote of,90.P.Parkman, Dr. George, his murder:—his peculiarities, 72.Penn, William, reply to Macaulay’s abuse of:—memoir of, 62 to 71, both inclusive:—death bed of his son, 71.Percival, Thomas, his work, on duelling,144.Pere la Chaise, 11.Pestilence, numbers destroyed by, 27.Philadelphians, saved from being Welchmen, 68.Physicians, various schools of, named by Pliny,110,114:—number of the old Boston doctors, and their residences,112.Pipers, at funerals, 8.Pirates, hung on Boston Common, 50.Pitcairn, Major, the honor of killing him, claimed by many:—the remains, under Westminster Abbey, said to have been erroneously selected, from under the North Church, 17.Plague, some account of the, 27.Pliny, in favor of herb doctoring,114.Planter, funeral of an old, in St. Croix, 30.Polhamus, the good Samaritan, 83.Pompadour, Madame de, her remains transferred to the Catacombs, 13.Pontraci, the prince of undertakers, 12.Portland vase, history of the, 20.Pride and Poverty, excess of, dangerous, 87.Punishment, various kinds of,151.Punstershabitual, nuisances,94.Pwan Yakoo, and other Chinese, their visit to Boston:—description of her golden lilies,102.Q.Quacksof great use to sextons, 27.Quakers, persecution of, in Massachusetts, 62, 63.R.Rand, Dr. Isaac, brief notice of,111.Razors, their antiquity:—mentioned by Homer, Samuel, Ezekiel:—how sharpened:—of brass,140:—the best formerly from Palermo,142.Recherches, Historiques et Physiologiques sur la Guilotine,152.Relics, traffic and jugglery in, by the priests, 17.Republics, extravagance fatal to, 87, 88.RevengeChurch of Christ, 37.Revival, amusing example of, on the way to the grave,91:—of a child of Henry Laurens, which caused him to order his own corpse to be burnt,95.Rochefoucault, maxim erroneously ascribed to, 59.Roman Catholics, persecution of, in Massachusetts, 29.Ross, Sir John, his residence, in the Arctic regions:—discovery of him and his company,154.Rothschild, Nathan Meyer, his funeral solemnities, 3.Rum, mainspring of the slave trade in Massachusetts, 47.Rush, Dr. Benjamin, alluded to:—anecdote of,111.S.“Sacred to the memory”! 77.Santa Cruz, gross extortion there, from surviving friends, 16.Sansons, the hereditary executioners of Paris,151,152.Sayings, of eminent men, in articulo, or just before death,100.Scotch Weaver’s Vanity, 39.Selwyn, George, seldom absent from an execution, 50.Seneca, quotation from, 48.Sextons, their office, its origin, and duties, of old:—their extortion, occasionally, in the hour of affliction, 16—their business much benefited by steam, 2.Science, some curious mistakes of,154.Shays, his insurrection, 29.Shaving, suggestions concerning,140.Shelley, the poet, cremation of, 20.Shipwrecks, their number,102.Slavery, 34:—in Boston, 43, 47:—early attempts to abolish, in Massachusetts, 44:—how and when abolished there, 47:—Slave trade, in Boston, 47.Slaves, example of their ingenuity, 34.Smith, Martin, sexton of King’s Chapel, his apparition to the sexton of the old school, 76, 77, 78.Soldiers, their sufferings, as statesmen,100.Sons of Liberty, some account of the, 41.Southern States, liberality to Boston, in 1774, 44.Spartans, their mode of selecting wives,115.Spiderand chambermaid, 29.Spiritual knockings, sometimes resulting in madness, and self-murder,157,158:—remedy for,158.Stamp Act, resolutions in Faneuil Hall, 58.Steam, of great benefit to sextons, 27.Sternhold and Hopkins, their version of the Psalms gave place to that of Tate and Brady:—motive of Sternhold little suspected,100.Stonecutter, anecdote of a, 6.Style, old and new, some account of,117.Succession, Apostolic, 78.Sumner, Governor, funeral of, 39.Sumptuary laws, some account of, 88.Surgeons, the earliest:—limited nature of their functions,107:—among the Israelites,108.Suttees, description of, 74.Swans, their musical power fabulous,105.Sweating sickness, some account of, 27.Swedenborg, his notions of Heaven:—of the soul,96.T.Tallow chandler, retired from business, anecdote of, 22.Tasman’s bowl, used for conjuration, in Tongataboo, 38.Tea, thrown overboard, 44.Tears, power of shedding at will, 32.Temperance“has done for funerals,” 2.Tetotum doctor,111.Thatcher, Rev. Peter, installation of, 37.Three Cheersfor the elephant, 39.Tombs, reasons for preferring graves:—outrage upon five, in Salem, Massachusetts, 13, 14.“Too heartilyof nutmegs,”103.Tories, their faith in the royal cause,125.Treasures, buried with the dead, 21.Turenne, singular fate of his remains, 23.U.Urns, funeral, forms, and materials of, 20:—occasionally large enough to contain the mingled ashes of whole families, 21.Usury, some remarks on, 48, 52.V.Vales, practice of giving, 27.Vanity, illustration of, 49.Viands, deposited near the dead, 25.Viscerationamong the ancients, 25.Voltaire, his description of a Frenchman,152.W.Wade, Sir Claude M. his account of the East India Fakeer, who was restored, after a suspension of consciousness, for six weeks,137,138.Wager of battel, the law of England, so late, as 1819,145.Wakes, their origin:—some account of,91.Warren, Gen. Joseph, manner of discovering his remains:—the bullet, by which he was killed, in possession of the Montague family, 17.Washington, George, illustration of the reverence for his memory, in New England:—opinion of, by Lords Erskine and Brougham:—national neglect of his monument:—sale of some of his effects, 26.Waterhouse, Dr. Benjamin, anecdote of,111.“Weel thensing as mony as there be,”99.Webster, Dr. John White, his trial for the murder of Dr. Parkman, 72:—his case stated, at the close of, 89.Weever’sfuneral monuments, 24.“Whatthat boy says is true,”113.Widows, Numa severe upon:—marrying within ten months accounted infamous, 32:—unjustly censured,98:—“with the great fan,”119.Wigs, scratches, bobs, and full bottomed:—their antiquity,142,143:—periwigs in N. England,142:—Roman,143.Wills, ancient,155,156,160:—superstitious dread of making,155:—Andrew Faneuil’s,127.Witches, their right to travel through the air, decided by Lord Mansfield, 29.Woodbridge, Benjamin, killed in a duel on Boston Common,133 to 137: both inclusive.Wraxall’s memoirs, inaccurate,149.Z.Zisca, John, anecdote of, 7.
INDEX TO PROPER NAMES.
The figures refer to the pages—not to the numbers.