a female who has died young and unmarried. A chaplet of
white flowers is borne before the corpse by a young girl,
nearest in age, size, and resemblance, and is afterwards hung
up in the church over the accustomed seat of the deceased.
These chaplets are sometimes made of white paper, in im-
itation of flowers, and inside of them is generally a pair of
white gloves. They are intended as emblems of the purity
of the deceased, and the crown of glory which she has received
in heaven.

In some parts of the country, also, the dead are carried
to the grave with the singing of psalms and hymns; a kind of
triumph, "to show," says Bourne, "that they have finished
their course with joy, and are become conquerors." This,
I am informed, is observed in some of the northern counties,
particularly in Northumberland, and it has a pleasing, though
melancholy effect, to hear, of a still evening, in some lonely
country scene, the mournful melody of a funeral dirge
swelling from a distance and to see the train slowly moving
along the landscape.

Thus, thus, and thus, we compass round
Thy harmless and unhaunted ground,
And as we sing thy dirge, we will
The Daffodill
And other flowers lay upon
The altar of our love, thy stone.

HERRICK.

There is also a solemn respect paid by the traveller to the
passing funeral, in these sequestered places; for such spec-
tacles, occurring among the quiet abodes of Nature, sink
deep into the soul. As the mourning train approaches, he
pauses, uncovered, to let it go by; he then follows silently
in the rear; sometimes quite to the grave, at other times for
a few hundred yards, and having paid this tribute of respect
to the deceased, turns and resumes his journey.

The rich vien of melancholy which runs through the.
English character, and gives it some of its most touching

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