the Church steeple; and at eight o'clock every night shall ring the Curfewe by the space of a quarter of an hour, with such Bell as of old time.hath been accustomed."

In Mr. Lysons's "Environs of London," vol. i. p. 232, is the following extract from the Churchwardens' and Chamberlains' Accounts of Kingston-upon-Thames :

"1651. For ringing the Curfew Bell for one year, £1 10 0."

I find, however, in the old play of "The Merry Devil of Edmonton," 4to. 1631, that the Curfew was sometimes rung at nine o'clock; thus the Sexton says:

"Well, 't is nine a clocke, 't is time to ring Curfew."

Shakspeare, in "King Lear," act iii. sc. 4, has fixed the Curfew at a different time:

66 Edgar. This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet: he begins at Curfew and walks to the first Cock." See Grey's Notes on Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 281.

In Bridges's Hist. of Northamptonshire, vol. i. p. 110, speaking of Byfield church, the author tells us: "A Bell is rung here at four in the morning, and at eight in the evening, for which the Clerk hath 20s. yearly, paid him by the Rector."

A bell was formerly rung at Newcastleupon-Tyne, also, at four in the morning.

In Hutchins's Dorset, vol. ii. p. 267, the author, speaking of Mapouder church, mentions land given "to find a Man to ring the Morning and Curfeu Bell throughout the year." Also, ibid. p. 422, under Ibberton, is mentioned one acre given for ringing the eight o'clock bell, and £4 for ringing the morning bell.

Macaulay, in his " History and Antiquities of Claybrook, in Leicestershire," 8vo. Lond. 1791, p. 128, says: "The Custom of ringing Curfew, which is still kept up at Claybrook, has probably obtained without intermission since the days of the Norman Conqueror."

We find the Couvre-feu mentioned as a common and approved regulation. It was used in most of the monasteries and towns of the north of Europe, the intent being merely to prevent the accidents of fires. All the common houses consisted at this time of timber. Moscow, therefore, being built with this material, generally suffers once in twenty

years. That this happened equally in London Fitzstephen proves: "Sola pestes Lundoniæ sunt Stultorum immodica potatio, et frequens Incendium." The Saxon Chronicle also makes frequent mention of towns being burned, which might be expected for the same reason, the Saxon term for building being zetimbrian. (a)

The Hon. Daines Barrington, in his "Observations on the Antient Statutes," p. 153, tells us : "Curfew is written Curphour in an old Scottish poem, published in 1770, with many others from the MS. of George Bannatyne, who collected them in the year 1568. It is observed in the annotations on these poems, that by act 144, parl. 13, Jam. I. this bell was to be rung in boroughs at nine in the evening; and that the hour was afterwards changed to ten, at the solicitation of the wife of James Stewart, the favourite of James the Sixth."

There is a narrow street in the town of Perth, in Scotland, still called Couvre-Feu-Row, leading west to the Black Friars, where the Couvre-Feu Bell gave warning to the inhabitants to cover their fires and go to rest when the clock struck ten. Muses' Threnodie, note, p. 89.

"At Ripon, in Yorkshire, at nine o'clock every evening, a Man blows a large Horn at the Market Cross, and then at the Mayor's door." Gent. Mag. for Aug. 1790, vol. lx. p. 719.

(16) In "Campanologia, or the Art of Ringing," 4th edit. corrected, 12mo. Lond. 1753, p. 200, we have:

"A Funeral or Dead Peal.

"It being customary not only in this City of London, upon the death of any person that

(a) So Henry, in his "History of Britain," 4to. vol. iii. p. 567, tells us, "The custom of covering up their fires about sun-set in summer, and about eight at night in winter, at the ringing of a bell called the couvre-feu or curfew-bell, is supposed by some to have been introduced by William I. and imposed upon the English as a badge of servitude. But this opinion doth not seem to be well founded; for there is sufficient evidence that the same custom prevailed in France, Spain, Italy, Scotland, and probably in all the countries of Europe, in this period, and was intended as a precaution against fires, which were then very frequent and very fatal, when so many houses were built of wood.".

is a Member of any of the honourable Societies of Ringers therein, but likewise in most Counties and Towns in England (not only upon the death of a Ringer, but likewise of any young man or woman), at the Funeral of every such person to ring a Peal; which Peal ought to be different from those for mirth and recreation (as the musick at the Funeral of any Master of Musick, or the Ceremony at the Funeral of any person belonging to military discipline), and may be performed two different ways: the one is by ringing the Bells round at a set pull, thereby keeping them up so as to delay their striking, that there may be the distance of three notes at least (according to the true compass of ringing upon other occasions) between Bell and Bell; and having gone round one whole pull every Bell (except the Tenor), to set and stand, whilst the Tenor rings one pull in the same compass as before; and this is to be done whilst the person deceased is bringing to the ground; and after he is interred, to ring a short Peal of round ringing, or Changes in true time and compass, and so conclude. The other way is called buffeting the Bells, that is, by tying pieces of Leather, old Hat, or any other thing that is pretty thick, round the ball of the clapper of each Bell, and then by ringing them as before

is shewn, they make a most doleful and mournful sound: concluding with a short Peal after the Funeral is over (the clappers being clear as at other times): which way of buffeting is most practised in this City of London."

Misson, in his "Travels in England," translated by Ozell, p. 306, says: Ringing of Bells is one of their great delights, especially in the Country. They have a particular way of doing this; but their Chimes cannot be reckoned so much as of the same kind with those of Holland and the Low Countries."

In "The Statistical Account of Scotland," vol. x. 8vo. Edinb. 1794, p. 511, parish of Inverkeithing, in the county of Fife, we read: "In this Parish is the Castle of Rosyth, almost opposite to Hopeton House. It is built upon rock, and surrounded by the sea at full tide. Upon the south side, near the door, is this inscription, pretty entire and legible : "In dev time drav yis Cord ye Bel to clink, Qvhais mery voce varnis to Meat and Drink."

Dates about the building, 1561 and 1639. Yet "it cannot now be ascertained by whom it was built, or at what time."

the Meetings of the Friends of the deceased a night or nights before the Burial.” (2)

That watching with the corpse was an ancient custom everywhere practised, numerous passages from ecclesiastical writers might be cited to prove, could there be any doubt of the antiquity of a custom (3) which, owing its origin to the tenderest affections of human nature, has perhaps on that account been used from the infancy of time. (*)

The abuse of this Vigil, or Lake-Wake, is of pretty old standing. The tenth Canon at the provincial Synod held in London temp. Edw. III. in Collier's Ecclesiast. History,

vol. i. p. 546, "endeavours to prevent the disorders committed at people's watching a corpse before burial. Here the Synod takes notice that the design of people's meeting together upon such occasions was to join their prayers for the benefit of the dead person; that this ancient and serviceable usage was overgrown with superstition and turned into a convenience for theft and debauchery: therefore, for a remedy against this disorder, 'tis decreed, that, upon the death of any person, none should be allowed to watch before the corpse in a private house, excepting near relations and friends of the deceased, and such as offered to repeat a set number of psalms for the benefit of his soul." The penalty annexed is excommunication. This is also mentioned in Becon's Reliques of Rome,

and comprised in the catalogue of crimes that were anciently cursed with bell, book, and candle.

Bourne complains of the sport, drinking, and lewdness used at these Lake-Wakes in his time. They still continue to resemble too much the ancient bacchanalian orgies-an instance of depravity that highly disgraces human nature. It would be treating this serious subject with too much levity, to say, that if the inconsiderate wretches who abuse such solemn meetings think at all, they think with Epicurean licentiousness that since life is so uncertain, no opportunity should be neglected of transmitting it, and that the loss, by the death of one relation, should be made up by the birth of another.

(1) They were wont, says Bourne, chap. ii. to sit by the corpse from the time of death till its exportation to the grave, either in the house it died in, or in the church itself. To prove this he cites St. Austin, concerning the watching the dead body of his mother Monica; and Gregory Turon. concerning that of St. Ambrose, whose body was carried into the church the same hour that he died.

(2) Dr. Jamieson says: "This ancient custom most probably originated from a silly superstition with respect to the danger of a corpse being carried off by some of the agents of the invisible world, or exposed to the ominous liberties of brute animals. But, in itself, it is certainly a decent and proper one; because of the possibility of the person, considered as dead, being only in a swoon. Whatever was the original design, the lik-wake seems to have very early degenerated into a scene of festivity extremely incongruous to the melancholy occasion." Etymolog. Dict. of the Scot. Language, v. LYK-WAIK.

Mr. Pennant, in describing Highland ceremonies, says: "The Late-Wake is a ceremony used at Funerals. The evening after the death of any person, the relations or friends of the deceased meet at the house, attended by a

bag-pipe or fiddle: the nearest of kin, be it wife, son, or daughter, opens a melancholy Ball, dancing and greeting, i. e. crying violently at the same time; and this continues till day-light, but with such gambols and frolics among the younger part of the company, that the loss which occasioned them is often more than supplied by the consequences of that night. If the corpse remain unburied for two nights, the same rites are renewed. Thus, Scythian like, they rejoice at the deliverance of their friends out of this life of misery." He tells us in the same place that the Coranich, or singing at funerals, is still in use in some places. "The songs are generally in praise of the deceased, or a recital of the valiant deeds of their ancestors." Tour in Scotl. 1769, p. 112.

"In North Wales," says Mr. Pennant's MS. so often quoted in the former volume of this work (speaking of the manners of the eighteenth century), "the night before a dead body is to be interred, the friends and neighbours of the deceased resort to the house the corpse is in, each bringing with him some small present of bread, meat, drink (if the family be something poor), but more especially candles, whatever the family be; and this

night is called wyl nos, whereby the country people seem to mean a watching night. Their going to such a house, they say, is i wilior corph, i. e. to watch the corpse: but wylo signifies to weep and lament, and so wyl nos may be a night of lamentation. While they stay together on that night they are either singing psalms, or reading some part of the holy scriptures.

Whenever any body comes into a room where a dead body lyes, especially the wyl nôs and the day of its interment, the first thing he does, he falls on his knees by the corpse, and says the Lord's prayer."

In "The Irish Hudibras," a burlesque of Virgil's story of Æneas going down to visit his father in the shades, 8vo. Lond. 1689, p. 34, is the following description of what is called in the margin "An Irish Wake:"

"To their own sports (the masses ended)
The mourners now are recommended.
Some for their pastime count their beads,
Some scratch their breech, some louse their
heads;

Some sit and chat, some laugh, some weep;
Some sing cronans, (a) and some do sleep;
Some pray, and with their prayers mix

in a bag to form a mattress, or simply spread upon the earthen floor, is immediately taken out of the house, and burned before the cabin door, the family at the same time setting up the death howl. The ears and eyes of the. neighbours being thus alarmed, they flock to the house of the deceased, and by their vociferous sympathy excite, and at the same time sooth, the sorrows of the family.

"It is curious to observe how good and bad are mingled in human institutions. In countries which were thinly inhabited, this custom prevented private attempts against the lives of individuals, and formed a kind of coroner's inquest upon the body which had recently expired, and burning the straw upon which the sick man lay became a simple preservative against infection. At night the dead body is waked; that is to say, all the friends and neighbours of the deceased collect in a barn or stable, where the corpse is laid upon some boards, or an unhinged door, supported upon stools, the face exposed, the rest of the body covered with a white sheet. Round the body are stuck in brass candlesticks, which have been borrowed perhaps at five miles distance, as many candles as the poor person can beg or borrow, observing always to have an odd number. Pipes and tobacco are first distributed, and then, according to the ability of the deceased, cakes and ale, and sometimes whiskey, are dealt to the company:

'Deal on, deal on, my merry men all, Deal on your cakes and your wine; For whatever is dealt at her funeral to

day,

Shall be dealt to-morrow at mine.'

"After a fit of universal sorrow, and the comfort of a universal dram, the scandal of the neighbourhood, as in higher circles, occupies the company. The young lads and lasses romp with one another; and when the fathers and mothers are at last overcome with sleep and whiskey (vino et somno) the youth become more enterprising, and are frequently successful. It is said that more matches are made at wakes than at weddings."

See also the "Survey of the South of Ireland," 8vo. p. 210.

In the "Gent. Mag." for Aug. 1771, vol. xli. p. 351, it is said of a girl who was killed

by lightning in Ireland, that she could not be waked within doors, an expression which is explained as alluding to a custom among the Irish of dressing their dead in their best clothes, to receive as many visitors as please to see them; and this is called keeping their wake. The corpse of this girl, it seems, was so offensive, that this ceremony could not be performed within doors.

(3) Hutchinson, in his "History of Cumberland," vol. i. p. 553, speaking of the parish of Whitbeck, says: 66 People always keep wake with the dead."

In "The Statistical Account of Scotland," parish of Cruden, Aberdeenshire, vol. v. p. 435, we read: "Of all those who attended the Late-Wake of a person who died of a putrid fever, not one escaped catching the infection." And a note tells us that the Late-Wake is a practice common in many parts of Scotland, and not yet exploded here, of people sitting up all night with the corpse in the chamber of the deceased.

Ibid. vol. xv. p. 372, parish of Campsie, co. of Stirling, we read: It was customary for them to have at least two Lyke-Wakes (the corpse being kept two nights before the interment), where the young neighbours watched the corpse, being merry or sorrowful, according to the situation or rank of the deceased."

Waldron, in his "Description of the Isle of Man" (Works, fol. p. 170), says that "when a person dies, several of his acquaintance come to sit up with him, which they call the Wake. The clerk of the parish is obliged to sing a psalm, in which all the company join;

and after that they begin some pastime to divert themselves, having strong beer and tobacco allowed them in great plenty. This is a custom borrowed from the Irish, as indeed are many others much in fashion with them."

"The Lik-Wake is retained in Sweden, where it is called Wakstuga, from wak-a, to watch, and perhaps stuga, a room, an apartment, or cottage. Ihre observes, that although these Wakes should be dedicated to the contemplation of our mortality, they have been generally passed in plays and compotations, whence they were prohibited in public edicts.' v. WAKE. Jamieson's Etymolog. Dict. of the Scot. Lang. v. LYK-WAIK.

(4) Durand cites one of the ancient councils, in which it is observed that psalms were wont to be sung, not only when the corpse was conducted to church, but that the ancients watched on the night before the burial, and spent the vigil in singing psalms. "Porro observandum est, nedum psalmos cani consuetum, cum funus ducitur, sed etiam nocte quæ præcedit funus, veteres vigilasse noctur nasque vigilias canendis psalmis egisse." p. 232. So also St. Gregory, in the epistle treating of the death of his sister Macrina, says: "Cum igitur nocturna Pervigilatio, ut in Martyrum celebritate canendis psalmis perfecta esset, et crepusculum advenisset," &c. Ibid.

It appears that among the primitive Christians the corpse was sometimes kept four days. Pelagia, in Gregory of Turon. requests of her son, "ne eam ante diem quartum sepeliret."

DURAND gives a pretty exact account of some of the ceremonies used at laying out the body, as they are at present practised in the North of England, where the laying out is called streeking.(1) He mentions the closing of the eyes (2) and lips, the decent washing, (3) dressing, and wrapping up in a winding sheet (4) or linen shroud: (5) of which shroud Prudentius thus speaks:

(°)

"Candore nitentia claro
Prætendere lintea mos est."
Hymn. ad Exequias Defunct.

The interests of our woollen manufactures have interfered with this ancient rite in England. (7)