Bruton-street) in the following manner. Nine thick layers of hempen or linen cloth were well gummed together, so as to make a strong but flexible kind of board, something like a piece of papier mâché. This was formed into the shape of the swathed mummy, which was inserted in it, by means of a longitudinal aperture on the under side, reaching from the feet to the head. The two sides of this long aperture were then drawn together by a coarse kind of stitching, apparently done with a large needle. Thin hempen cord, which was in tolerable preservation, was the thread used in this instance. The inside of this hempen case was covered with a thin coating of plaster, to which patches of Nile mud or a soft loam were found adhering. The outside was also covered with such a plaster, on which rude figures of beetles, ibides, &c., were painted, apparently with ochrous earths tempered with water. They were easily rubbed off with the finger, except were they were fixed by an outer coating of gum. On the upper part of this case a human face was represented, as usual; and for the purpose of giving additional strength and firmness to that part of the hempen covering, a considerable quantity of earth and plaster had been stuck on the inside, so that it would be more easy to mould the material on the outside, while still flexible, into a resemblance to the human form. The face was covered with a strong varnish, to keep the colour fixed. . The outer case in which this mummy was sent to the society's rooms was a plain box of the Egyptian fig-sycamore, the parts of which were fastened together with wooden pegs. This wood was used by the Egyptians for a variety of purposes, as we find even common domestic utensils made of it. The pegs of these sycamore cases are not always of the sycamore wood, which, when cut thin, would hardly be so suitable as some more closely grained wood. In the mummy opened at the London University, the pegs of the inner wooden coffin were of a different wood, which was apparently cedar. This is also the case with bodies embalmed in the highest style of fashion, which have in addition to the inner coffin which we have described, an outer wooden box, such as Herodotus mentions, with a human face, male or female, painted on it. Some of these cases are plain, and others highly ornamented with figures of sacred animals, or with paintings representing mythological subjects. "The wooden case which contains the body is sometimes cut out of one piece of wood; and the inside is made smooth, and fit for the reception of the painted figures, by laying on it a thin coat of fine plaster. This plaster is also found used as a lining for the wooden cases which are not made of a single piece. There is often a second wooden case, still more highly ornamented, and covered with paintings secured by a strong varnish, . . . intended to embody the ideas of the Egyptians as to the state of death, the judgment or trial which preceded the admission into the regions below, and other matters connected with the ritual of the dead and the process of embalming. "The upper part of both the wooden cases is made to represent a human figure, and the sex is clearly denoted by the character of the head-dress, and the presence or absence of the beard. Both the head-dress and the ornaments about the neck, as far as the bosom, are exactly of the same character as those which we see on the sculptures and the paintings. The brief remark of Herodotus, that the friends put the swathed mummy into a wooden figure made to resemble the human form,' is amply borne out."* The ideas of decorum that have always prevailed in oriental countries, requiring a certain amount of noise and ostentatious lamentation after the death of a friend, existed also in Egypt. Women rushed * Long's Ancient Egyptians, ii. 128. MOURNERS. forth from the house, tear- and uttering the most These customs are frequently alluded to in the Sacred Scriptures: the man who brought to Israel the sad news of the destruction of King Saul and his army, came "with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head."* At the funeral of Abner, "David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And King David himself followed the bier."+ Jeremiah in denouncing the coming desolation of Zion, says, "Consider ye, and call for the mourning-women, that they may come ; ... and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us." Solomon refers to the same formalities in his poetical description of natural decay and death; "Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets."§ And the accompaniment of music in these wailings is mentioned by the Evangelist on occasion of the restoration to life of the ruler's daughter, when our Lord "saw the minstrels and the people making a noise." || Representations of funeral processions numerously attended, and accompanied with much pomp, occur repeatedly upon the sculptured and painted monuments. Rosellini observes, "The custom of funeral trains was common to all periods, and to all the provinces of Egypt. We discover the representations of such processions in the very ancient tombs at Eileithyias, and similar ones are depicted in those of Saqqarah and Gizeh; we also find them in the tombs of Thebes, belonging to the eighteenth and subsequent dynasties."¶ In most of these, as in the one copied on the following page, the coffin placed in a large bier, gorgeously decorated with sculpture and painting, is carried *2 Sam. i. 2. +2 Sam. iii. 31. Jer. ix. 17, 18. Ros. ii. 3, 395. |