erect a may-pole, which denotes its rise in Druidism. The mace is made
of silk, finely plaited with ribbons on the top, and filled with
spices and perfumes for such of the company to smell to as desire it.

Halbert H.

* * * * *


ANCIENT FUNERAL RITES AMONG THE GREEKS.

(_For the Mirror_.)


The dead were ever held sacred and inviolable even amongst the most
barbarous nations; to defraud them of any due respect was a greater
and more unpardonable sacrilege than to spoil the temples of the gods;
their memories were preserved with a religious care and reverence, and
all their remains honoured with worship and adoration; hatred and envy
themselves were put to silence, for it was thought a sign of a cruel
and inhuman disposition to speak evil of the dead, and prosecute
revenge beyond the grave. The ancient Greeks were strongly persuaded
that their souls could not be admitted into the Elysian fields till
their bodies were committed to the earth; therefore the honours (says
Potter) paid to the dead were the greatest and most necessary; for
these were looked upon as a debt so sacred, that such as neglected to
discharge it were thought accursed. Those who died in foreign
countries had usually their ashes brought home and interred in the
sepulchres of their ancestors, or at least in some part of their
native country; it being thought that the same mother which gave them