particular, the howling lament, the interrogating the corpse, "Why did
you die?" and the wake and feast. "But a more singular resemblance,"
he adds, "is that which is to be remarked between a Mahommedan and an
Irish opinion relative to the same ceremony. When a dead Mussulman is
carried on his plank towards the cemetery, the devout Turk runs from
his house as the procession passes his door, for a short distance
relieves one of the bearers of the body, and then gives up his place
to another, who hastens to perform the same charitable and holy office.
No one who has been in Ireland, but must have seen the peasants leave
their cottages or their work, to give a temporary assistance to those
employed in bearing the dead to the grave an exertion by which they
approach so many steps nearer to Paradise."

[4] "Sultan Mahmoud's horse was actually interred in the cemetery of
Scutari, under a dome supported by eight pillars."

* * * * *


TWO SONNETS.

_To M---- F----_.

(_For the Mirror_.)


I.

I met thee, ----, when the leaves were green,
And living verdure clothed the countless trees;