Note 66 — HISTORY OF SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS.

Coffins formed of a single stone, hollowed with a chissel, are an improvement which has been attributed to the Romans. Sometimes they were of marble. Some contained two or more bodies, others only one, in which case, it was not unusual for them to be made to fit the body, with cavities for the reception of the head and arms, and other protuberances.

The solid stone or marble coffin, often curiously wrought, was in use among the first christians in England, who, in all probability, copied the customs of the Romans, after those conquerors had quitted our island.—Stone coffins were disused in the fifteenth century. None but opulent persons were interred in coffins of this description; the body was wrapped in fine linen, attired in the most honourable vestments, and laid in spices. The coffin was placed no deeper in the ground, than the thickness of a marble slab, or stone to be laid over it, even with the surface of the pavement. The coffin shaped stones which are frequently seen in churches at the present day, have, in general, been the covers of stone coffins.

The leaden coffin was also in use among the Romans, not only for the reception of the body, but in many instances, for the ashes and bones. It was adopted by the christians, and continues in frequent use to the present time, among the more opulent.

Alexander was buried in a golden coffin, by his successor Ptolemy; and glass coffins have been found in England.

The oldest instance, on record, among us, of a coffin made of wood, is that of king Arthur, who was buried in an entire trunk of oak.

It was not till the latter end of the seventeenth or the beginning of the eighteenth century, that coffins became in general use in England. Before that time, there was, in every parish church, a common coffin, in which the corpse was placed and conveyed on a bier, from the residence of the deceased, to the grave; it was then taken out of the coffin and interred. Some of these common coffins yet remain in country churches.