For the son or daughter of the Sovereign--Full mourning, four weeks; mourning, one week; and half-mourning, one week: total, six weeks. For the brother or sister of the Sovereign--full mourning, two weeks; mourning, four days; and half-mourning, two days: total, three weeks. Nephew or niece--full mourning, one week; half-mourning, one week: total, two weeks. Uncle or aunt--same as above. Cousin, ten days; second cousin, seven days. THE following are the accepted reasons for the selection of various colours for mourning in different parts of the world:-- _Black_ expresses the privation of light and joy, the midnight gloom of sorrow for the loss sustained. It is the prevailing colour of mourning in Europe, and it was also the colour selected in ancient Greece and in the Roman Empire. _Black and white striped_ expresses sorrow and hope, and is the mourning of the South Sea Islanders. _Greyish brown_--the colour of the earth, to which the dead return. It is the colour of mourning in Ethiopia and Abyssinia. _Pale brown_--the colour of withered leaves--is the mourning of Persia. _Sky-blue_ expresses the assured hope that the deceased is gone to heaven, and is the colour of mourning in Syria, Cappadocia, and Armenia. _Deep-blue_ in Bokhara is the colour of mourning; whilst the Romans in the days of the Republic also wore very dark blue for mourning. _Purple and violet_--to express royalty, "Kings and priests of God." It is the colour of mourning of Cardinals and of the Kings of France. The colour of mourning in Turkey is violet. _White_--emblem of "white-handed hope." The colour of mourning in China. The ladies of ancient Rome and Sparta sometimes wore white mourning, which was also the colour for mourning in Spain until 1498. In England it is still customary, in several of the provinces, to wear white silk hat-bands for the unmarried. _Yellow_--the sear and yellow leaf. The colour of mourning in Egypt and Burmah. In Brittany widows' caps among the peasants are yellow. Anne Boleyn wore yellow mourning for Catherine of Arragon, but as a sign of joy. _Scarlet_ is also a mourning colour, and was occasionally worn by the French Kings, notably so by Louis XI. [Decoration] [Illustration: FIG. 63.--_Funeral of His Imperial Majesty Frederick the Noble, Emperor of Germany. The Funeral Service in the Imperial Chapel._] [Illustration: FIG. 64.--_Funeral of His Majesty the Emperor of Germany. The Procession leaving the Palace._] NOTES. (_a_) In the 18th Century, the undertaker issued his handbills--gruesome things, with grinning skulls and shroud-clad corpses, thigh bones, mattocks and pickaxes, hearses, etc.: "These are to notice that Mr. John Elphick, Woollen Draper, over against St Michael's Church, in Lewes, hath a good Hearse, a Velvet Pall, Mourning Cloaks, and Black Hangings for Rooms, to be lett at Reasonable Rates.