These examples will explain the position of the cemeteries of Uriconium and other Roman towns in Britain. Mr. Wright, than whom no one is more able to speak authoritatively on the matter, thus speaks of the burial customs and observances of the Romans in Britain; and as it is necessary, before speaking of the objects found with the sepulchral remains of the people, to give a sketch of the formalities attending their death and burial, his account will add considerable interest to their consideration. “The last duty to the dying man was to close his eyes, which was usually performed by his children, or by his nearest relatives, who, after he had breathed his last, caused his body first to be washed with warm water, and afterwards to be anointed. Those who performed this last-mentioned office were called _pollinctores_. The corpse was afterwards dressed, and placed on a litter in the hall, with its feet to the entrance door, where it was to remain seven days. This ceremony was termed _collocatio_, and the object of it is said to have been to show that the deceased had died a natural death, and that he had not been murdered. In accordance with the popular superstition, a small piece of money was placed in the mouth, which it was supposed would be required to pay the boatman Charon for the passage over the river Styx. In the case of persons of substance, incense was burnt in the hall, which was often decked with branches of cypress, and a keeper was appointed, who did not quit the body until the funeral was completed. The public having been invited by proclamation to attend the funeral, the body was carried out on the seventh day, and borne in procession, attended by the relatives, friends, and whoever chose to attend, accompanied by musicians, and sometimes with dancers, mountebanks, and performers of various descriptions. With rich people, the images of their ancestors were carried in the procession, which always passed through the Forum on its way to the place of burial, and sometimes a friend mounted the rostrum, and pronounced a funeral oration. In earlier times the burial always took place by night, and was attended with persons carrying lamps or torches, but this practice seems to have been afterwards neglected; yet the lamps still continued to be carried in the procession. Women, who were called _præficæ_, were employed not only to howl their lamentations over the deceased, and chant his praises, like the Irish keeners, but to cry also; and their tears, it appears, were collected into small vessels of glass; and this circumstance is termed, in some of the inscriptions found on the Continent, being ‘buried with tears’--_sepultus cum lacrymis_; and the tomb is spoken of as being ‘full of tears’--TVMVL . LACRIM . PLEN.