The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, Volume 3Browne, Thomas, Sir
Religion
The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, Volume 3
Browne, Thomas, Sir
Christianity; Ethics; Religion and medicine
Now, though _Urnes_ have been often discovered in former Ages, many
think it strange there should be many still found, yet assuredly there
may be great Numbers still concealed. For tho' we should not reckon upon
any who were thus buried before the Time of the _Romans_, [altho' that
the _Druids_ were thus buried, it may be probable, and we read of the
_Urne of Chindonactes_, a _Druid_, found near _Dijon_ in _Burgundy_,
largely discoursed of by _Licetus_,] and tho, I say, we take not in any
Infant which was _Minor igne rogi_, before Seven Months, or Appearance
of Teeth, nor should account this Practice of burning among the
_Britains_ higher than _Vespasian_, when it is said by Tacitus, that
they conformed unto the Manners and Customs of the _Romans_, and so
both Nations might have one Way of Burial: yet from his Days, to the
Dates of these _Urnes_, were about Two Hundred Years. And therefore if
we fall so low, as to conceive there were buried in this Nation but
Twenty Thousand Persons, the Account of the buried Persons would amount
unto Four Millions, and consequently so great a Number of _Urnes_
dispersed through the Land, as may still satisfy the Curiosity of
succeeding Times, and arise unto all Ages.
The Bodies, whose Reliques these _Urnes_ contained, seemed thoroughly
burned; for beside pieces of Teeth, there were found few Fragments of
Bones, but rather Ashes in hard Lumps, and pieces of Coals, which were
often so fresh, that one sufficed to make a good Draught of its _Urne_,
which still remaineth with me.
Some Persons digging at a little Distance from the _Urne_ Places, in
hopes to find something of Value, after they had digged about Three
Quarters of a Yard deep, fell upon an observable Piece of Work, whose
Description this Figure affordeth. The Work was Square, about Two Yards
and a Quarter on each Side. The Wall, or outward Part, a Foot thick, in
Colour Red, and looked like Brick; but it was solid, without any Mortar
or Cement, or figur'd Brick in it, but of an whole Piece, so that it
seemed to be Framed and Burnt in the same Place where it was found. In
this kind of Brick-work were Thirty-two Holes, of about Two Inches and
an Half _Diameter_, and Two above a Quarter of a Circle in the East and
West Sides. Upon Two of these Holes, on the East Side, were placed Two
Pots, with their Mouths downward; putting in their Arms they found the
Work hollow below, and the Earth being clear'd off, much Water was found
below them, to the Quantity of a Barrel, which was conceived to have
been the Rain-water which soaked in through the Earth above them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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