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the Christians. The sepulchres in churches originatefrom an inclination, common to men of all times andnations, to honour their relations, even in the grave.

The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans erected overthe graves of men of rank, or persons otherwise re-markable, pyramids, mausolea, or temples. After theintroduction of Christianity, little churches, calledchapds, were erected over the dead. The earlyChristian martyrs were buried in caverns, which, bydegrees, were eidarged to spacious subterraneanvaults, and called chambers of repose. In the sequel,others considered themselves happy if their boneswere allowed to repose near the ashes of a martyr.The sepulchres of martyrs were, on this account,distinguished by a white altar over them. When theChristians were allowed the public exercise of theirreligion, they erected churches, and the heathen tem-ples became places of Christian worship. As earlyas the 4th century', they built churches over thesepulchres of the holy martyrs ; and, in the belief thata place was sanctified by their ashes, they' anxiouslysought out, on the erection of new churches in cities,or the transformation of heathen temples into Chris-tian churches, the remains (relics) of the martyrs, andburied them under the altar of the new church, tocommunicate to it a character of greater sanctity. Itgradually came to be universally considered, amongthe Christians, a privilege to be buried in the neigh-bourhood of a saint.

The emperor Constantine, who died in 337, w as thefirst person that w-e know of, who ordered his sepulchreto be erected in a church. This was done in thechurch of the apostles at Constantinople, of which hewas the founder, and therefore, probably, consideredhimself as peculiarly entitled to this privilege. Hewas soon imitated by the bishops, and, in the sequel,all those who had enriched the church were distin-guished by this honour. The emperors Theodosiusand Justinian, indeed, forbade the erection of sepul-chres in churches, but in vain. Leo the philosopheragain permitted them to every body.

It is only in later times that men have become con-vinced how injurious it is to the health of the livingto remain, for a long time, in the vicinity of the dead ;particularly if the corpses remain standing in simplecoffins, and are not placed deep in the earth, as iscommonly the case in the sepulchral vaults ofchurches. From these the effluvia of putrefactionescape easily, and diffuse themselves in the air. Onthe occasion of opening such sepulchral vaults, thosewho stood near them have sometimes fallen dead onthe spot, and no one could venture into the church,for a long time after, without exposing himself todangerous consequences. At present, the burying inchurches is almost everywhere suppressed, or, at least,permitted only under certain restrictions. Even inNaples and Rome, the general practice of erectingsepulchres in churches was forbidden in 1809, and thefoundation of burial-places without the city was pro-vided for. The custom of the communities of Mora-vian Brothers, who form their burial-places in gar-dens, is worthy of imitation. Several Catholicchurchyards in Germany are also distinguished bytheir pleasing aspect; for.instance, one in Munich,where every grave is covered with a bed of flowers,which the relations of the deceased water from afountain dug for the purpose. The Quakers, it iswell known, erect no tombstones. The beautifulname of the German Moravian Brothers, friedhof, or

field of peace, is becoming more and more common inGermany. The celebrated burying-place of Par kChaise, near Paris, is one of the most beautiful andinteresting spots in the world.

Busaco. A mountainous district in Portugal, in theprovince of Beira. The prospect from the summitof the Sierra de Busaco is one of the finest in thatcountry : and the neighbourhood is remarkable forthe battle which was fought there between Massenaand the Duke of Wellington on the 27th of Septem-ber, 1810. Before day-break the French formed fivecolumns of attack, three under Ney, opposite to theconvent, and two under Regnier, at St. Antonio deCantara, these points being about three miles asun-der. Regnier’s troops had comparatively easierground before them, and were in the midst of thepicquets and skirmishers of the third division almostas soon as they could be perceived to be in move-ment. The allies resisted vigorously, and six gunsplayed along the ascent with grape, but in less thanhalf an hour the French were close upon the summitso swiftly, and with such astonishing power and reso-lution did they scale the mountain, overthrowingevery thing that opposed their progress. The rightof the third division was forced back ; the eighthPortuguese regiment was broken to pieces, and thehostile masses gained the highest part of the crest,just between the third and the fifth divisions. Theleading battalions immediately established themselvesamongst the crow'ning rocks, and a confused masswheeled to the right, intending to sweep the summitof the Sierra ; but at that moment Lord Wellingtoncaused two guns to open with grape upon their flank,while a heavy musketry was still poured into theirfront, and in a little time, the forty-fifth and the eighty-eighth regiments charged so furiously, that even freshmen could not have withstood them. The French,quite spent with their previous efforts, opened a strag-gling fire, and both parties, mingling together, wentdow’n the mountain side with a mighty clamour andconfusion ; the dead and dying strewing the way evento the bottom of the valley.

Meanwhile the French, who first gained the sum-mit, had re-formed their ranks, with their right restingupon a precipice overhanging the reverse side of theSierra, and thus the position was, in fact, gained, ifany reserve had been at hand, for the greatest partof the third division, British and Portuguese, w erefully engaged, and a misty cloud capped the summit,so that the enemy, thus ensconced amongst the rocks,could not be seen, except by general Leith. Thatofficer had put his first brigade in motion to his ownleft as soon as he perceived the vigorous impressionmade on the third division, and he was now comingon rapidly ; yet he had two miles of rugged groundto pass in a narrow column before he could minglein the fight. Keeping the royals in reserve, he di-rected the thirty-eighth to turn the right of theFrench ; but the precipice prevented this, and mean-while colonel Cameron, informed bv a staff-officer ofthe critical state of affairs, formed the ninth regi-ment in line under a violent fire, and without, return-ing a single shot, ran in upon and drove the gre-nadiers from the rocks with irresistible bravery, ply-ing them with a destructive musketry as long as theycould be reached, and yet with excellent discipline,refraining from pursuit, lest the crest of the positionshould he again lost, for the mountain was so rugged,that it was impossible to judge clearly ol the general