Welsh Journals

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Irrjjinlagifl Cambrntsk NEW SERIES, No. X.—APRIL, 1852. BRITISH INTERMENTS. All nations in every age have been accustomed to bury the dead out of their sight. This is an universal practice, founded originally, no doubt, upon the Divine decree,— " Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," whilst its various forms have been assumed and regulated in accordance with the religious creed of each country. It is not my purpose, however, to dilate on the funeral usages of other people;—my observations shall be con¬ fined to a few facts, culled out of our early documents and old traditions, which tend to elucidate the kind of treatment awarded to the dead at the hands of our own British ancestors. In the first volume of the Myvyrian Archaiology are printed two series of stanzas, entitled respectively " En- glynion y Beddau," and "Englynion Beddau Milwyr Ynys Prydain," that is, " Stanzas of the Tombs," and " Stanzas of the Tombs of British Warriors." They are evidently a collection of traditionary verses relative to the graves of about two hundred persons who had distin¬ guished themselves, whether for good or for evil, in the annals of the country, from the earliest period down to the close of the sixth century. This very circumstance of itself denotes the profound veneration in which the last resting places of our forefathers were held. The memory ARCH. CAMB., NEW SERIES, VOL. III. M