ed by his providence, with numberless multitudes of
illustrious hermits, whose fervent piety and rigorous penance have done so
much honour to the Christian religion. I cannot not forbear giving here a
famous instance of it; and I hope the reader will excuse this kind of
digression.

"The great wonder of Lower Egypt," says Abbe Fleury, in his Ecclesiastical
History,(360) "was the city of Oxyrinchus, peopled with monks, both within
and without, so that they were more numerous than its other inhabitants.
The public edifices and idol temples had been converted into monasteries,
and these likewise were more in number than the private houses. The monks
lodged even over the gates and in the towers. The people had twelve
churches to assemble in, exclusive of the oratories belonging to the
monasteries. There were twenty thousand virgins and ten thousand monks in
this city, every part of which echoed night and day with the praises of
God. By order of the magistrates, sentinels were posted at the gates, to
take notice of all strangers and poor who came into the city; and the
inhabitants vied with each other who should first receive them, in order
to have an opportunity of exercising their hospitality towards them."

SECT. II. THE CEREMONIES OF THE EGYPTIAN FUNERALS.--I shall now give a
concise account of the funeral ceremonies of the Egyptians.

The honours which have been paid in all ages and nations to the bodies of
the dead, and the religious care which has always been taken of
sepulchres, seem to insinuate an universal persuasion, that bodies were
lodged in sepulchres merely as a deposit or trust.

We have already observed, in our mention of the pyramids, with what
magnificence sepulchres were built in Egypt for, besides that they were
erected as so many sacred monuments, destined to transmit to future times
the memory of great princes; they were likewise considered as the mansions
where the body was to remain during a long succession of ages: whereas
common houses were called inns, in which men were to abide only as
travellers, and that during the course of a life which was too short to
engage their affections.

When any person in a family died, all the kindred and friends quitted
their usual habits, and put on mourning, and abstained from baths, wine,
and dainties of every kind. This mourning continued forty or seventy days,
probably according to the quality of the person.

Bodies were embalmed three different ways.(361