nished as follows:--A strong elm
coffin, covered with superfine black, and furnished with two rows,
all round, close drove, best japanned nails, and adorned with
ornamental drops, a handsome plate of inscription, Angel above, and
Flower beneath, and four pair of handsome handles, with wrought
gripes; the coffin to be well pitched, lined, and ruffled with fine
crape; a handsome crape shroud, cap, and pillow. For use, a handsome
velvet pall, three gentlemen's cloaks, three crape hat-bands, three
hoods and scarfs, and six pair of gloves; two porters equipped to
attend the funeral, a man to attend the same with band and gloves;
also, the burial-fees paid, if not exceeding one guinea."

"Man," says Sir Thomas Browne, "is a noble animal, splendid in ashes,
and pompous in the grave." Whoever drew up this little advertisement
certainly understood this appetite in the species, and has made
abundant provision for it. It really almost induces a _taedium vitae_
upon one to read it. Methinks I could be willing to die, in death to
be so attended. The two rows all round close-drove best black
japanned nails,--how feelingly do they invite, and almost
irresistibly persuade us to come and be fastened down! what aching
head can resist the temptation to repose, which the crape shroud, the
cap, and the pillow present; what sting is there in death, which the
handles with wrought gripes are not calculated to pluck away? what
victory in the grave which the drops and the velvet pall do not
render at least extremely disputable? but, above all, the pretty
emblematic plate, with the Angel above and the Flower beneath, takes
me mightily.

The notice goes on to inform us, that though the society has been
established but a very few years, upwards of eleven hundred persons
have put down their names. It is really an affecting consideration to
think of so many poor people, of the industrious and hard-working
class (for none but such would be possessed of such a generous
forethought) clubbing their two-pences to save the reproach of a
parish funeral. Many a poor fellow, I dare swear, has that Angel and
Flower kept from the _Angel_ and _Punchbowl_, while, to provide
himself a bier, he has curtailed himself of _beer_. Many a savory
morsel has the living body been deprived of, that the lifeless one
might be served up in a richer state to the worms. And sure, if the
body could understand the actions of the soul, and entertain generous
notions of things, i