FUNERAL MONUMENT in the Church at CULLEN, a Royal Borough of Banffshire. WH HEN engaging in a fecond volume of this publication, it was judged proper to present a fpecimen of another kind of monuments than what have hitherto engaged our notice, some of which will be occafionally introduced. The tombs of Westminster-Abbey, and other cemeteries of England, have been defcribed with precision, and delineated with elaborate care; and though a folemn, have proved an acceptable entertainment to fuch as delight in thefe memorials of their forefathers. Thefe not only inform us of their characters, their merits, and their pious hopes, but fhew the progress of tafte in defign, and various improvements in arts, as expreffed by the fculptures of these funeral honours. The tombs of NORTH BRITAIN alfo ferve to elucidate the general hiftory of the country, and particularly lend their aid to fhew the revolutions of principle which have fwayed the concerns of the church and of religion here. During the Catholic establishments in the fifteenth century, and while evangelical institutions were acting as with primæval influence, befides the fumptuous edifices confecrated to religious purposes at public expence, almost every noble and opulent family built chapels adjacent to their feats, and devoted lands to the officiating ecclefiaftics, that they might have eafier accefs to the myfteries, and the more readily fhare in the folcmnities of religion. One of thefe, dedicated to St. Ann, was built near to Cullen-Houfe, the family refidence of the Earls of Findlater and Seafield. The nobleman who laft enlarged and more copiously adorned the eastern aisle, or altar end of it, appropriated a place for a family farcophagus in that fanctuary. In memory of him, and of that pious work, the monument was reared of which a reprefentation is given in the annexed plate. In early ages of the Chriftian church it became an object of facred ambition to be buried under or as near to the Holy Altar as poffible. The cuftom firft took its rife from the relics of faints being enshrined in the fanctuaries; and in procefs of time, the bodies of the canonized were actually depofited there. What once was conftituted the high reward of fuperior fanctity, was afpired after by devout Princes, and Knights of religious orders, and became the distinguished privilege of the great and good. The present monument, in point of Gothic excellence and grandeur of defign, is not perhaps inferior to any that Europe can boaft in a correfponding age. The fplendid enrichments that crown the pyramidal columns, in fpite of Architecture's Grecian rules, have a very elegant and beautiful effect. The bas-reliefs are well raifed and minutely finifhed. The figures of the entombed, in devotional attitudes, are well rounded and correctly drawn. The fculptures of the central and interior part, according to the ideas of early ages, have moft learned and fublime allufion. Two angels, guarding an altar-piece, on which the virtues of the deceased are infcribed, feem to call the dead, reprefented by a fkeleton laid under the altar, to appear before This Latin infcription is in a kind of heroic verfe, and Saxon characters, but does not feem now to be perfectly. explicit : r corpus alert Ogilvie, m de Findlater heros de Sponse Elisabeth Gordon utrumq; cumbac the the tribunal of the MOST HIGH, expreffed by a hieroglyphic above. "The ANCIENT OF DAYS fat on the clouds of Heaven, and they came near before Him to judgment," was the bold imagery by which an eminent prophet painted out the things that must be hereafter*. The wellknown fymbol here on the tomb of THIS ONE, upholding the Globe in His Arm, implies the Intellectual Power and Wisdom, which is the origin and support of Creation. The attitude of Benediction, and the Triple Crown, though seemingly of more modern allufion, yet, in EGYPTIAN wisdom, refer to the Three Great Attributes of Deity, and the Supreme pronouncing a Bleffing on His Works. The pillars of Heaven, expreffed by columns supporting an arch, reft on the cloud, and a circumambient vine. From that arch diverging rays are spread, in which a Dove is defcending, and they beam on the Crofs that rifes over the Globe, the most ancient and venerable symbols of the Univerfal Benignity of the Uncreated Light of the World, manifesting the Divine Favour to Man. The scale of the plate is neceffarily too small for admitting of these fymbols being fo expreffively marked as could have been wished; but it were superfluous to give an enlarged representation of them, as the particulars are fo univerfally known and understood. King Robert Bruce originally inftituted a choir of twelve canons here, to fing the requiem of his royal confort, who died at an occafional refidence, near to where Cullen-Houfe now stands. Some fimilar appointments were long preserved; and ftill that number of poor are maintained, at the expence of the Findlater family; and the ancient Bede-House remains yet appropriated for them. The eight figures in the niches along the foot of the tomb, are faid by tradition to represent the Bede-ment; but, from the number and expreffion of the figures fculptured there, they rather feem to allude to the eight beatitudes, or evangelical virtues. These being the distinguishing characters of the more exemplary Chriftians, would be naturally attributed to thofe of more eminent piety. Such an embellishment of the monument would pay a higher compliment to the entombed, than the memorials of their charity alone could have done; and there is little reason to doubt, but that those who designed it had that tribute of praise to their memory in view. I cannot finish this article, without mentioning a curious hiftorical anecdote, regarding the noble family of Findlater, and which was the occafion of their bearing the name of Ogilvie. In an early period of the Scottish monarchy, a Chief, of the name of Gilchrift, married a fifter of his Sovereign, by whom he had three fons; but, after some time, a mutual disgust arifing between the parties, Gilchrift had reason to suspect that his wife's affections were placed on another object, and one day actually furprized her with a lover; upon which discovery, reflecting alone on the injury done him, and forgetting, for a moment, the high rank of the lady, he favagely put them both to death; but, dreading the King's refentment, he retired, with his three fons, into a forest, where they remained concealed feveral years. In a progress of the King's through the country, his Majesty one day took the diverfion of hunting in that foreft, and, having imprudently feparated himself from his retinue, he was attacked by some banditti; upon which the Gilchrifts rushed from their retreat, and having difperfed the robbers, had the good fortune to rescue the King; after which, having thrown themselves at his feet, he commanded them to rife, telling them, at the fame time, to ask what they chofe, for that he had nothing to refuse them. Emboldened by this promife, they discovered themselves, and fued for pardon; which the King granted, on condition of their changing their name, as, in his wrath, he had fworn," that there should not live a Gilchrift in the land." They affumed the name of Ogilvie, from that of the foreft, near Dundee, and which has been long in the poffeffion of the family of Douglas. From one of Gilchrift's fons is lineally defcended the Earl of Findlater. Publijhil as as the Act directs July 171788. by Peter Mazell Engraver No32 Jumes Street tovent Garden. E P.Mazell foulp: TH ECHINUS. HE profufion of vital array wherewith the Echini are clothed; is a fubject of much admiration. Every observation which unfolds that filent wonder, wherewith we furvey the exquisite designs of nature in the texture of organized bodies, has its importance in the scale of philofophic enquiry. Men, in proportion to their several capacities, their warmth of affection, and strength of understanding, will ever view, with more or lefs pleasure, the various energies of life wherewith the creation abounds. To perfons of much fenfibility no part of nature is indifferent. Of animated being, whose use it lies beyond human penetration to defcry, when we perceive evident excellence of form, and organs wonderfully adapted to their comfort and preservation in the little sphere of existence which they are called forth from nothing to enjoy, it evinces an attention to their well-being in the all-directing care of Providence, which it would be extreme infenfibility in us to overlook. "Wherefore, if God fo clothe the grass of the field," implies the finest argument, and the noblest inference, that ever were drawn from the contemplation of the wonders of nature. The ftrong fpines, a, A, wherewith the Echinus*, B, is furnished, and fo thoroughly surrounded, are not so much its instruments of motion, as the apparatus of nature for the defence and protection of a very numerous race of delicate organs, which fhare its life, and administer to its nourishment. Language feems yet deficient in power to exprefs their nature, and our knowledge too confined to afcertain their importance. 'Tis a thoroughly active and animated community, which hold their existence by one common tenure. A thousand of thefe delicate organs, difpofed in triple rows, and of various form, occupying the spaces between the spines, are ever, with unceasing energy of expreffion, gaping about in the flood, and seemingly grafping at atoms which the human eye cannot difcern. That myriad of heads, engaged in fupplying means of life to one fingle animal, is fcarcely to be viewed without awe. Three different fpecies of thefe can be diftinctly afcertained; and magnified reprefentations of them are given at bb, cc, and ddd. Whether thefe laft be all of one kind, their ever-varying appearance fcarcely admits of expreffing with precision; but their general character is that of a trefoil, which spreads and fhuts alternately, and often with rapid movements; and in many the blades are prettily marked with ftreaks of different colours. Lin. Syft. 1102. Br. Zool. vol. IV. plate xxxvI. 6 The |