of the church was covered with lead, which, being melted, ran in all parts among the ruins; and being afterwards digged for among the rubbish in order to be new-cast, was tracked into several graves, in the body of the church; out of which were taken many human bones filled with it, and particularly a thigh-bone full of that melted metal, which I both saw and handled. A great many more, perhaps, would have been found, if more minutely traced. Whether this is a satisfactory solution to your inquirer, is humbly submitted by 1748, Supp. Yours sincerely, A. I. XXVI. The ancient custom of Dunmow. MR. URBAN, I HAVE here sent you a copy of the register of the form and ceremony observed at Dunmow in Essex, on a claim made fifty years ago, to a flitch of bacon, by William Parsley, of Much Easton, and Jane his wife, founded upon an ancient institution of lord Fitzwalter, in the reign of Henry III. who ordered, "that whatever married man did not repent of his marriage, or quarrel with his wife in a year and a day after it, should go to his priory, and demand the bacon, on his swearing to the truth, kneeling on two stones in the church yard." This custom is still kept up, and by inserting the manner of it in your magazine, you will perhaps excite fresh claimants, as many of your young married readers, as well as the ancient wool-comber of Weathersfield,* may be as justly entitled to it. Yours, &c. F. D. Dunmow, Nuper At a court baron of the right worshipful sir Priorat Thomas May, knt. there holden upon Friday the 7th day of June, in the 13th year of the reign of our [*Thursday, June 20, 1711, John Shakeshanks, wool-comber, and Anne, his wife, of the parish of Weathersfield in Essex, appeared at the customary court at Dunmow-parva, and claimed the bacon according to the custom of that manor."-Gent. Mag. E.] sovereign lord, William III. by the grace of God, &c. and in the year of our Lord 1701, before Thomas Wheeler, gent. steward of the said manor. It is thus enrolled: Be it remembered, that at this court, in full and open court, it is found, and presented by the homage aforesaid, that William Parsley, of Much Easton in the county of Essex, butcher, and Jane his wife, have been married for the space of three years last past, and upward; and it is likewise found, presented, and adjudged, by the homage aforesaid, that the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, by means of their quiet, peaceable, tender, and loving co habitation, for the space of time aforesaid, (as appears by the said homage) are fit and qualified persons to be admitted by the court to receive the ancient and accustomed oath, whereby to entitle themselves to have the bacon of Dunmow delivered unto them, according to the custom of the manor. Whereupon, at this court, in full and open court, came the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, in their proper persons, and humbly prayed, they might be admitted to take the oath aforesaid; whereupon the said steward, with the jury, suitors, and other officers of the court, proceeded, with the usual solemnity, to the ancient and accustomed place for the administration of the oath, and receiving the gammon aforesaid, (that is to say) the two great stones lying near the church door, within the said manor, where the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, kneeling down on the said two stones, and the said steward did administer unto them the above-mentioned oath in these words, or to this effect following, viz. You do swear by custom of confession, Or since the church clerk said Amen, As when you joined hands in holy quire, And immediately thereupon, the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, claiming the said gammon of bacon, the court pronounced the sentence for the same, in these words, or to the effect following. Since to these conditions without any fear, Though the pleasure be ours, the bacon's your own. And accordingly a gammon of bacon was delivered unto the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, with the usual solemnity, Examined per Thomas Wheeler, steward. The same day a gammon was delivered to Mr. Reynolds, steward to sir Charles Barrington, of Hatfield Broad Oak. 1751, June. XXVII. Methods of Embalming. THE ancient Egyptians had three ways of embalming their dead, and artists were particularly trained up for that pur pose: the most costly method was practised only upon persons of high rank; of which sort are all the mummies that have remained entire to the present times: it was done by extracting the brains through the nostrils, and injecting a rich balm in their stead; then opening the belly and taking out the intestines; the cavity was washed with palm wine impregnated with spices, and filled with myrrh and other aromatics; this done, the body was laid in nitre seventy days, at the end of which it was taken out, cleansed, and swathed with fine linen, gummed and ornamented with various hieroglyphics, expressive of the deceased's birth, character, and rank. This process completed, the embalmer carried home the body, where it was placed in a coffin, cut in human shape, and then enclosed in an outer case, and placed upright against the wall of the burying place belong ing to the family.Another less expensive method of embalming was, by injecting into all the cavities of the body a certain dissolvent; which, being suffered to run off after a proper time, carried with it whatever was contained therein liquified; and then the body, thus purged, being dried by the nitrous process as before, the operation was closed by swathing, &c. By the third and lowest method of embalming, which was only in use among the poor, they drenched the body with injections, and then dried it with nitre. The Egyptians had a custom among them of pledg ing the dead bodies of their parents and kindred, as a secu rity for the payment of their debts, and whoever neglected to redeem them was held in the utmost abhorrence, and denied the rites of burial themselves. They paid extravagant honours to their deceased ancestors; and there are at this day to be seen in Egypt pompous subterranean edifices, called by the Greeks Hypogees, representing towns or ha bitations under ground, in which there are streets or pas sages of communication from one to another, that the dead might have as free intercourse as when alive, 1751, Aug. SIR, XXVIII. Long Meg and her Daughters. Wigton, July 12. I WENT some days ago to examine that curious remain of British antiquity called Long Meg and her Daughters, about which it must be acknowledged all conjectures are extremely uncertain. They are situated upon an eminence on the east side of the river Eden, near a mile from it, above a village called Little Salkeld; this eminence appears to have been all moor formerly, but now about half the stones are within inclosures, placed in an orbicular form, in some places double.→ I make seventy principal ones, but there are one or two more disputable; several lie flat on the surface, their greatest eminence not exceeding a foot, others yet less, and others perpendicular to the horizon; the highest of those in the circular range does not much exceed three yards, nor is it more than four wide, and two deep; but none of them have a regularity of shape, though the constructors seem to have aimed at a parallelopipedon. Long Meg herself is near four yards high, and about 40 yards from the ring, towards the south west, but leans much; it being of what they call the free-stone kind, is more regular than those in the circle, and is formed like a pyramid on a rhomboidal base, each side being near two yards at the bottom, but a good deal narrower at top. (What I mean by the base is only the ground plan of the stone itself, for as to what is in architecture called base, it has none but une earth.) The others in the orbicular range, are of no kind of stone to be found in that neighbourhood, and the four-facing the cardinal points are by far the largest and most bulky of the whole ring; they contain at least 648 solid feet, or about thirteen London cartloads, and unless they are a composition, (which I am much induced to believe) no account can be given what carriages could have brought them there, nor by what means they could be placed erect when they came. It is to be noted that these measures are only what appeared above ground; we have reason to suspect that at least a yard is lost in the earth, which will make the whole amount to a prodigious weight more. Others are erect, but not of such enormous size, and others, as I said before, lie flat along, not thrown down, as I think, but so placed either by choice or design, and some of these are also very large. In diameter the ring may be eighty yards or more, and the circle is pretty regular, but how they came there and their destination is the important question, I am, 1752, July. Yours, &c. G. S. MR. URBAN, XXIX. ANCIENT INSCRIPTIONS. I HOPE the gentlemen addressed will pay a proper regard to the proposal of the right reverend the bishop of Clogher, mentioned in your register of books for April fast, and will f * A journal from Grand Cairo to Mount Sinai, and back again; translated from a M.S. written by the Prefetto of Egypt; with remarks on the origin of hieroglyphics. By the bishop of Clogher, 5s. Cooper.This book is dedicated to the Antiquarian Society, and his lordship observes to them, that as the journal particularly describes many places in the wilderness, where great |