[167] Lord, know that he who shall not go to that land where God was both living and dead, and who shall not take the cross beyond the seas, shall have no chance of going into Paradise: he who has pity and remembrance of the Lord, ought from war and vengeance to deliver his land and his country.... Now, every valiant bachelor will go who loves God and honours the holy mountain; they who act wisely will go to God, the base and the vile will stay behind: they are blind, as I think, who in their lives offer no assistance to God, and lose the glory of the mount for such a trifle. God suffered for us on the cross; and will say to us on the day to which all will come:—“You who helped me to bear my cross, you shall go where angels dwell, and shall there see both me and my mother Mary; and you from whom I have received nothing, descend all into the depths of hell!”
[168] Mrs. Hemans’ beautiful poem, Messages to the Dead, is upon this subject; and in a note, quoted from Mr. Brunton’s Discipline, she says that the custom was not uncommon in the Highlands.—Trans.
[169] In the regulations which were made for the Prussian converts, the popes particularly condemned the funeral customs of these people. “The neophytes,” say these regulations, “promise not to burn their dead, and not to bury with them men, or horses, arms, clothes, or valuable things. They will no longer have those impostors called ligastons, who resemble pagan priests, and who, at funerals, praise the dead for robberies, impieties, and other sins,” &c. These regulations enable us to become acquainted with many of the ancient customs of the Prussians.
[170] This is a most remarkable resemblance to the word signifying bard in Welsh, and to the name of the Welsh bard, par excellence.—Trans.
[171] The reader may remember they were left in the camp with the duke at Burgundy.
[172] This passage is very obscure.
[173] These instructions were inscribed in a register of the Chamber of Accounts. To facilitate the reading of them to the public, some impressions have been modernized.
[174] That is, the papers or accounts. We have given it exactly as it stands, that our readers may the more plainly perceive the nature of these documents.—Trans.
[175] By which we may perceive that dining at parish meetings is not a custom confined to modern times.
[176] By which we learn that the charge of a notary was one livre per diem.