6 contredanse, where a number of persons, placing themselves opposite one to another, begin a figure. This now explains an expression we meet with in our old country dance books, long ways as many as will;' as our present English country dances are all in that manner, this direction seems to be very absurd, and superfluous; but if you have recourse to the original of these dances, and will but remember that the performers stood up opposite one to another in various figures, as the dance might require, you will instantly be sensible, that that expression has a sensible meaning in it, and is very proper and significant, as it directs a method or form different from others that might be in a square or any other figure. 1758, April. Yours, &c. PAUL GEMSEGE. XXXVII. Ancient Custom of Shepherds. MR. URBAN, As there is something very entertaining to the mind, as well as useful, in reviewing the manners of antiquity; I should be obliged to any of your learned correspondents for the pleasure of knowing the methods, which the shepherds of Jewry, and the eastern countries, followed in the care of their flocks. In St. John x. 3, 4, we have these words; To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out and when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.' On these words, Dr. Hammond observes, 1st, That the shepherds of Judea knew every sheep severally. (This, as I have been informed, by a gentleman of true value, has been attained to by a shepherd in our own country;) 2dly, That the shepherds of that country had a distinct name for every sheep, which each sheep knew and answered by obediential coming, or following, to that call.' This, as very unusual with us, scarcely gains credit.—And Marshal Bassompierre, speaking of his dancing country dances here in England, in the time of king Charles I, writes it expressly contredanses. Sec his Memoires, Tom. iii. p. 307. yet what is there wonderful in it?-Why might not names be given to flocks of sheep, as well as to herds of bullocks? And why may not sheep, led into their fold every night by the shepherd, and brought out every morning, (fed when young, in a great measure too by hand) be taught to follow the accustomed voice of their shepherd, and distinguish that voice too from the voice of a stranger.-That the shepherds gave them names, appears in some measure from the above-cited passage of St. John, but more fully from Theocritus. Id. v. 1. 103, 104. where a shepherd calls three of his sheep by their names; and that the shepherds often went before, while the flock followed, is above asserted by St. John in express words. Hence God, who is said to go before the Israelites, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, is, Psalm lxxx. 1. stiled the shepherd of Israel that led Joseph like a flock;' hence the title of shepherd, Is. xliv. 28, is given by God to Cyrus, and by the most ancient authors to kings, who headed their armies to battle; and since David was an expert shepherd, as well as divine poet, after whose sweet strains his flock doubtless went, the fable of Orpheus may, I think, be easily deduced from thence. But the care of these shepherds did not stop here. They seem to have trained up the ram to collect the flock, when any way scattered, and thus to draw them together in that regular order, in which sheep brought together almost naturally stand. Let it be observed, that I am not here positive, though Lucian says of Polyphemus the shepherd, T λαμενος τῷ κρίῳ, ὁποσα έχρην πρατίειν αυτον ὑπερ ἐμε, “ ordering the ram what things he ought to do for me.' Homer has a comparison of the same nature; and it must be owned, that all poetical comparisons, either. were known, or supposed to have a real existence in nature, and that Homer would not have compared Ulysses, drawing up his men, to a ram ordering the flock, unless some such thing had really, or supposedly, been done. The words of Homer may as well be seen in Mr. Pope's translation as in the original. Then said, once more he viewed the warrior train: This use of the ram at present our sheep dogs supply; but the dogs of the shepherds at that time appear from Theocritus (see Id. v. 1. 106. and Id. vi. 1. 11.) to be wolfdogs, kept to preserve the flock from wolves, and other wild beasts. There remains yet one very curious observation, and established on the indisputable authority of Philo Judæus. That philosopher, a Jew, born and bred in Egypt, must of course be acquainted with their customs, and has these remarkable words in his first chapter concerning the creation, Κύριοι βριθονίες βαθεσι μαλλοις ὑποποκοι κατα την έαρος ώραν ὑπο ποιμενος κελευσθεντες ἴσαλίας μετα ηρεμιας, και ήσυχη κατακλίνοντες ἐμπαρέχεσιν ἀποκείρεσθαι το έριον, ἐθιζομενοι, καθαπερ αι πόλεις τον ἐτήσιον ἀποδιδοναι daopor Ty Barthes Qures. Woolly rams laden with thick fleeces, in spring season, being ordered by their shepherd, stand without moving, and silently stooping a little, put themselves into his hand to have their wool shorn; being accustomed, as cities are, to pay their yearly tribute to man, their king by nature.' Their sheep, it is plain, stood unconstrained before the hand of the shearer. τω These things may appear strange to us, who never attempted to know what the docility of a sheep is; and I shall leave it to the consideration of naturalists, whether or no the shepherds of these countries were not much assisted in this their government of their sheep, by giving them names, while in the state of lambs, and by using them to go and come daily by these names. Our Saviour's expression in St. John, of calling his own sheep by name, and leading them out,' seems to favour this hypothesis.' If this is granted, then all the other difficulties vanish; since every creature, conversant about man, is known to be teachable by names and sounds continually impressed on him, to do things almost incredible to those, who do not duly consider the docility of these creatures. I shall only add, that a sheep standing in this silent inclining posture, willing to part with his fleece for the good of man, is justly made by the prophet Isaiah, chap. liii. v. 7. to image out our Saviour, who laid down his life of himself,' standing in the most meek, uncomplaining manner, before his judge, when he was afflicted and oppressed, yet he opened not his mouth, when he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.' South Moulton, Dec. 3, 1758. 1758, Dec. Yours, &c. JOHN COLERIDGE. XXXVIII. On the Causes of Dryness in Dead Bodies. MR. URBAN, Westminster, Dec. 8. IF the silence of the grave can sometimes afford a theme of instruction; the following occurrence, may perhaps occasion a speculative mind to take wing, in search of new discoveries. In digging up the earth, to lay a foundation for a vault, in the church of St. Margaret, Westminster, towards the beginning of June last; the workmen broke into an old coffin, in which they found the body of a woman; which, from the condition it was then in, must have been buried many years. The skin and flesh were entirely dried up, and appeared to be of the same consistency with vellum or parchment; and in colour very much resembling the latter. The features were all perfect, except the nose, which was almost gone; and the mouth, the upper lip of which, on the right, was in some measure decayed. The nails were all perfect on the hands; and on the left foot appeared something like the remains of a stocking; which, upon examination, was thicker than ordinary, and made of thread. As curiosity, Mr. Urban, had drawn a great many people to the church, to view these uncorrupted remains of mortality, I went there among the rest, with a design to enter upon a cool and deliberate examination of the matter, and to discover, if possible, the cause of such a preservation. The workmen were unable to give me any satisfaction as to the exact length of time it had lain in the ground: no plate, or inscription of any kind being found upon the spot, or thereabouts, even to warrant a conjecture. With a three foot rule I measured the figure, and found the length of it to be four feet eleven inches. From the common fate that attends objects of this nature, one would have expected, that these remains, upon being exposed to the air, would have undergone a sensible, if not a total dissolution; but, although this figure was handled and examined many days, little or no alteration ensued. There was nothing in the appearance that was ghastly or odious, like what we experience from the view of a body recently buried: but, to speak in the language of a medalist, there was a venerable ruge on the figure, that was rather inviting; for it bore a strong resemblance to an Egyptian mummy, stripped of its bandages. The simple curiosity of an inconsiderate mind is a passion easily gratified, and to the multitude the bare sight of these remains is found sufficient. But a rational curiosity cannot rest here. It is this that searches, examines, traces up things to their first causes, and wades with infinite pleasure through all the narrower channels that lead to the main spring-head. The inquiry to be pursued here, is, to what cause is the preservation of this body to be ascribed? In the decay of bodies committed to the earth, there seems to be but one operative cause: and that is, the humidity of the body. The cadaverous moisture induces putrefaction, and that, a dissolution. The intestines, from their laxity, porosity, and humidity, are the first parts that are liable to corruption: from these, the contagion spreads gradually through the whole body; and the bones are soon stripped of the flesh that covered them. It is evident this was not the case here; and how came it otherwise? As there seems to be one cause of putrefaction, so there seem to be three causes of preservation, in the case of interred bodies, 1. Embalming. 2. Dry sand. 3. Extreme age. As to the first, upon the most rigorous inspection that could be made, this body appeared never to have undergone this operation. No incision of any kind was visible on the stomach, or any other criterion, to favour such a surmise. As to the second cause, it is well known, that dry sand will imbibe, by attraction, the humid effluvia of bodies: and as it partakes of an attractive, but not a repellent quality, human bodies have been found entire after a long course of time, where they have lain in such a stratum. As, on the contrary, where the soil has been naturally moist; and from that quality, repels as well as attracts, bodies are soon consumed. But upon viewing the earth, where this body lay, it appeared to be a soft loam, rather damp than otherwise and one would have imagined at first, that as all the bodies which were hereabouts, except this, were decayed, that this lay in a stratum of earth of a different nature. But, on examination, the earth was every where the same, and no sand visible any where. The third cause seems most likely to give some light into this matter, which is that of extreme old age. It is obvious, that in this period of life, the radical moisture be gins to subside, and that dryness ensues, which is the consequence, when the pores are fewer in number, and the perspiration altogether insensible. At this juncture, there |