SIR THOMAS BROWNE. 75 in fact, though so far removed from the capital of the empire, no fewer than ten imperial persons had [nsited it, viz., Caesar, Claudius, Britannicus, Ves- .pasian, Titus, Adrian, Severus, Commodus, Geta, ijtand Caracalla. I Of the precise antiquity of these reliques in Nor- |folk, nothing could be known, for there were no ancient coins or medals enclosed within the urns, which might lead to any conjecture about the date of the interment. In some which had been dug up " in Spittlefields (Spitalfields), near London, the coins of Claudius, Vespasian, Commodus, Anto- ninus, together with lachrymatories, lamps, bottles of liquor, and other articles of affectionate super- stition," had been discovered. From the thinness I of the bones in the Norfolk urns, particularly of the skulls, the smallness of the teeth, and the slen- i derness of the ribs and thigh bones, it was not im- I probable that many of them were the remains of women, or of persons of tender age. After a very I learned dissertation upon the funeral customs of i the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, the Jews, the Danes, &c., he concludes in favour of crema-
iion, or burning ; for, says he," to be knaved out
i of our graves, to have our sculls made drinking bowls, and our bones turned into pipes, to delight and sport our enemies, are tragical abominations, escaped in burning burials." — p. 17. To this Treatise on Urn-burial, the author added another upon the Garden of Cyrus, or the Quin- cunxial Lozenge, or Net-work Plantation of the ancients. It has been well observed that some of the most pleasing literary performances have been produced by learning and genius exercised upon
