P.T.W.
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(For The Mirror.)
The origin of the veil is referred by the Greeks to
modesty and bashfulness.
About thirty furlongs from the city of Sparta, Icarius
placed a statue of MODESTY, for the purpose of perpetuating
the following incident:—Icarius having
married his daughter to Ulysses, solicited his son-in-law
to fix his household in Sparta, and remain there with
his wife, to which Ulysses would not consent.
Icarius made the request to his daughter, conjuring
her not to abandon him, but seeing her ready to depart
with Ulysses, for Ithaca, he redoubled his efforts
to detain her, nor could he be prevailed on to desist
from following the chariot on the way.
Ulysses wearied with the importunities of Icarius,
said to his wife, “You can best answer
this request; it is yours to determine whether you
will remain with your father at Sparta, or depart with
your husband for Ithaca; you are mistress of the decision.”
The beautiful Penelope finding herself in this dilemma,
blushed, and without making the least reply, drew
her veil over her face, thereby intimating a denial
to her father’s request, and sunk into the arms
of her husband.
Icarius, very sensibly affected by this behaviour,
and being desirous of transmitting it to posterity
by the most durable monument, consecrated a statue
to Modesty, on the very spot where Penelope had thrown
the veil over her face; that after her it might be
a universal symbol of delicacy among the fair sex.
C.K.W.
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The manners of the Welsh must have been even less
delicate than those of the Anglo-Saxons; for they
thought it necessary to make a law, “that none
of the courtiers should give the queen a blow, or snatch
any thing with violence from her, under the penalty
of incurring her majesty’s displeasure.”
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The funeral pile, in this case, is a car on wheels;
and the body is blown away, from a huge wooden cannon
or mortar, with the purpose, I believe, of conveying
the soul more rapidly to heaven! Immense crowds
are collected on occasions of these funerals, which,
far from being conducted with mourning or solemnity,
are occasions of rude mirth and boisterous rejoicing.
Ropes are attached to each extremity of the car, and
pulled in opposite directions by adverse parties; one
of these being for consuming the body, the other for
opposing it. The latter are at length overcome,
fire is set to the pile amidst loud acclamations,
and the ceremony is consummated.—Crawford’s
Embassy to Ava.
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