ill-will, or committed some offence which
would be visited by punishment, confiscation,
or corruption of blood. But justice is
satisfied and the punishment obviated by
his self-destruction. On some occasions the
Happy Dispatch is perpetrated in a temple,
after a splendid entertainment given to
relations, friends, and the priests of the
temple. When it is performed privately in
the family circle, it is because a man dies
nay boen, or in secret. Possibly he has held
some office, and his death is concealed till the
reversion of his place has been obtained for
his son. Or if deeply in debt, he dies nay
boen for the benefit of his creditors, who
receive his salary whilst he continues nominally
alive.

When the necessity for the nay boen ceases,
or when a Japanese dies openly either by the
national Happy Dispatch or as a Japanese
sometimes dies—in the course of nature—
the first sign of mourning is the turning of
all doors and screens throughout the house
upside down, and all garments inside out.

Leaving now the Hari-Kari, let us turn
for a few moments to the last hours of a
Japanese, the father or mother of a family,
sick of some mortal disorder. When all
chance of recovery is at an end and death
seems to be approaching, the garments of the
sick person are changed, and clean ones put
on; the last wishes are asked for and written
down, and the deepest silence is maintained.
Men at this time are tended by men, and
women by women. When all is over, the
relatives come to bewail the dead, and the
body is carried to another place, and covered
with the robe worn during life, but the skirt
is placed over the head and the sleeves over
the feet of the corpse; its head is laid towards
the north, with the face turned to the east,
and the face is covered with light gauze.
Screens are placed round the body to keep
away cats; for the Japanese say that if a
cat jumps on a corpse, the dead will come
to life; and there is a severe law against
striking a cat with a broomstick, because, it
is said, in that case the body dies again.

The son and heir of the deceased person
and his family mourn in white garments;
sometimes they tie up their hair with a
hempen cord, and they must neither wash nor
eat for three days. If they cannot fast so long,
friends may give them a little moist rice.

All matters of business and ceremony are
carried on by friends; as the family are
supposed to be too much absorbed in sorrow to
enter into any of the details and preparations
required on this occasion. One friend orders
the funeral; another stands at the door of
the house, in a dress of ceremony, to receive
visits of condolence; another superintends
the digging of the grave. This is shaped like
a well, and situated in the grounds of a temple.
If the deceased be married, the grave is made
large enough to receive husband and wife;
and on the monument bearing the name of
the deceased, the name of the survivor will
be engraved, to be blackened or else gilt at a
future time.

A fourth friend superintends the laying
out of the corpse, and, in a few days, the
setting of it up. For the corpse, washed and
clothed in a white shroud—for a married
woman, the dress that she wore at her wedding
—is placed in the sitting posture of the
country, in a coffin shaped like a washing-tub,
and enclosed in an earthenware vessel of the
same shape. Thus it is borne to the grave,
in a procession consisting of the family and
kindred in mourning garments of pure white,
friends in their dress of ceremony, and
servants carrying paper lanterns and torches.
The ladies of the family and female friends
close the procession, each in her own norimon
or palanquin, and attended by her female
servants. A funeral service is performed by
the priests of the temple, and the corpse is
interred to a peculiar kind of music, produced
by clashing together copper basins. In
former times the dead man's house was burnt
—now, it is merely purified by kindling a great
fire before it, and burning odorous oils and
spices. Long ago, also, servants were buried
alive with their masters; then, they were
allowed to kill themselves before being
buried (in both cases this was expressly stipulated
when they were hired); now, effigies
are substituted for living men.

For forty-nine days after the funeral, the
family of the deceased repair daily to the
tomb, where they pray and offer a peculiar
kind of cake, as many in number as days
have elapsed since the funeral. During this
time, the men allow their heads and beards
to remain uncared for; but on the fiftieth
day, they are shaven and trimmed, all signs
of mourning are laid aside, and both men
and women resume their ordinary occupations.
For half a century, however, the children
and grand-children of the deceased will
continue to visit and make offerings at the
tomb.

MR. CHARLES DICKENS'S READINGS

AT ST. MARTIN'S HALL.

IT has been found unavoidable to appoint TWO MORE
READINGS of THE CHRISTMAS CAROL, and THE TRIAL
from PICKWICK. They will take place

On Thursday, February 3rd; and

On Thursday, February 10th.

The Doors will be open for each Reading at Seven.
Commence at eight exactly.

Places for each Reading: Stalls (numbered and
reserved), Four Shillings; Centre Area and Balconies,
Two Shillings; Back Seats, One Shilling.

Tickets to be had at Messrs. Chapman and Hall's,
Publishers, 193, Piccadilly; and at St. Martin's Hall,
Long Acre.