P.T.W.

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ORIGIN OF WEARING THE VEIL.

(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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FUNERAL OF A BURMESE PRIEST.

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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PLAN FOR A NEW CITY.