MR. SEYMOUR HADEN ON BURIAL.
[TO THZ EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—May I be permitted to suggest that the tone of raillery in which you last week referred to Mr. Seymour Haden's letter to the Times of the 20th inst. was a little unjust?
Mr. Haden had, in an exhaustive letter earlier in the year, treated his subject on its logical and, in fact, more important side ; but he has no doubt found, as all who interest themselves in the reform of the Burial system will find, that the most serious difficulty in the way of improvement is the weight of sentimental prejudice. This difficulty will not readily be overcome by hard reasoning alone. Surely, unless there is deceit or fraud, there is nothing unworthy or improper in making use of arms similar in kind to those which are used by an opponent, and the force of which is most effectually appreciated by him. Or are we to deem rhetoric to be in all cases a false ally to logic?
I look upon this letter of Mr. Seymour Haden as addressed to the feminine element, whether male or female, in society, just as his former letter was addressed to the masculine element. From its attention to detail and its appeal to delicacies of feeling and picturesqueness of effect, it seemed admirably suited to influence that feminine element. There have been ladies, for instance, whose wills have dictated the shade of silk lining to be used in their own coffin, there are many who would carefully study the same question in relation to the coffins of those dear to them. In the latter case, at least, the thoughtfulness is innocent enough, but it is essentially feminine ; and it is desirable that the feminine amongst us should see that the change which their con- servatism resists will not deprive them of the opportunity of showing in their own way their tenderness for the departed.
Finally, may I suggest that the so-called iimetaxavorg is really Eremacausis ' (4peptiz icai;a10, or gradual combustion ?—I am, Sir, &c., H. M. R. POPE. 4 Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn, May 24.
[Doubtless our correspondent's conjectural emendation of Mr Seymour Haden's Greek is a correct one.—En. Spectator.]
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