I know not whether it is from the temper of the people, grave and
enthusiastic as it certainly is, or from the recollection of the ancient
Catholic opinions, when the funeral rites were always considered as a
period of festival to the living; but feasting, good cheer, and even
inebriety, were, and are, the frequent accompaniments of a Scottish
old-fashioned burial. What the funeral feast, or "dirgie," as it is
called, was to the men, the gloomy preparations of the dead body for the
coffin were to the women. To straight the contorted limbs upon a board
used for that melancholy purpose, to array the corpse in clean linen,
and over that in its woollen shroad, were operations committed always to
the old matrons of the village, and in which they found a singular and
gloomy delight.
The old women paid the Master their salutations with a ghastly smile,
which reminded him of the meeting betwixt Macbeth and the witches on
the blasted heath of Forres. He gave them some money, and recommended to
them the charge of the dead body of their contemporary, an office which
they willingly undertook; intimating to him at the same time that
he must leave the hut, in order that they might begin their mournful
duties.
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