Chapter V: Part 5

WILLIAM ETTY, ROYAL ACADEMICIAN,
Who in his brilliant works has left
an enduring monument of his exalted genius.
Earnestly aiming to attain that lofty position on which
his highly gifted talents have placed him, he throughout life
exhibited an undeviating perseverance in his profession.

To promote its advancement in his beloved country he watched the progress
of those engaged in its study with the most disinterested kindness.
To a cultivated and highly poetical mind
Were united a cheerfulness and sweetness of disposition
With great simplicity and urbanity of manners.
He was richly endeared to all who knew him.
His piety was unaffected, his faith in Christ sincere,
and his devotion to God exemplary.
He was born at York, March 10th, 1787, and died
in his native city, November 13th, 1849.
"Why seek ye the living among the dead?"--Luke xxii., 5.

Etty, says Fairholt, had that wisdom which few men possess, the wisdom of a contented mind. He loved his quiet home, in his provincial birthplace, better than the bustle of London, or the notoriety he might obtain by a residence there. His character and his talent would ensure him attention and deference anywhere, but he preferred his own nook by the old church at York. He probably felt with the poet, that

"The wind is strongest on the highest hills,
The quiet life is in the vale below."

The remains of Cruikshank rest in the crypt in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and over his grave the following inscription appears:--

GEORGE CRUIKSHANK,
Artist,
Designer, Etcher, Painter.
Born at No. -- Duke Street, St. George's, Bloomsbury, London
on September 27th, 1792.
Died at 263, Hampstead Road, St. Pancras, London,
on February 1st, 1878.
Aged 86 years.

In memory of his Genius and his Art,
His matchless Industry and worthy Work
For all his fellow-men, This monument
Is humbly placed within this sacred Fane
By her who loved him best, his widowed wife.
Eliza Cruikshank,
Feb. 9th, 1880.

A sketch of his life has been written by Walter Hamilton, under the title of "George Cruikshank, Artist and Humourist." (London: Elliot Stock, 1878.) William Bates, B.A., M.R.C.S., wrote "George Cruikshank, the Artist, the Humourist, and the Man, with Some Account of his Brother Robert." (Birmingham: Houghton & Hammond, 1878.) Blanchard Jerrold wrote "The Life of George Cruikshank." (London: Chatto & Windus, a new edition with eighty-four illustrations, 1883.) An able article contributed to the _Westminster Review_, by William Makepeace Thackeray, has been reproduced in book form by George Redway, London (1884). Some time ago the following appeared in a newspaper:--One day while Dr. B. W. Richardson was engaged at his house with an old patient who had been away many years in India, George Cruikshank's card was handed to the doctor. "It must be the grandson, or the son, at any rate, of the great artist I remember as a boy," said the patient. "It is impossible that George Cruikshank of Queen Caroline's trial-time can be alive!" The doctor asked the vivacious George to come in. He tripped in, in his eighty-fourth year, and, when the old officer expressed his astonishment, George exclaimed, "I'll show you whether he is alive!" With this he took the poker and tongs from the grate, laid them upon the carpet, and executed the sword dance before Dr. Richardson's astonished patient.

At the east end of the High Street, Portsmouth, and nearly opposite the house before which the Duke of Buckingham was stabbed by Felton, in 1628, stands the Unitarian Chapel. John Pounds habitually worshipped here on a Sunday evening, and the place where he used to sit, in front of one of the side galleries, just to the right of the minister, is still pointed out. He lies buried in the graveyard, on the left-hand side of the chapel, near the end of the little foot-path which leads round the building to the vestries. Shortly after his death a tablet was placed in the chapel, beneath the gallery, to his memory. Although his grave was dug as near as possible to that part of the chapel wall opposite where he used to sit, yet this tablet was, apparently without any reason, put some distance away from the spot. In shape and material it is of the usual orthodox style--a square slab of white marble, edged with black, and inscribed on it are the words:--

Erected by friends
as a memorial of their esteem
and respect for
JOHN POUNDS,
who, while earning his livelihood
by mending shoes, gratuitously
educated, and in part clothed and fed,
some hundreds of poor children.
He died suddenly
on the 1st of January, 1839,
aged 72 years.
Thou shalt be blessed: for they
cannot recompense thee.

Not long after this tablet was placed in position the idea was mooted that a monument should be erected over his grave. The Rev. Henry Hawkes, the minister who then had charge of the place, at once took the matter up, and subscriptions came in so well that the monument was more than paid for. The surplus money was wisely laid out in the purchase of a Memorial Library, which still occupies one of the ante-rooms of the chapel. The monument erected over the grave is of a suitable description, plain but substantial, and is in form a square and somewhat tapering block of stone about four feet high. On the front is the following inscription:--

Underneath this Monument
rest the mortal remains of
JOHN POUNDS,
the Philanthropic Shoemaker
of St. Mary's Street, Portsmouth,
who while
working at his trade in a very
small room, gratuitously
instructed in a useful education
and partly clothed and fed,
some hundreds of girls and boys.
He died suddenly,
on New Year's Day, MDCCCXXXIX,
while in his active beneficence,
aged LXXII years.

"Well done thou good and faithful
servant, enter thou into the joy
of thy Lord."

"Verily I say unto thee, inasmuch as
thou hast done it unto one of the
least of these My brethren, thou
hast done it unto Me."

On the side facing the library door there are, in addition to the above, the ensuing sentences:--

This Monument
has been erected chiefly
by means of Penny Subscriptions,
not only from the Christian
Brotherhood
with whom JOHN POUNDS
habitually worshipped
in the adjoining Chapel,
but from persons of widely
different Religious opinions
throughout Great Britain
and from the most distant parts
of the World.

In connection with this memorial
has also been founded in like manner
within these precincts
a Library to his memory
designed to extend
to an indefinite futurity
the solid mental and moral usefulness
to which the philanthropic shoemaker
was so earnestly devoted
to the last day of his life.
Pray for the blessing of God to prosper it.

Large trees overshade the modest monument, and the spot is a quiet one, being as far as possible away from the street.[4]

On the gravestone of Richard Turner, Preston, a hawker of fish, the following inscription appears:

Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of RICHARD TURNER, author
of the word Teetotal, as applied to abstinence from all intoxicating
liquors, who departed this life on the 27th day of October, 1846, aged
56 years.

In Mr. W. E. A. Axon's able and entertaining volume, "Lancashire Gleanings" (pub. 1883), is an interesting chapter on the "Origin of the Word 'Teetotal.'" In the same work we are told that Dr. Whitaker, the historian of Whalley, wrote the following epitaph on a model publican:--

Here lies the Body of
JOHN WIGGLESWORTH,
More than fifty years he was the
perpetual Innkeeper in this Town.
Withstanding the temptations of that dangerous calling,
he maintained good order in his
House, kept the Sabbath day Holy,
frequented the Public Worship
with his Family, induced his guests
to do the same, and regularly
partook of the Holy Communion.
He was also bountiful to the Poor,
in private as well as in public,
and, by the blessings of Providence
on a life so spent, died
possessed of competent Wealth,
Feb. 28, 1813,
aged 77 years.

The churchyard of Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, contains a gravestone bearing an inscription as follows:--

As a warning to female virtue,
And a humble monument of female chastity,
This stone marks the grave of
MARY ASHFORD,
Who, in the 20th year of her age, having
Incautiously repaired to a scene of amusement,
Was brutally violated and murdered
On the 27th of May, 1817.

Lovely and chaste as the primrose pale,
Rifled of virgin sweetness by the gale,
Mary! the wretch who thee remorseless slew
Avenging wrath, who sleeps not, will pursue;
For though the deed of blood was veiled in night,
Will not the Judge of all mankind do right?
Fair blighted flower, the muse that weeps thy doom,
Rears o'er thy murdered form this warning tomb.

The writer of the foregoing epitaph was Dr. Booker, vicar of Dudley. The inscription is associated with one of the most remarkable trials of the present century. It will not be without interest to furnish a few notes on the case. One Abraham Thornton was tried at the Warwick Assizes for the murder of Mary Ashford, and acquitted. The brother and next of kin of the deceased, not being satisfied with the verdict, sued out, as the law allowed him, an appeal against Thornton, by which he could be put on his trial again. The law allowed the appeal in case of murder, and it also gave option to the accused of having it tried by wager of law or by wager of battle. The brother of the unfortunate woman had taken no account of this, and accordingly, not only Mr. Ashford but the judge, jury, and bar were taken greatly aback, and stricken with dismay, when the accused, being requested to plead, took a paper from Mr. Reader, his counsel, and a pair of gloves, one of which he drew on, and, throwing the other on the ground, exclaimed, "Not guilty; and I am ready to defend the same with my body!" Lord Ellenborough on the bench appeared grave, and the accuser looked amazed, so the court was adjourned to enable the judge to have an opportunity of conferring with his learned brethren. After several adjournments, Lord Ellenborough at last declared solemnly, but reluctantly, that wager of battle was still the law of the land, and that the accused had a right of appeal to it. To get rid of the law an attempt was made, by passing a short and speedy Act of Parliament, but this was ruled impossible, as it would have been _ex post facto_, and people waited curiously to see the lists set up in the Tothill Fields. As Mr. Ashford refused to meet Thornton, he was obliged to cry "craven!" After that the appellor was allowed to go at large, and he could not be again tried by wager of law after having claimed his wager of battle. In 1819 an Act was passed to prevent any further appeals for wager of battle.

The following is from a gravestone in Saddleworth churchyard, and tells a painful story:--

Here lie interred the dreadfully bruised and lacerated bodies of
WILLIAM BRADBURY and THOMAS his son, both of Greenfield, who were
together savagely murdered, in an unusually horrible manner, on Monday
night, April 2nd, 1832, old William being 84, and Thomas 46 years old.

Throughout the land, wherever news is read,
Intelligence of their sad death has spread;
Those now who talk of far-fam'd Greenfield's hills
Will think of Bill o' Jacks and Tom o' Bills.

Such interest did their tragic end excite
That, ere they were removed from human sight,
Thousands upon thousands daily came to see
The bloody scene of the catastrophe.

One house, one business, and one bed,
And one most shocking death they had;
One funeral came, one inquest pass'd,
And now one grave they have at last.

The following on a Hull character is from South Cave churchyard:--

In memory of THOMAS SCRATCHARD,
Who dy'd rich in friends, Dec. 10, 1809.
Aged 58 years.

That Ann lov'd Tom, is very true,
Perhaps you'll say, what's that to you.
Who e'er thou art, remember this,
Tom lov'd Ann, 'twas that made bliss.

In Welton churchyard, near Hull, the next curious inscription appears on an old gravestone:--

Here lieth He ould
Jeremy who hath
eight times maried
been but now in his
ould age he lies
in his cage under
the grass so green
which JEREMIAH SIMP-
SON departed this
Life in the 84 yeare
of his age in the
year of our Lord
1719.

According to "Shropshire Folk-Lore" (published 1883), Edward Burton, of Longner, Shrewsbury, died in 1558, and in the garden of Longner Hall is a plain altar-tomb, dated 1614. He was a zealous Protestant, and died suddenly of excitement on hearing Shrewsbury bells ring for the accession of Queen Elizabeth. The minister of St. Chad's Church, Shrewsbury, refused to permit his body to be buried there; it was therefore taken home again and laid in his garden:--

Was't for denying Christ, or some notorious fact,
That this man's body Christian burial lackt?
Oh no; his faithful true profession
Was the chief cause, what then was held transgression.
When Pop'ry here did reign, the See of Rome
Would not admit to any such, a tomb
Within their Idol Temple Walls, but he,
Truly professing Christianity,
Was like Christ Jesus in a garden laid,
Where he shall rest in peace till it be said,
"Come, faithful servant, come, receive with Me,
A just reward of thy integrity."

Mr. J. Potter Briscoe favours us with an account of a Nottingham character, and a copy of his epitaph. Vincent Eyre was by trade a needle-maker, and was a firm and consistent Tory in politics, taking an active interest in all the party struggles of the period. His good nature and honesty made him popular among the poorer classes, with whom he chiefly associated. A commendable trait in his character is worthy of special mention, namely, that, notwithstanding frequent temptations, he spurned to take a bribe from anyone. In the year 1727 an election for a Member of Parliament took place, and all the ardour of Vin's nature was at once aroused in the interests of his favourite party. The Tory candidate, Mr. Borlase Warren, was opposed by Mr. John Plumtree, the Whig nominee, and, in the heat of the excitement, Vin emphatically declared that he should not mind dying immediately if the Tories gained the victory. Strange to relate, such an event actually occurred, for when the contest and the "chairing" of the victor was over, he fell down dead with joy, September 6th, 1727. The epitaph upon him is as follows:--

Here lies VIN EYRE;
Let fall a tear
For one true man of honour;
No courtly lord,
Who breaks his word,
Will ever be a mourner.
In freedom's cause
He stretched his jaws,
Exhausted all his spirit,
Then fell down dead.
It must be said
He was a man of merit.
Let Freemen be
As brave as he,
And vote without a guinea;
VIN EYRE is hurled
To t'other world,
And ne'er took bribe or penny.

True to his friend, to helpless parent kind,
He died in honour's cause, to interest blind.
Why should we grieve life's but an airy toy?
We vainly weep for him who died of joy.

The following lines to the memory of Thomas Stokes are from his gravestone in Burton churchyard, upon which a profile of his head is cut. He for many years swept the roads in Burton:--

This stone
was raised by Subscription
to the memory of
THOMAS STOKES,
an eccentric, but much respected,
Deaf and Dumb man,
better known by the name of
"DUMB TOM,"
who departed this life Feb. 25th, 1837,
aged 54 years.

What man can pause and charge this senseless dust
With fraud, or subtilty, or aught unjust?
How few can conscientiously declare
Their acts have been as honourably fair?
No gilded bait, no heart ensnaring need
Could bribe poor STOKES to one dishonest deed.
Firm in attachment to his friends most true--
Though Deaf and Dumb, he was excell'd by few.
Go ye, by nature form'd without defect,
And copy Tom, and gain as much respect.

Next we deal with an instance of pure affection. The churchyard of the Yorkshire village of Bowes contains the grave of two lovers, whose touching fate suggested Mallet's beautiful ballad of "Edwin and Emma." The real names of the couple were Rodger Wrightson and Martha Railton. The story is rendered with no less accuracy than pathos by the poet:--

Far in the windings of the vale,
Fast by a sheltering wood,
The safe retreat of health and peace,
A humble cottage stood.

There beauteous Emma flourished fair,
Beneath a mother's eye;
Whose only wish on earth was now
To see her blest and die.

Long had she filled each youth with love,
Each maiden with despair,
And though by all a wonder owned,
Yet knew not she was fair.

Till Edwin came, the pride of swains,
A soul devoid of art;
And from whose eyes, serenely mild,
Shone forth the feeling heart.

We are told that Edwin's father and sister were bitterly opposed to their love. The poor youth pined away. When he was dying Emma was permitted to see him, but the cruel sister would scarcely allow her to bid him a word of farewell. Returning home, she heard the passing bell toll for the death of her lover--

Just then she reached, with trembling step,
Her aged mother's door--
"He's gone!" she cried, "and I shall see
That angel face no more!"

"I feel, I feel this breaking heart
Beat high against my side"--
From her white arm down sunk her head;
She, shivering, sighed, and died.

The lovers were buried the same day and in the same grave. In the year 1848, Dr. F. Dinsdale, F.S.A., editor of the "Ballads and Songs of David Mallet," etc., erected a simple but tasteful monument to the memory of the lovers, bearing the following inscription:--

RODGER WRIGHTSON, junr., and MARTHA RAILTON, both of Bowes; buried in
one grave. He died in a fever, and upon tolling of his passing bell,
she cry'd out My heart is broken and in a few hours expired, purely
thro' love, March 15, 1714-15. Such is the brief and touching record
contained in the parish register of burials. It has been handed down
by unvarying tradition that the grave was at the west end of the
church, directly beneath the bells. The sad history of these true and
faithful lovers forms the subject of Mallet's pathetic ballad of
"Edwin and Emma."[5]

In Middleton Tyas Church, near Richmond, is the following:--

This Monument rescues from Oblivion
the Remains of the Reverend JOHN MAWER, D.D.,
Late vicar of this Parish, who died Nov. 18, 1763, aged 60.
As also of HANNAH MAWER, his wife, who died
Dec. 20th, 1766, aged 72.
Buried in this Chancel.
They were persons of eminent worth.
The Doctor was descended from the Royal Family
of Mawer, and was inferior to none of his illustrious
ancestors in personal merit, being the greatest
Linguist this Nation ever produced.
He was able to speak & write twenty-two Languages,
and particularly excelled in the Eastern Tongues,
in which he proposed to His Royal Highness
Frederick Prince of Wales, to whom he was firmly
attached, to propagate the Christian Religion
in the Abyssinian Empire; a great and noble
Design, which was frustrated by the
Death of that amiable Prince; to the great mortification of
this excellent Person, whose merit meeting with
no reward in this world, will, it's to be hoped, receive
it in the next, from that Being which Justice
only can influence.

Miscellaneous Epitaphs.

We bring together under this heading a number of specimens that we could not include in the foregoing chapters of classified epitaphs.

An epitaph on a brass in the south aisle of Barton Church, in Norfolk, is notable as being one of the oldest in existence in English, such memorials being usually in Latin at the period from which it dates. The inscription is as follows:--

Here are laid under this stone in the cley
THOMAS AMYS and his wyffe MARGERY.
Sometime we were, as you now be,
And as we be, after this so shall ye.
Of the good as God had, the said Thomas lent,
Did make this chapel of a good intent.
Wherefore they desire of you that be
To pray for them to the last eternity.
I beseach all people far and ner
To pray for me THOMAS AMYS heartily,
Which gave a mesbooke and made this chapel here,
And a suit of blew damask also gave I.
Of God 1511 and 5 yere
I the said Thomas deceased verily,
And the 4th day of August was buried here,
On whose soul God have mercy.

In the churchyard of Stanton Harcourt is a gravestone bearing the following inscription:--

Near this place lie the bodies of
JOHN HEWET and MARY DREW,
an industrious young Man
and virtuous Maiden of this Parish;
Who, being at Harvest Work
(with several others)
were in one instant killed by Lightning
the last day of July 1718.

Think not, by rig'rous Judgment seiz'd,
A Pair so faithful could expire;
Victims so pure Heav'n saw well pleas'd,
And snatch'd them in celestial fire.

Live well, and fear no sudden fate;
When God calls Virtue to the grave,
Alike 'tis Justice soon or late,
Mercy alike to kill or save.

Virtue unmov'd can hear the call,
And face the flash that melts the ball.

According to a letter from Gay, the poet, to Fenton, relating the death of the pair, who were lovers, this epitaph was written by Pope, and the memorial erected at the cost of Lord Harcourt on the condition that Gay or Pope should write the epitaph. Gay gives the following as the joint production of the two poets:--

When Eastern lovers feed the fun'ral fire,
On the same pile the faithful pair expire:
Here pitying Heav'n that virtue mutual found,
And blasted both, that it might neither wound.
Hearts so sincere th' Almighty saw well pleas'd,
Sent his own lightning, and the victims seiz'd.

"But," wrote Gay, "my Lord is apprehensive the country people will not understand this; and Mr. Pope says he'll make one with something of Scripture in it, and with as little of poetry as Hopkins and Sternhold." Hence the lines which appear on the tomb of the lovers.

Our next example is from Bury St. Edmunds churchyard:--

Here lies interred the Body of
MARY HASELTON,
A young maiden of this town,
Born of Roman Catholic parents,
And virtuously brought up,
Who, being in the act of prayer
Repeating her vespers,
Was instantaneously killed by a
flash of Lightning, August 16th,
1785. Aged 9 years.

Not Siloam's ruinous tower the victims slew,
Because above the many sinn'd the few,
Nor here the fated lightning wreaked its rage
By vengeance sent for crimes matur'd by age.
For whilst the thunder's awful voice was heard,
The little suppliant with its hands uprear'd.
Addressed her God in prayers the priest had taught,
His mercy craved, and His protection sought;
Learn reader hence that wisdom to adore,
Thou canst not scan and fear His boundless power;
Safe shalt thou be if thou perform'st His will,
Blest if he spares, and more blest should He kill.

From Bury St. Edmunds is the following inscription which tells a sad story of the low value placed on human life at the close of the eighteenth century:--

Reader,
Pause at this humble stone it records
The fall of unguarded youth by the allurements of
vice and treacherous snares of seduction.

SARAH LLOYD
On the 23rd April, 1800, in the 22nd year of her age,
Suffered a just and ignominious death.
For admitting her abandoned seducer in the
dwelling-house of her mistress, on the 3rd of
October, 1799, and becoming the instrument in
his hands of the crime of robbery and
housebreaking.
These were her last words:
"May my example be a warning to thousands."

A lover at York inscribed the following lines to his sweetheart, who was accidentally drowned, December 24th, 1796:--

Nigh to the river Ouse, in York's fair city,
Unto this pretty maid death shew'd no pity;
As soon as she'd her pail with water fill'd
Came sudden death, and life like water spill'd.

In Holy Trinity Church, Hull, is an elegant marble monument by Earle, with figures of a mother and two children. The inscription tells a painful story, and is as follows:--

OUR JOHN WILLIAM,

In the sixteenth year of his age, on the night of January 19th, 1858,
was swept by the fury of a storm, from the pierhead, into the sea. We
never found him--he was not, for God took him; the waves bore him to
the hollow of the Father's hand. With hope and joy we cherished our
last surviving flower, but the wind passed over it, and it was gone.

An infant brother had gone before, October 15th, 1841. In heaven their
angel does always behold the face of our Father.

To the memory of these

We, their parents, John and Louisa Gray erect this monument of human
sorrow and Christian hope. "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in
thy sight!"

The record of the death of the parents follows.

An accidental death is recorded on a tombstone in Burton Joyce churchyard, placed to the memory of Elizabeth Cliff, who died in 1835:--

This monumental stone records the name
Of her who perished in the night by flame
Sudden and awful, for her hoary head;
She was brought here to sleep amongst the dead.
Her loving husband strove to damp the flame
Till he was nearly sacrificed the same,
Her sleeping dust, tho' by thee rudely trod,
Proclaims aloud, prepare to meet thy God.

A tombstone in Creton churchyard states:--

On a Thursday she was born,
On a Thursday made a bride,
On a Thursday put to bed,
On a Thursday broke her leg, and
On a Thursday died.

From Kingsbridge, Devonshire, we have the following:--

Here I lie, at the chancel door,
Here I lie, because I'm poor:
The farther in, the more you pay,
Here I lie as warm as they.

In the churchyard of Kirk Hallam, Derbyshire, a good specimen of a true Englishman is buried, named Samuel Cleater, who died May 1st, 1811, aged 65 years. The two-lined epitaph has such a genuine, sturdy ring about it, that it deserves to be rescued from oblivion:--

True to his King, his country was his glory,
When Bony won, he said it was a story.

A monument in Bakewell Church, Derbyshire, is a curiosity, blending as it does in a remarkable manner business, loyalty, and religion:--

To the memory of MATTHEW STRUTT, of this town, farrier, long famed in
these parts for veterinary skill. A good neighbour, and a staunch
friend to Church and King. Being Churchwarden at the time the present
peal of bells were hung, through zeal for the house of God, and
unremitting attention to the airy business of the belfry, he caught a
cold, which terminated his existence, May 25, 1798, in the 68th year
of his age.

_From a Photo by Wellsted & Son, Hull._]

The old church of St. Mary's, Sculcoates, Hull, contains several interesting monuments, and we give a picture from a specially taken photograph for this volume of a quaint-looking mural memorial, having on it an inscription in shorthand. In Sheahan's "History of Hull," the following translation is given:--

In the vault beneath this stone lies the body of Mrs. JANE DELAMOTH,
who departed this life, 10th January, 1761. She was a poor sinner, but
not wicked without holiness, departing from good works, and departed
in the faith of the Catholic Church, in full assurance of eternal
happiness, by the agony and bloody sweat, by the cross and passion, by
the precious death and burial, by the glorious resurrection and
ascension of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

We believe that the foregoing is a unique epitaph, at all events we have not heard of or seen any other monumental inscription in shorthand.

The following curious epitaph is from Wirksworth, Derbyshire:--

Near this place lies the body of
PHILIP SHULLCROSS,

Once an eminent Quill-driver to the attorneys in this Town. He died
the 17th of Nov., 1787, aged 67.

Viewing Philip in a moral light, the most prominent and remarkable
features in his character were his zeal and invincible attachment to
dogs and cats, and his unbounded benevolence towards them, as well as
towards his fellow-creatures.

TO THE CRITIC.

Seek not to show the devious paths Phil trode,
Nor tear his frailties from their dread abode,
In modest sculpture let this tombstone tell,
That much esteem'd he lived, and much regretted fell.

At Castleton, in the Peak of Derbyshire, is another curious epitaph, partly in English and partly in Latin, to the memory of an attorney-at-law named Micah Hall, who died in 1804. It is said to have been penned by himself, and is more epigrammatic than reverent. It is as follows:--

To
The memory of
MICAH HALL, Gentleman,
Attorney-at-Law,
Who died on the 14th of May, 1804,
Aged 79 years.

Quid eram, nescitis;
Quid sum, nescitis;
Ubi abii, nescitis;
Valete.

This verse has been rendered thus:--

What I was you know not--
What I am you know not--
Whither I am gone you know not--
Go about your business.

In Sarnesfield churchyard, near Weobley, is the tombstone of John Abel, the celebrated architect of the market-houses of Hereford, Leominster, Knighton, and Brecknock, who died in the year 1694, having attained the ripe old age of ninety-seven. The memorial stone is adorned with three statues in kneeling posture, representing Abel and his two wives; and also displayed are the emblems of his profession--the rule, the compass, and the square--the whole being designed and sculptured by himself. The epitaph, a very quaint one, was also of his own writing, and runs thus:--

This craggy stone a covering is for an architector's bed;
That lofty buildings raised high, yet now lyes low his head;
His line and rule, so death concludes, are locked up in store;
Build they who list, or they who wist, for he can build no more.

His house of clay could hold no longer
May Heaven's joys build him a stronger.
JOHN ABEL.
Vive ut vivas in vitam aeternam.

In the churchyard of Walcott, Norfolk, the following cynical epitaph may be seen:--

In memory of
WILLIAM WISEMAN,
who died 5th of August, 1834, aged 72 years.

Under this marble, or under this sill,
Or under this turf, or e'en what you will,
Whatever an heir, or a friend in his stead,
Or any good creature, shall lay o'er my head,
Lies one who ne'er cared, and still cares not a pin
What they said, or may say, of the mortal within,
But who, living and dying, serene, still, and free,
Trusts in God that as well as he was he shall be.

From Gilling churchyard, Richmondshire, is the following:--

Unto the mournful fate of young JOHN MOORE,
Who fell a victim to some villain's power;
In Richmond Lane, near to Ask Hall, 'tis said,
There was his life most cruelly betray'd.
Shot with a gun, by some abandon'd rake,
Then knock'd o' th' head with a hedging stake,
His soul, I trust, is with the blest above,
There to enjoy eternal rest and love;
Then let us pray his murderer to discover,
That he to justice may be brought over.

The crime occurred in 1750, and the murderer was never discovered.

From a gravestone in Patcham was copied the following inscription:--

Sacred to the memory of
DANIEL SCALES,
who was unfortunately shot on Tuesday evening,
Nov. 7, 1796.

Alas! swift flew the fated lead,
Which pierced through the young man's head,
He instant fell, resigned his breath,
And closed his languid eyes on death.
And you who to this stone draw near,
Oh! pray let fall the pitying tear,
From this sad instance may we all
Prepare to meet Jehovah's call.

The real story of Scales' death is given in Chambers's "Book of Days," and is as follows: Daniel Scales was a desperate smuggler, and one night he, with many more, was coming from Brighton heavily laden, when the Excise officers and soldiers fell in with them. The smugglers fled in all directions; a riding officer, as such persons were called, met this man, and called upon him to surrender his booty, which he refused to do. The officer knew that "he was too good a man for him, for they had tried it out before; so he shot Daniel through the head."

The following inscription copied from a monument at Darfield, near Barnsley, records a murder which occurred on the spot where the stone is placed:--

Sacred
To the memory of
THOMAS DEPLEDGE,
Who was murdered at Darfield,
On the 11th of October, 1841.

At midnight drear by this wayside
A murdered man poor DEPLEDGE died,
The guiltless victim of a blow
Aimed to have brought another low,
From men whom he had never harmed
By hate and drunken passions warmed.
Now learn to shun in youth's fresh spring
The courses which to ruin bring.

A stone dated 1853, the Minster graveyard, Beverley, is placed to the memory of the victim of a railway carriage tragedy, and bears the following extraordinary inscription:--

Mysterious was my cause of Death
In the Prime of Life I Fell;
For days I Lived yet ne'er had breath
The secret of my fate to tell.
Farewell my child and husband dear
By cruel hands I leave you,
Now that I'm dead, and sleeping here,
My Murderer may deceive you,
Though I am dead, yet I shall live,
I must my Murderer meet,
And then Evidence, shall give
My cause of death complete.
Forgive my child and husband dear,
That cruel Man of blood;
He soon for murder must appear
Before the Son of God.

Near the west end of Holy Trinity Church, Stalham, Norfolk, may be seen a gravestone bearing the following inscription:--

JAMES AMIES, 1831.

Here lies an honest independent man,
Boast more ye great ones if ye can;
I have been kicked by a bull and ram,
Now let me lay contented as I am.

The following singular verse occurs upon a tombstone contiguous to the chancel door in Grindon churchyard, near Leek, Staffordshire:--

Farewell, dear friends; to follow me prepare;
Also our loss we'd have you to beware,
And your own business mind. Let us alone,
For you have faults great plenty of your own.
Judge not of us, now We are in our Graves
Lest ye be Judg'd and awfull Sentence have;
For Backbiters, railers, thieves, and liars,
Must torment have in Everlasting Fires.

On a stone in the north aisle of the church of St. Peter of Mancroft, Norwich, is the following pathetic inscription:--

SUSAN BROWNE, the last deceased of eleven children (the first ten
interr'd before the northern porch) from their surviving parents, John
and Susan his wife. She sought a city to come, and upon the 30th of
August departed hence and found it.

A{o} AEt. 19. Dm. 1686.

Here lies a single Flower scarcely blowne,
Ten more, before the Northern Door are strowne,
Pluckt from the self-same Stalke, only to be
Transplanted to a better Nursery.

From Hedon, in Holderness, East Yorkshire, is the following:--

Here lyeth the body of
WILLIAM STRUTTON, of Patrington,
Buried the 18{th} of May 1734
Aged 97.
Who had, by his first wife, twenty-eight children,
And by a second seventeen;
Own father to forty-five
Grand-father to eighty-six,
Great Grand-father to ninety-seven,
And Great, Great-Grand-father to twenty-three;
In all two hundred and fifty-one.

In Laurence Lideard churchyard, says Pettigrew, is a similar one:--

The man that rests in this grave has had 8 wives,
by whom he had 45 children, and 20 grand-
children. He was born rich, lived and
died poor, aged 94 years,
July 30th, 1774.
Born at Bewdley in Worcestershire in 1650.

According to the epitaph of Ann Jennings at Wolstanton:--

Some have children--some have none--
Here lies the mother of twenty-one.

The following quaint epitaph in Dalry Cemetery commemorates John Robertson, a native of the United States, who died 29th September, 1860, aged 22:--

Oh, stranger! pause, and give one sigh
For the sake of him who here doth lie
Beneath this little mound of earth,
Two thousand miles from land of birth.

The Rev. William Mason, the Hull poet, married in 1765 Mary Sherman, of Hull. Two years later she died of consumption at Bristol. In the Cathedral of that city is a monument containing the following lines by her husband:--

Take, holy earth! all that my soul holds dear:
Take that best gift which heaven so lately gave:
To Bristol's fount I bore with trembling care
Her faded form; she bow'd to taste the wave,
And died. Does youth, does beauty, read the line?
Does sympathetic fear their breasts alarm?
Speak, dead Maria! breathe a strain divine;
Ev'n from the grave thou shalt have power to charm.
Bid them be chaste, be innocent, like thee;
Bid them in duty's sphere as meekly move;
And if so fair, from vanity as free;
As firm in friendship, and as fond in love--
Tell them, though 'tis an awful thing to die,
('Twas e'en to thee) yet the dread path once trod,
Heav'n lifts its everlasting portals high,
And bids "the pure in heart behold their God."

How different is the sentiment of the foregoing to the following, said by Pettigrew and other compilers of collections of epitaphs to be inscribed on a monument in a Cumberland church, but as a matter of fact it does not exist on a memorial:--

Here lies the bodies
Of THOMAS BOND and MARY his wife.
She was temperate, chaste, and charitable;
BUT
She was proud, peevish, and passionate.
She was an affectionate wife, and a tender mother:
BUT
Her husband and child, whom she loved,
Seldom saw her countenance without a disgusting frown,
Whilst she received visitors, whom she despised, with an
endearing smile.
Her behaviour was discreet towards strangers;
BUT
Independent in her family.
Abroad, her conduct was influenced by good breeding;
BUT
At home, by ill temper.
She was a professed enemy to flattery,
And was seldom known to praise or commend;
BUT
The talents in which she principally excelled,
Were difference of opinion, and discovering flaws and
imperfections.
She was an admirable economist,
And, without prodigality,
Dispensed plenty to every person in her family;
BUT
Would sacrifice their eyes to a farthing candle.
She sometimes made her husband happy with her good
qualities;
BUT
Much more frequently miserable--with her many failings:
Insomuch that in thirty years cohabitation he often
lamented
That maugre of all her virtues,
He had not, in the whole, enjoyed two years of matrimonial
comfort.
AT LENGTH
Finding that she had lost the affections of her husband,
As well as the regard of her neighbours,
Family disputes having been divulged by servants,
She died of vexation, July 20, 1768,
Aged 48 years.

Her worn out husband survived her four months and two days,
And departed this life, Nov. 28, 1768,
In the 54th year of his age.
WILLIAM BOND, brother to the deceased, erected this stone,
As a _weekly monitor_, to the surviving wives of this parish,
That they may avoid the infamy
Of having their memories handed to posterity
With a PATCH WORK character.

In St. Peter's churchyard, Barton-on-Humber, there is a tombstone with the following strange inscription:--

Doom'd to receive half my soul held dear,
The other half with grief, she left me here.
Ask not her name, for she was true and just;
Once a fine woman, but now a heap of dust.

As may be inferred, no name is given; the date is 1777. A curious and romantic legend attaches to the epitaph. In the above year an unknown lady of great beauty, who is conjectured to have loved "not wisely, but too well," came to reside in the town. She was accompanied by a gentleman, who left her after making lavish arrangements for her comfort. She was proudly reserved in her manners, frequently took long solitary walks, and studiously avoided all intercourse. In giving birth to a child she died, and did not disclose her name or family connections. After her decease, the gentleman who came with her arrived, and was overwhelmed with grief at the intelligence which awaited him. He took the child away without unravelling the secret, having first ordered the stone to be erected, and delivered into the mason's hands the verse, which is at once a mystery and a memento. Such are the particulars gathered from "The Social History and Antiquities of Barton-on-Humber," by H. W. Ball, issued in 1856. Since the publication of Mr. Ball's book, we have received from him the following notes, which mar somewhat the romantic story as above related. We are informed that the person referred to in the epitaph was the wife of a man named Jonathan Burkitt, who came from the neighbourhood of Grantham. He had been _valet de chambre_ to some gentleman or nobleman, who gave him a large sum of money on his marrying the lady. They came to reside at Barton, where she died in childbirth. Burkitt, after the death of his wife, left the town, taking the infant (a boy), who survived. In about three years he returned, and married a Miss Ostler, daughter of an apothecary at Barton. He there kept the "King's Head," a public-house at that time. The man got through about L2,000 between leaving Grantham and marrying his second wife.

On the north wall of the chancel of Southam Church is a slab to the memory of the Rev. Samuel Sands, who, being embarrassed in consequence of his extensive liberality, committed suicide in his study (now the hall of the rectory). The peculiarity of the inscription, instead of suppressing inquiry, invariably raises curiosity respecting it:--

Near this place was deposited, on the 23rd April, 1815, the remains of
S. S., 38 years rector of this parish.

From St. Margaret's, Lynn, on William Scrivenor, cook to the Corporation, who died in 1684, we have the following epitaph:--

Alas! alas! WILL. SCRIVENOR'S dead, who by his art,
Could make Death's Skeleton edible in each part.
Mourn, squeamish Stomachs, and ye curious Palates,
You've lost your dainty Dishes and your Salades:
Mourn for yourselves, but not for him i' th' least.
He's gone to taste of a more Heav'nly Feast.

The next was written by Capt. Morris on Edward Heardson (thirty years cook to the Beefsteak Society):--

His last _steak_ done; his fire rak'd out and dead,
_Dish'd_ for the worms himself, lies _honest Ned_:
_We_, then, whose breasts bore all his _fleshly toils_,
Took all his _bastings_ and shared all his _broils_;
Now, in our turn, _a mouthful carve_ and _trim_,
And _dress_ at Phoebus' _fire_, one _scrap_ for him:--
His heart which well might grace the noblest grave,
Was grateful, patient, modest, just and brave;
And ne'er did earth's wide maw _a morsel_ gain
Of _kindlier juices_ or more tender _grain_;
His tongue, where duteous friendship humbly dwelt,
Charm'd all who heard the faithful zeal he felt;
Still to whatever end his _chops_ he mov'd,
'Twas all _well season'd_, _relish'd_, and approv'd;
This room his heav'n!--When threat'ning Fate drew nigh
The closing shade that dimm'd his ling'ring eye,
His last fond hopes, betray'd by many a tear,
Were--That his life's last _spark_ might glimmer here;
And the last words that choak'd his parting sigh--
"Oh! at your feet, dear masters, let me die!"

In St. John's churchyard, Chester, is an inscription as follows:--

Under this stone lieth the Broken
Remains of STEPHEN JONES who had
his leg cut off without the Consent of
Wife or Friends on the 23rd October,
1842, in which day he died. Aged 31 years.
Reader I bid you farewell. May
the Lord have mercy on you in the
day of trouble.

An inscription in St. Michael's churchyard, Macclesfield, illustrates the weakness for the love of display of the poor at a funeral:--

MARY BROOMFIELD
dyd 19 Novr., 1755, aged 80.

The chief concern of her life for the last twenty years was to order
and provide for her funeral. Her greatest pleasure was to think and
talk about it. She lived many years on a pension of ninepence a week,
and yet she saved L5, which, at her own request, was laid out on her
funeral.

We give as the frontispiece to this volume a picture of the Martyrs' Monument, in Greyfriars' churchyard, Edinburgh. The graves of the martyrs are in that part of the burial-ground where criminals were interred, and an allusion is made to this fact in the inscription that follows:--

Halt, passenger, take heed what you do see,
This tomb doth shew for what some men did die.
Here lies interr'd the dust of those who stood
'Gainst perjury, resisting unto blood;
Adhering to the covenants and laws;
Establishing the same: which was the cause
Their lives were sacrific'd unto the lust
Of prelatists abjur'd; though here their dust
Lies mixt with murderers and other crew,
Whom justice justly did to death pursue.
But as for them, no cause was to be found
Worthy of death; but only they were found
Constant and steadfast, zealous, witnessing
For the prerogatives of Christ their King;
Which truths were seal'd by famous Guthrie's head,
And all along to Mr. Renwick's blood:
They did endure the wrath of enemies:
Reproaches, torments, deaths and injuries.
But yet they're those, who from such troubles came,
And now triumph in glory with the Lamb.

From May 27th, 1661, that the most noble Marquis of Argyle was
beheaded, to the 17th February, 1688, that Mr. James Renwick suffered,
were one way or other murdered and destroyed for the same cause about
eighteen thousand, of whom were executed at Edinburgh about an hundred
of noblemen, gentlemen, ministers and others, noble martyrs for JESUS
CHRIST. The most of them lie here.

The above monument was first erected by James Currie, merchant,
Pentland, and others, in 1706; renewed in 1771.

Rev. vi. 9.--And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the
altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for
the testimony which they held.

10.--And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy
and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell
on the earth?

11.--And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was
said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until
their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed
as they were, should be fulfilled.

Chap. vii. 14.--These are they which came out of great tribulation,
and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb.

Chap. ii. 10.--Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a
crown of life.

The following is stated to have been added to the monument at a subsequent date, but at the present time there is not any trace of it:--

Yes, though the sceptic's tongue deride
Those martyrs who for conscience died--
Though modern history blight their fame,
And sneering courtiers hoot the name
Of men who dared alone be free,
Amidst a nation's slavery;--
Yet long for them the poet's lyre
Shall wake its notes of heavenly fire;
Their names shall nerve the patriot's hand
Upraised to save a sinking land;
And piety shall learn to burn
With holier transports o'er their urn.
JAMES GRAHAME.
Peace to their mem'ry! let no impious breath
Sell their fair fame, or triumph o'er their death.
Let Scotia's grateful sons their tear-drops shed,
Where low they lie in honour's gory bed;
Rich with the spoil their glorious deeds had won,
And purchas'd freedom to a land undone--
A land which owes its glory and its worth
To those whom tyrants banish'd from the earth.

For the accomplishment of this resolution, the three kingdoms lie
under no small debt of gratitude to the Covenanters. They suffered and
bled both in fields and on scaffolds for the cause of civil and
religious liberty; and shall we reap the fruit of their sufferings,
their prayers and their blood, and yet treat their memory either with
indifference or scorn? No! whatever minor faults may be laid to their
charge, whatever trivial accusations may be brought against them, it
cannot be but acknowledged that they were the men who, "singly and
alone," stood forward in defence of Scotland's dearest rights, and to
whom we at the present day owe everything that is valuable to us
either as men or as Christians.

_Reproduced from a picture published in 1796._]

It is an easy matter to arrange words forming a simple sentence in English to appear like Latin. This was successfully done in 1796, when a print was published under the title of "The Puzzle." "This curious inscription is humbly dedicated," says the author, "to the penetrating geniuses of Oxford, Cambridge, Eton, and the learned Society of Antiquaries." The words have every appearance of a Latin inscription, but if the stops and capital letters or division of the words are disregarded, the epitaph may easily be read as follows:--

Beneath
this stone reposeth
CLAUD COSTER,
tripe-seller, of Impington,
as doth his consort Jane.

Ye Ende

Index.

Abdidge, John, 5

Abel, John, 216

Abery, Sarah, 37

Abingdon, John, 7

Acrostic, 170, 172, 173

Actors and Musicians, Epitaphs on, 73-91

Adderly, Sampson, 38

Alexander, J. H., 83

Alfred, King of Northumbria, 179

Aliscombe, 14

Alley, Samuel, 142

Amelia, Princess, 45

Amies, James, 220

Amputation, Death from, 228

Amys, Thomas, 209

Andrews, Sarah, 41

Appleby, H. C., quoted, 167

Architect, 216

Armison, Sarah, 40

Ashford, Mary, 199

Ashover, 77

Atholl, Duke of, 146

Attorney-at-Law, 216

Ault Hucknall, 93

Axon, W. E. A., quoted, 198

Bacchanalian Epitaphs, 105-118

Bagshaw, Samuel, 15

Baily, Mary, 41

Baker, 19

Bakewell, 121-125, 117, 214

Ball, H. W., quoted, 225

Barber-surgeons, 172-173, 177

Bardsley, Rev. C. W., 22

Barker, Christopher, 33

Barnstaple, 139

Barrow-on-Soar, 138

Barton, Norfolk, 209

Barton-on-Humber, 225

Barwick-in-Elmet, 65

Baskerville, 33

Bassoon player, 77

Bath, 80

Battersea, 55

Battle, wager of, 199-201

Beach, Mary, 43

Becke, Rev. J., 136

Beckenham, 42

Beckley, 85

Bede, Cuthbert, quoted, 125

Bedworth, 97

Beefsteak Society, 227

Belbroughton, 126

Bell, Nathaniel, 39

Bellow, J. F., 52

Bellows-maker, 17

Berkeley, 3

Besford, 39

Betts, Sarah, 41

Beverley, 52, 58, 81, 219

Biffin, Sarah, 162

Bill o' Jacks and Tom o' Bills, 201

Billinge, Wm., 49

Bingham, 120

Bingley, 130

Birmingham, 33

Birstal, 97

Blackett, Joseph, 17

Blacksmith, 11

Bletchley, 139

Blind Jack, 149-153

Bloomfield, Mary, 228

Boar's Head, 114-116

Bodger, Samuel, 56

Boles, Richard, 51

Bolsover, 3

Bolton, Lancashire, 158

Bolton, Yorkshire, 153

Bond, Thomas and Mary, 223

"Book of Days," quoted, 86, 128, 218

Booker, Dr., quoted, 199

Bookseller, 9

Booth, Jno., 75

Booth, Tom, 94-97

Boston, America, 28, 30

Botanist, 22

Bowes, 205

Bradbury, William and Thomas, 201

Bradley, William, 159

Bray, Henrietta M., 80

Bremhill, 50

Brewer, 105

Brickmaker, 14

Bridgeford-on-the-Hill, 5

Briggs, Hezekiah, 130

Brighton, 59

Briscoe, John D., quoted, 158

Briscoe, J. Potter, quoted, 110, 203

Bristol, 19, 222

Broadbent, Jno., 132

Bromsgrove, 6

Brousard, James, 36

Browne, Susan, 221

Buckett, Jno., 107

Builder, 14

Bullen, Rev. H., 7

Bullingham, 14

Bunney, 101

Burbage, 91

Burkitt, Jonathan, 226

Burned to death, 213

Burns, Robert, quoted, 109

Burton, 205

Burton, Edward, 202

Burton, Joyce, 213

Burton-on-Trent, 38

Bury, St. Edmunds, 31, 57, 211, 212

Butler, a, 106

Butler, Samuel, 81, 164-166

Butler, Samuel William, 82

Buttress, J. E., 69

Byfield, Sarah, 111

Byng, John, 67

Byron, Lord, 8, 17

Bywater, Jno., 112

Cadman, 86

Caerlaverock, 174

Campbell, Patrick, 65

Carmichael, Jas., 65

Carpenter, 15

Carrier, 8

Cartwright, Hy., 94

Cary, Rev. H. F., quoted, 183

Castleton, 216

Cave, of Barrow-on-Soar, 138

Cave, Edward, 11

Cave, Jos., 10

Cave, William, 11

Caxton, William, 24

Chambers, Dr. Wm., 24, 25

Chancel door, buried at the, 214

Chapman, Dr. T., 154

Chapman, Wm., 42

Charles I., 51

Charles II., epitaph on, 169

Charlton, Jno., 92

Chatham, 110

Chatsworth, 35

Checkley, 135

Chelsea Hospital veteran, 49

Chepman, William, 24-25

Chepstow, 170

Chester, 13, 57, 228

Clay, Hercules, 168

Clay, Thomas, 117

Cleater, Samuel, 214

Clemetshaw, Hy., 73

Cliff, Elizabeth, 213

Clifton, 80

Clockmakers, 1-5

Cloth-drawer, 17

Coachdriver, 7

Coffin, curious, 166

Coincidences, remarkable, 178

Cole, Dean, 137

Cole, of Lillington, 138

Collison, D., 70

Colton, 14

Cooks, 227

Corby, 20

Corporation cook, 227

Corser, Henry, 178

Coster, Claude, 232-233

Cotton, John, 28

Coventry, 34, 101, 103

_Coventry Mercury_, 34

Cowper, Wm., 182, 184-185

Crackles, Thos., 70

Crazford, 119

Creton, 213

Crich, Vicar of, 12

Cricketer, 102, 103

Cruikshank, George, 192-194

Cruker, Joseph, 17

Currie, James, 230

Cynical epitaph, 216

Dalamoth, Jane, 215

Dale, John, 177

Dalry, 222

Danish soldiers, 52-55

Darenth, 110

Darfield, 219

Darlington, 132

Darnborough, Wm., 131

Dart, Rose, 139

Dartmouth, 66

Davidson, Alex., 67

Day, Will., 136

Deaf and dumb man, 205

Deakin, Rowland, 157

Deal, 68, 69

Deal boatman, 68

Deans, Jeanie, 173-174

Death from political excitement, 204

Defoe, Daniel, 181

Depledge, Thomas, 219

Dereham, 182

Devonshire, Duke of, 35

Dinsdale, Dr. F., 207

Disley, 36

Dixon, Geo., 93

"Domestic Annals of Scotland," quoted, 156

Dove, John, 109

Drew, Mary, 210

Drowned, 212-213

Drunkard, 110

Dublin, 30

Duck, S., 87-90

Dunkeld, 156

Dunse, 83

Dunton, 7

Dwarf, Yorkshire, 160

Dyer, 16

Eakring, 94

Early English epitaph, 209

Earthenware, dealer in, 13

Earwaker, J. P., 37

Easton, Wm., 70

Ecclesfield, 94

Edensor, 35, 36

Edinburgh, 24, 32, 186, 229

Edmonds, Jno., 66