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 S-rc^^^^' 
 
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 EPITAPHS 
 
 OR 
 
 CHURCH- YARD 
 GLEANINGS. 
 
 1484-18 I I 
 
 M 
 
'iP'!'?tww^»''Mi ' ''' """wwimiffWfn 
 
 1 
 
from the 
 
 ■DiRCia:-"srA:Eti> 
 
 / 
 
 A Selection 
 
 OF 
 
 OLD INSCRIPTIONS. 
 
 Arranged 
 
 ivitk 
 
 Brief Comments 
 
 by 
 
 A. D. FORDYCE 
 
 Fergus Ontario 
 
 i88o. 
 
!I! 
 

 ( 
 
 GHURGH-YARD 
 GLEANINGS' 
 
 A word or two first, about the Church-yard^ and 
 the Gleanings^ may not be out of place. The various 
 designations given to these quiet resting-places of those 
 who once lived and moved on earth, and had joys and 
 sorrows, duties and cares, such as our own, are exceed- 
 ingly suggestive. To commence with the most common. 
 Church-yard^ from the Greek word kurios 'the Lord' 
 meaning the enclosure, round and in a sense guarding 
 the 'House of God* ; ^^urying-ground^ derived from the 
 German, birgen 'to hide,' conveying the idea of a hid- 
 ing place ; and Cemetery^ from the Greek word koimao 
 'to sleep,' literally a sleeping chamber. Do not these all 
 point one way ? The Almighty and Everlasting God has 
 a possession still, in those who are laid aside for a time. 
 Will not -.11 hear the voice of the Archangel, and the 
 trump of God, when they that sleep in the dust of the 
 earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to 
 shame and everlasting contempt ? Surely then the desig- 
 nations given to their resting places, are appropriate. 
 The term God^s Acre^ borrowed from the Germar ns 
 of much the same import as Church-yard. The extent 
 of the enclosure is apparently defined, but the word acre 
 may be used notwithstanding, in a loose sense, imp.^ ng 
 rather the fadl of its being set apart for God's use, than 
 of its being necessarily limited or restric 1 in size. The 
 main idea is precisely the same with CI :ch-yard. 
 
The Lord Jesus not only knoweth them that are His 
 peculiarly, and in due time will bring them to light, but 
 kindred and friends mark with interest, the spot where 
 dear ones have been laid ; and it has been their practice, 
 not only to revisit it from time to time, but also to record 
 there, as durably as may be, various particulars respe(5l- 
 ing those who have gone before, and who, by a figure, 
 are represented in some cases, as encouraging, counsell- 
 ing, or warning survivors ; bidding them prepare to meet 
 their God — warning them that the time for preparation 
 is short and uncertain — and sometimes, holding out the 
 prospedl of the higher than worldly enjoyment they have 
 themselves already partially entered on. Nay, how often 
 in times when the Roman-Catholic Faith was the preval- 
 ent one in Britain, were the departed represented, as ad- 
 dressing on their own behalf, those yet engiiged in the 
 adlive pursuits of life, in the words of entreaty — 
 '^For Jesus' sake, pray for me ! 
 /may not pray, now pray j^^" — or thus ; 
 
 ''Of your charity, pray for the soul of (so and so,)" 
 or seeking to secure the good offices of canonized saints, 
 by the earnest appeal, '' Orate pro nobis!" (Pray for us.) 
 
 Powerless as we may be, to help such as have passed 
 the bourne whence no traveller returns, — there is an in- 
 stinctive desire felt alike by those who depart, to be re- 
 membered by those who have loved them on earth, and 
 who remain a while behind, — and by those who thus re- 
 main, to remember in thought, word and a6l, those who 
 have been taken away from them. Hence, Inscriptions 
 or Epitaphs have always been found, commemorative 
 
of the departed ; not always conceived we may think, in 
 the best style, not always free from the blemish of stilted 
 language and hyperbole ; not invariably calculated to im- 
 press us with the absolute truthfulness of what is said, 
 nor always devoid of sentiments in which we cannot al- 
 together concur — where the future condition of the de- 
 parted is predicated, on what we must regard as insuf- 
 ficient grounds ; but in very many cases touchingly beau- 
 tiful, or eloquently and yet simply expressive of the vir- 
 tues which are ascribed to the individual. 
 
 In the older Inscriptions, (with which this seledlion 
 has chiefly to do,) amusement may be occasioned by very 
 rapid and abrupt transitions owing to the discovery of a 
 loftier flight having been taken than could be kept up. In 
 the Church-yard of IMontrose there is an instance of this, 
 the writer -^.mdidly admitting his failure in these words — 
 "To write elogies on the dead I find is not my strain ;'* 
 and concluding with the thought, suggested perhaps by 
 the precept of the wise man, "Fear God and keep His 
 commandments, for this is the whole duty of man ;" — 
 "If men are honest, and fear God, 
 They're free from future pain." 
 
 If we cannot suppress a smile at the extravagant lan- 
 guage that is sometimes used, we should not perhaps, lay 
 that to the account of the departed, who quite probably 
 might have disclaimed the terms employed with a view 
 to their honor ; nor indeed, need we visit the writer of 
 such lines as we sometimes find, with the charge of ab- 
 jedl sycophancy, or assert that such strains cannot be re- 
 garded in any other light than that of utter insincerity — 
 
rather let us charitably hope, that there was some good 
 ground for encomiums which appear to us preposterous- 
 ly overstrained ; — and conceive, that excellences which 
 were real and substantial, loomed up in extraordinary 
 beauty before the writer, as he strove adequately to por- 
 tray departed worth. That there was no unworthy use 
 made of the Tomb-stone or Monumental Tablet it would 
 be rash to allege — no fulsome adulation of the living by 
 untruthful descriptions of the dead : had there not been, 
 such an Inscription as the following could not have had 
 any place. All we plead for is, that with extravagancy 
 of language, and modes of thought and expression with 
 which we are not now familiar, there may not have been 
 all that insincerity some might be apt to imagine. The 
 existence of the pra(5tice is evidently taken for granted in 
 the Epitaph referred to, and the dread of its being em- 
 ployed in his own case, was as evidently real on the part 
 of the subje(5l of that Epitaph. It is to be found at Mold 
 in Flintshire, and is without doubt, characteristic. 
 
 '^ William Wynne of Tower, D, D ; sometime 
 Recflor of Llanvechan, died 3d Mar. 177^ aged 77* 
 *'In conformity to an antient usage, from a proper 
 regard to decency, and a concern for the health of 
 his fellow-creatures, he was moved to give direc- 
 tions for being buried in the adjoining Church-yard 
 and not in the Church : and as he scorned flattering 
 of others while living, he has taken care to prevent 
 being flattered himself when dead, by causing this 
 small memorial to be set up in his lifetime. 
 God be merciful to me a sinner !** 
 
 tl 
 
I good 
 [rous- 
 
 hich 
 inary 
 
 por- 
 ly use 
 
 ould 
 |ngby 
 been, 
 e had 
 gancy 
 1 with 
 i been 
 . The 
 ited in 
 \g em- 
 le part 
 :Mold 
 
 • 
 
 ne 
 177. 
 3per 
 h of 
 irec- 
 ^ard 
 ring 
 vent 
 this 
 
 There are some features which are common to a large 
 number of old Tombstones : — the 'Memento Mori' (Re- 
 member death !) — the skull *'md cross-bones — the scythe 
 and hour-glass, all diredlirg attention to the rapid ap- 
 proach of the grim destroyer — the certainty of his com- 
 ing, and the entire uncertainty as tO when he may come. 
 The following frequently recurring apothegms strikingly 
 press these truths on all, but chiefly on the thoughtless. 
 "Mors certa, dies incerta' ; or *Mors patet, hora latet' — 
 ' both expressing the thought that death is sure and near, 
 altho', how soon he may be with us, or how near he 
 may be to us, not the wisest of men can ever determine. 
 In like manner the pointed words 'Hodie mihi, eras tibi', 
 remind the reader* that his own turn may be the very next. 
 Some of these terse remarks go a little further, and aim 
 at giving brief religious instrudlion ; as, for example : — 
 ''Life is uncertain, Death is sure : 
 Sin is the wound, Christ is the cure ;" 
 but, not only to such as enter the Burying-ground and 
 peruse its Inscriptions, are their lessons conveyed ; over 
 the Entry to the Gray-Friars' Church-Yard Edinburgh, 
 were these lines, given by Monteith in his Colledlion : — 
 "Remember man, as thou goes by. 
 As thou art now, so once was I ; 
 As I am now, so shalt thou be : 
 Remember man, that thou must die." 
 While we may be disposed to think that the repulsive 
 features of death are sometimes made unnecessarily pro- 
 minent, — the grand theme of the Early Christians (the 
 Resurredlion,) is by no means 
 
 kept wholly 
 
 ight. 
 
»■ 
 
 ''In hope of a blessed immortality," — "In hope of a glo- 
 rious resurrection," — "Resurgam" (I shall rise again,") 
 and so on, indicate this ; while we frequently find repre- 
 sentations of the Archangelic summons given on this or 
 that humble Tombstone, or highly ornamented Tablet. 
 The words ''Mors janua vitas" (Death is the gate of life) 
 are by no means uncommon : and, on the Tombstone of 
 yohn Hoare Redlor of Hayes in Kent, who died on the 
 nth of Feb. 1584, the same thought is put in these terms. 
 
 "Who faine w^ould lyve, 
 He must not feare to dye ; 
 Death is the waie 
 That leades to lief and glorious Joies, 
 That tryumphes over Claie. 
 Come poor, bewaile this want ; Come ffriend 
 Lament and saie with me, 
 This man did dye to lyve, and lyves 
 Though dead his body be." 
 
 My chief authorities for the seledlions here given, are 
 Britton and Brayley's Beauties of England and Wales, 
 and 'A Theater of Mortality by R. Monteith M.A. 1704, 
 re-printed at Glasgow, 1834.' The letter Colledlion of 
 Epitaphs contains one which I am tempted to include, 
 altho' it can scarcely be called a Church-Yard Gleaning, 
 as, in all probability it never appeared on Monumental 
 Stone ; but the gentle, harmless satire by which it is per- 
 vaded, seems to commend it, as a fitting rebuke to such 
 as "are not afraid to speak evil of dignities," regardless 
 of the peculiar difficulties inseparable from the position 
 they occupy, and the forbearance reasonably due them. 
 
mj^g 
 
 aglo- 
 ain,") 
 repre- 
 this or 
 Tablet. 
 )f life) 
 :one of 
 on the 
 terms. 
 
 end 
 
 en, are 
 Wales, 
 . 1704, 
 ^ion of 
 nclude, 
 saning, 
 imental 
 is per- 
 to such 
 ^ardless 
 position 
 J them. 
 
 A glance will shew that King yames VI of Scotland 
 and /of England, is the subjedl of the Epitaph. 
 
 ''All who have eyes, awake and weep ; 
 
 For He whose waking wrought our sleep, 
 
 Is fall'n asleep himself, and never 
 
 Shall wake again, till wak'd for ever : 
 
 Death's iron-hand hath clos'd those eyes. 
 
 Which were at once three kingdoms' spies ; 
 
 Both to foresee and to prevent 
 
 Dangers, as soon as they were meant. 
 
 That head, whose working brain alone 
 
 Wrought all men's quiet but his own, 
 
 Now lies at rest. O let him have 
 
 The peace he lent us, in his grave. 
 
 If that no Naboth, nil his reign, 
 
 Was for his fruitful vineyard, slain ; 
 
 If no Uriah lost his lite. 
 
 Because he had too fair a wife ; 
 
 Then let no Shimei's curses wound 
 
 His honour, or profane this ground. 
 
 Let no black-mouth'd, nor rank-breath'd cur 
 
 Peaceful JAMES his ashes stir. 
 
 Princes are Gods ; O do not then 
 
 Rake in their graves, to prove them men. 
 
 For two and twenty years long care ; 
 
 For his providing such an heir. 
 
 Who, to the peace we had before. 
 
 May add twice two-and-twenty more ; 
 
 For his day's travels and night-watches ; 
 
 For his craz'd sleep stol'n by snatches ; 
 
fl 
 
 »( 
 
 8 ' 
 
 8 
 
 For two fair kingdoms joined in one, 
 For all he did, or meant t*have done ; 
 Do this for him, write on his dust, 
 James the peaceful and the just.'* 
 
 Tlie two following singular Epitaphs — the first on the 
 Family of Pollexfen^ said to be found where their re- 
 mains are laid, in a vault under their dwelling, adjoin- 
 ing the Cluirch of St Stephen Walworth, London ; the 
 other, on the Porte rji elds of Porterfield, at Kilmalcolm 
 Scotland, of date 1650, I cannot pretend satisfadlorily to 
 explain. The interpretation hazarded on each, may suf- 
 fice, till a more likely one can be suggested. The one Is — 
 
 '^Who lies here? — Whie, don't 'e ken — 
 
 The Family of Pollexfen 
 Who, bee they living, or bee they dead, 
 Like theirre own house over theirre head ; 
 That, whene'er theirre Saviour comme, 
 They allwaies may bee found at homme." 
 
 Incongruous to say the least, as this language seems, 
 might it not be just the writer's clumsily expressed way 
 of intimating his cotiviclion, that those who were laid to 
 rest under the Pollexfen roof, had not put oft' till a dying 
 hour, preparation for welcoming the summons, ''The 
 Master hath come and calleth for thee .^" — that the answer 
 *'Not at home," given in some circles to unwelcome vi- 
 sitors, or to visitors at an inconvenient season, had found 
 no place in the wiser arrangements of this household, in 
 respedil of the grand concerns of a future state. 
 The other Inscription alluded to as equally strange, is — 
 
as 
 
 on the 
 iieir re- 
 adjoin- 
 )n ; the 
 lalcolm 
 orily to 
 lay suf- 
 )ne is — 
 
 I; 
 
 1 seems, 
 3ed way 
 
 2 laid to 
 a dying 
 i, '^The 
 ! answer 
 ;ome vi- 
 id found 
 hold, in 
 
 iige,is-— 
 
 I 'jt 
 
 "Bureit, heir lyis, that Deth defy is, 
 Of Parterfields the Race 
 .' ?.. ■: Quho be the Spirit, to Christ unite, 
 I ' ' ' ;f ,' - . Are heirs of gloir throu grace." 
 
 Setting aside as inconceivable the idea that the writer's 
 notion was that of canonizing a whole family, or gene- 
 ration ; or in other words, claiming for them as a whole, 
 an undoubted interest in the Heavenly Inheritance ; is it 
 not possible that the following paraphrase, might come 
 pretty near the meaning intended to be conveyed ? — 
 "Here lie buried, the Family of Porterfield. If, through 
 grace, they (any, or all,) were united to Christ, and so, 
 became 'heirs of glory ;' such may now triumphantly ex- 
 claim "'O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is 
 thy vidlory? — thanks be to God, which giveth us the 
 vidlory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 I The stated avocations of individuals during life, fre- 
 
 quently .suggested to those who composed their Epitaplis, 
 apt analogies for readily pointing the moral they meant 
 to convey, or for illustrating the character they wished 
 to honor. From the Head-stone placed to mark the rest- 
 ing place of his 'battered hulk* accordingly, the old sailor 
 is made in more Church-Yards than one, to address the 
 reader in these words, sometimes slightly varied : — 
 
 "Tho* Boreas' blasts and Neptune's waves 
 
 Have tossed me to and fro ; 
 In spite of both, by God's decree 
 " ,i ♦ •' I harbour here below : . 
 
 '» . ,; Where, at an anchor I do lie, 
 
 ,'■*■* «•'.'. 
 
 With many of our fleet, 
 
iii 
 
 
 I 
 
 10 
 
 And once again we must set sail, 
 
 Our Admiral Christ to meet." 
 
 The peculiar phraseology incident to the profession, 
 formed a convenient medium for illustrating truth, which 
 the departed one is supposed to press on others, many 
 of whom might be unconcerned about the future. 
 
 On a Monument In Carisbrook Church in the Isle of 
 Wight, one of these veterans. Captain William Keeling 
 'Groom of the Chamber to James the First, and General 
 for the Hon. East India Adventurers,' who died in 1619, 
 is represented sitting on the deck of his vessel — a crown 
 of glory suspended over his head, with the ^ox6&Jides^ 
 spes^ verbum Dei, (Faith, Hope, God's Word,) written 
 on the sail, anchor and compass, and these lines: 
 
 ''Fortie and two years in this vessel fraile 
 
 On the rough seas of life did Keeling' sail ; 
 
 A merchant fortunate, a captain bould ; 
 
 A courtier gracious, yet, alas ! not old. 
 
 Such wealth, experience, honour and high praise 
 
 Few winne in twice soe manie years or dales ; 
 
 But, what the world admired, he deemed but drosse 
 
 For Christ, — without Christ, all his gains but losse ; 
 
 For Him and His dear love, with merrie cheere 
 
 To the Holy Land his last course he did steere ; 
 
 Paith served for sails ; the Sacred Word^ for card ; 
 
 Hope was his anchor. Glory his reward ; 
 
 And thus with gales of grace, with happy venter 
 
 Thro* Straits oi Deaths Heaven* s Harbor he did enter." 
 
 Much to the same effed are the lines in Latin, faithfully 
 
 I 
 
■fi'WiWWe gJiM wi ■ 
 
 HME 
 
 II 
 
 >fession, 
 I, which 
 s, many 
 
 e Isle of 
 Keeling 
 General 
 in 1619, 
 a crown 
 \% fides y 
 written 
 
 >: 
 
 aise 
 
 drosse 
 : losse ; 
 ere 
 •e; 
 r card ; 
 
 iter 
 
 I enter." 
 
 lithfuUy 
 
 I 
 
 enough rendered, for the benefit of the general reader, in 
 Monteith*s vohime : and said to be found on the Monu- 
 ment o{ Robert Sterling 'skipper and merchant' Dundee. 
 
 *'Per freta dum mundi instabilis malefida ferebar, 
 Anchora spes ; verbuin nautica pyxis erat ; 
 
 Sac7'a fides^ baculus ; distendens Carbasa ventus, 
 Pneuma Hagion ; sokis tu mihi Christe polus : 
 
 Nunc ccekim tuti statio super asthera portus, 
 Et rerum incertas rideo sperno vices." 
 
 The translation referred to, is in these words: — 
 
 "The world's tempestuous sea while I did plow. 
 My anchor, hope \ the word my compass too ; 
 Blest Faith my helm ; the wind, to fill my sails, 
 The Holy Spirit with its blessed gales ; 
 North-Star, thou Christ alone ; I steered to thee. 
 Thou still was in mine heart, and in mine eye. 
 In Heaven above, my safest port, whence I 
 Despise and scorn all earth's uncertainty." 
 
 The craft of the Architect, when his skill has ceased 
 to be of use to his fellows, is also laid hold of, to com- 
 mend to them that mansion which is more durable in its 
 chara(5ler, than the most substantial one they could ere6t ; 
 "The house eternal built by God, to lodge the holy mind, 
 when once those prison walls have fallen, by which 'tis 
 now confined :" — as the old Scotch Paraphrase has it. 
 
 At Sarnsfield in Herefordshire, yohn Abel who died 
 in 1694 at the age of 97, has the characteristic Epitaph — 
 
 "This craggy stone a covering is 
 For an Archite6lor*s bed, 
 

 12 
 
 That lofty buildings raised high, 
 
 But now lies 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 liouse of clay could hold no longer: 
 May Heaven's joy build him a stronger." 
 
 Even tliose whose pursuits were mainly of a literary 
 cliaradler, llnd the most made of such occupations after 
 they were gone, for the benefit of succeeding generations. 
 A Prebendary of Westminster Abbey who died 28 Dec. 
 I 621, hus the following Inscription on his Tombstone: 
 
 '*Witli diligence and truth most exemplary 
 Did William Lawrence serve a Prebendary ; 
 And for his pains, now past, before not lost, 
 Gain'd this remembrance at his Master's cost. 
 Oh ! read these lines again ! you seldom find 
 A servant faithful, and a master kind — 
 Short-hand he wrote, his flower in prime did fade : 
 And hastv death short-hand of him hath made. 
 Well couth he numbers, and well measured land ; 
 Thus doth he now that ground whereon you stand, 
 Wherein he lies so geometrical : 
 Art maketh some, but this will nature, all." 
 
 On Alexander Duncan^ s Monument in the Church- 
 Yard of Montrose, the varied length of human life is re- 
 ferred to in a singular way. One of those interred there, 
 {And. Z>?mcan^ who died in 1667) was 99 yrs 8 mo. old. 
 
mm 
 
 
 IBR 
 
 sa 
 
 iterary 
 s after 
 dtions. 
 5 Dec. 
 tone : 
 
 c. 
 
 *ade : 
 e. 
 
 land ; 
 itand, 
 
 hurch- 
 3 is re- 
 there, 
 lO. old. 
 
 I 
 
 « 
 
 13 
 
 ''As ev*ry thing a center hath, to which it doth incline. 
 So all men, being made of earth, to earth return in time, 
 These who do here from labours rest, 
 
 More lines stretch from a center. 
 Some short, some long, as he thought best. 
 Who is the Divine painter." 
 
 At Boughton-Aluph in Kent, is this Inscription — 
 
 '•Sacud to the memory ofAmeye wife of yosi'as Clarke 
 
 of Essex Gent, and daughter to Robert Mo ylc Esq. of 
 
 Buckwell, aged 31, A.D. 1631." 
 
 ''To the tender trust 
 Of this sad earth. 
 Which gave it birth. 
 We recommend this sacred dust : 
 The precious oyntment of her name. 
 That had no taint, that had no foil, 
 We keep to oyle 
 The wings of fame. 
 The highest storie 
 Of her rare soul 
 The heavens enroll 
 In sheets of glory. 
 If perfect good did e'er reside 
 In common flesh and blood. 
 In her it lived, in her it dyed. 
 Reader, *tis thought our universal 
 
 Mother 
 Will hardly ope her womb for 
 Such another." 
 
■ 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
 \ i 
 
 H 
 
 Little comment is needed on the Epitaphs immediate- 
 ly followii\<^ (six in number.) Some of them like the last 
 seem to be of the rather extravagant class : others present 
 a strange medley of grotesque imagery and simple natu- 
 ral description. All, we may think, would have been a 
 good deal more efiedlive, with less attempt at display. 
 
 In the 'Dissenters' Burial-Place^ near Bunhill Fields, 
 London,' were these lines on Samuel Okey^ who was 
 born nth December 1706, and died 4th July 171 1. 
 ''Here lyes for Adam's first Offence, 
 
 Beauty, Wit, and Innocence : 
 E'er such another turns to Earth, 
 Time shall throw a Dart at Death." 
 
 In the Church-Yard of Dundee is a Monument, erect- 
 ed by Captain Alexander Baxter to the memory of his 
 daughter Katharine^ who died 20 Mar. 1632, aged i7- 
 ''So falls by winter blasts, a virgin rose ; 
 For blotless, spotless, blameless did she die : 
 As many virtues nature did disclose 
 In her, as oft in greatest age we see. 
 Ne're Jason glor'd more in the golden fleece, 
 . Than her brave sire, in bringing her from Greece." 
 
 Among the illustrious dead in Westminster Abbey, 
 one of the Monuments commemorates a ladv whose brief 
 term of wedded life was passed in troublous times : viz. 
 
 " Grace ^ eldest daughter of Sir TJiomas Mauleverer of 
 Alterton Mauleverer in Yorkshire, Baronet ; born 1622, 
 married to Colonel Scott a Member of the Honourable 
 House of Commons in 1644, and dieo 24 Feb. 1645 ; — 
 
. i j p)"' i. r*i 3jimji ' .. ' * ■!■ 
 
 15 
 
 lediate- 
 the last 
 present 
 le natu- 
 been a 
 iplay. 
 
 Fields, 
 ho was 
 
 [I. 
 
 :, ere(5l- 
 y of his 
 ged i7- 
 
 lie : 
 
 jce, 
 ece. 
 
 >» 
 
 Abbey, 
 se brief 
 ts : viz. 
 
 ^erer of 
 1 1622, 
 r>nrable 
 
 >45 ;— 
 
 "He that will give my Grace ^ but what is her*s, 
 Must say, her death has not 
 Made only her dear Scott ^ 
 But virtue, worth and sweetness — 'widowers.' 
 
 In a Burial Ground formerly quoted from, (Bunhill- 
 Fields) a fond mother who modestly with-holds names, 
 solicits sympathy in lier afflidlion, in the following lines : 
 
 "Reader, pay thy Tribute here, 
 
 A Tear, a Rose, and then a Tc r. 
 
 Grief may make thee Marble too ; 
 
 Yet weep on, as Marbles do. 
 
 Gently let the Dust be spread 
 
 O'er a gentle Virgin's head : 
 
 Press'd by no rude Passer by. 
 
 Nothing but a Mother's Eye. 
 
 Sacred Tomb, with whoi .1 we trust, 
 
 Precious Piles of lovely Dust ; 
 
 Keep them safely, sacred Torub, 
 
 'Till a Mother ask for Room." 
 
 At Toddington in Bedfordshire, the following tribute 
 is paid to the memory o^ Maria Wcntworth^ daughter 
 of Thomas^ Earl of Clevela: d. She died in the month 
 of January 1632, being no more than 18 years of age. 
 "And here the pretious duste is layde. 
 Whose pverile tempered clay was made 
 So fine that it the gvest betrayed. 
 
 Else the sovle grew so fast within, 
 It broke the outward shell of sinne, 
 And so was hatch'd a cherubinn. 
 
uT 
 
 r 
 
 i 
 
 \ 
 
 i6 
 
 In height it soarVl to God above, 
 In depth it did to knowledge move, 
 And spread in breadth, in general love. 
 
 Before, a piovs dutye shin*d 
 To parents ; cvrtesie behind : 
 On either side, an eqval mind. 
 
 Good to the poore, to kindred deare. 
 To servants kind, to friendshipp cleare, 
 To nothing but herself, severe. 
 
 Soe, though a virgin, yet a bride 
 To everie grace, she justified 
 A chast poligamie, and dyed." 
 
 The Monument of Sir Cope D'' Oyley^ and his Lady, 
 iit Hambledon, Buckingham-shire, has the Inscription : 
 
 (Under the figure of the Knight,) 
 
 "Ask not of me, 'Who's buried here?' 
 
 Goe ask the commons, ask the shiore 
 
 Goe ask the church, they 11 tell thee who, 
 
 As well as blubber'd eyes can do 
 
 Goe ask the heraulds, ask the poor, 
 
 Thine ears shall hear enough to ask no more. 
 
 Then if thine eyes bedew this sacred urne. 
 
 Each drop a pearl will turne, 
 
 T'adorne his tombe ; or if thou canst not vent, 
 
 Thou bring'st more marble to his monument." 
 
 (Under the figure of the Lady,) 
 
 ''Would'st thou, reader, draw to life 
 / The perfedl copy of a wife, 
 
 a 
 t< 
 is 
 v\ 
 ai 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 II 
 
. » 
 
 17 
 
 Read on, and then redeem from shame 
 
 That lost, but honorable name. 
 
 This was once in spirit a Jael, 
 
 Rebecca in grace, in heart an Abigail, 
 
 In works a Dorcas, to the church a Hannah, 
 
 And to her spouse, Susanna ; 
 
 Prudently simple, providently wary : 
 
 To the world a Martha, and to heav'n a Mary." 
 
 It may be some relief, to look now at an Epitaph of 
 a different kind. Its simplicity may commend it even 
 to some whose actual ability to assist those in distress^ 
 is not less than that of the subjedl of the eulogium, but 
 who have not yet realized the blessedness of ad;ing on the 
 assurance, ''There is that scattereth and yet increaseth.' 
 
 It is thus that Mary Taylor eldest daughter of yohn 
 Taylor Esq. of Bifrons, who died in Mar. 1771 in her 
 91st year, has a life of quiet, adlive benevolence, pleas- 
 ingly commemorated, at Patrick sbourne in Kent : — 
 "Beneath this marble rests the mortal part 
 Of her who once delighted every heart : 
 How good she was and what her virtues were 
 Her guardian angels can alone declare : 
 The friend that now this little tribute pays 
 Too exquisitely feels to speak her praise 
 Yet would*st thou know the pious life she spent. 
 How many from her hands receiv'd content. 
 How many breasts, that poverty had chill'd. 
 Her charity with peace, with rapture fill'd 
 The Village nigh shall gratify thy ears, 
 And tell thee, some with words, but most with tears.** 
 
'■^r 
 
 i8 
 
 Let lis turn now to another class of Epitaphs. In one 
 Case, the sad record of bereavement is given in childlike 
 fen])niis8ion to the appointment of one who is too wise to 
 err, and too good needlessly to wound : — in another case, 
 What Can alone sustain in bitterest trials, seems to be lost 
 sight of: while in another, the destroying angel (as death 
 k chnradlerized in the case referred to,) is querulously 
 addressed in the Wail of remonstrance, following a sad 
 laccount of repeated and heart-rending affli<5lions. 
 
 In the Church-Yard of Stevenston we find what goes 
 in Montuith's Colle<5lion by the name of 'The childless 
 mother*s resolution* as it had appeared on the Monument 
 •of the jRev. yohn JBe/l minister there, in these words : — 
 '* Strength to my tryal hath my Lord made eaven, 
 Oh to bedew his feet that tears were given, 
 His wil's my weel, in him my soule content, ' 
 Nor greevs to goe, nor gieve what he hath lent.'* 
 
 A sadder lamentation can scarcely be conceived, than 
 is made by fond and sorrowing parents, at Ashbourne in 
 Derbyshire, over the death of an only and darling child. 
 
 ''To Penelope 
 
 onHy child of Sii- Brooke and Dame Susannah Boothbyy 
 
 Born April ii, 17S5. Died March 13, 1791. 
 
 She was in form and intelledl most exquisite. 
 
 The unfortunate parents ventured their all 
 On this frail bark, and the wreck was totaL" 
 
 How very similar is the language employed by the 
 pious and amiable Hervey, in his 'Meditations among 
 the Tombs, when describing such another visitation : — 
 
19 
 
 [n one 
 ildlike 
 vise to 
 r case, 
 be lost 
 i death 
 ilously 
 a sad 
 
 it goes 
 lildless 
 iument 
 rds : — 
 veil, 
 
 t." 
 
 , than 
 
 lirne in 
 
 child. 
 
 )y the 
 
 [mong 
 
 ►n : — 
 
 "Here lies the grief of a fond mother, and the blasted 
 expedlation of an indulgent father. Th/^ youth grew up 
 like a well-watered plant, he shot deep, rose high, and 
 bid fair for manhood. But, just as the cedar began to 
 tower, and promised ere long to be the pride of the wood 
 and the prince among the neighbouring trees, behold, the 
 axe is laid unto the root, the fatal blow struck, and all 
 its branching honours tumbled to the dust. And, did he 
 fall alone .^ No — the hopes of his father that begat him, 
 and the pleasing prospects of her that bare him, fell and 
 were crushed together with him." {Aledltatlons 1746.) 
 
 Again, in the following Inscription, to be found in the 
 Church-Yard of Montrose, the desolation of a household 
 is thus mournfully, if not murmuringly bewailed. 
 
 "O cruel death, O furious death. 
 
 What fury makes thee rage. 
 
 Thus to cut down young pleasant plants, 
 
 And pass by crooked age .^" 
 
 The counterpart of this lamentation, (suggested by it 
 we might almost think, )we derive from the same source, 
 but accompanied by the recognition the other apparently 
 overlooked, that trials may be 'blessings in disguise' : and 
 the sentiment of the poet might safely have been added — 
 ''Kind, loving, is the hand tha^ strikes, 
 
 However keen the smart. 
 
 If sorrow's discipline can chase 
 
 One evil from the heart." 
 
 Hervey's refledlion is in some respects strikingly similar. 
 "One is tempted to exclaim against the king of terrors. 
 
.y'-^sm 
 
 1 'I 
 
 . 11 
 
 i 
 
 20 
 
 and call him capriciously cruel. He seems, by beginning 
 at the wrong end of the register, to have inverted the lawrs 
 of nature. Passing over the couch of decrepit age, he has 
 nipped infancy in its bud, blasted youth in its bloom, 
 and has torn up manhood in its full maturity. Terrible 
 indeed are these providences, yet not unsearchable the 
 counsel, 'For us they sicken, and for u& they die.* — ''Ye 
 mourning parents, dry up your tears ; why should you 
 be so dissatisfied with that kind precaution which housed 
 your pleasant plant, and removed into shelter a tender 
 flower before the thunders roared, before the lightning 
 flew, before the tempest poured its rage? O, remember 
 they are not lost, but taken away from the evil to come." 
 
 Of an altogether different class of Epitaphs, only a few 
 specimens can be given in this brief sele6lion. Naturally 
 the desire is felt, to be assured as far as we can be, of the 
 future well-being of those who have left our companion- 
 ship here, for an untried state of existence beyond. Be- 
 sides this however, there is a very conmion desire to let 
 others know how we believe it now fares with those who 
 have been taken away. What we think of their condition 
 mayfr'iVG constraint to our expressions, which i^i that case 
 will in all probability, be hesitating, if not aml^i<i^nons. 
 In other cases, as suggested alreadx', defective views on 
 the part of the writer of the Epitaph, may acconnt for 
 a different reliance seeming to be attribnted to its subject, 
 than we would fain believe was really his. In a vei \ little* 
 while, corredt estimates regarding departed friends, will 
 be confirmed ; partial and erroncors oives^ reversed or 
 
mning 
 e laws 
 lie has 
 )loom, 
 :iiTible 
 Die the 
 
 Id you 
 loused 
 tender 
 h tiling' 
 lember 
 :ome." 
 
 Y a few 
 turally 
 , of tlie 
 )anion- 
 d. Be- 
 e to let 
 se whr> 
 nditioii 
 intense 
 i<]jiious. 
 t'ws on 
 Mint for 
 
 n litllo 
 ;ls. will 
 
 rse<l or 
 
 I 
 
 21 
 
 rectified, and every one whatever assigned his true place. 
 Respe6ting such as we may unhappily, be in doubt of 
 on their leaving us, we cannot be wrong in suspending 
 our record. 'Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?* 
 Some, we feel well warranted in expressing our confident 
 assurance of, as 'safe within the veil.' Others, whose ex- 
 cellences were not, perhaps, very apparent here, may 
 have them brought fully to light hereafter. Blemishes, 
 which seemed to obscure almost wholly the excellences 
 of others, may dwindle away in the light of Eternity, and 
 every true disciple of the Lord Jesus be clearly revealed. 
 We need not be very solicitous about an earthly record : 
 sufficient if, with all humility yet confidence we can say, 
 ''And now my witness is on high. 
 And now my record's in the sky. 
 Not in mine innocence I trust, 
 I bow before T/iee, in the dust ; 
 And, through my Saviour's blood alone 
 I look for mercy, at Thy throne." 
 
 Thesv'^ remarks may suffice, in conne6tion with the re- 
 maining Epitaphs, which we now proceed to give. 
 
 The following Inscription on a Tombstone at Preston- 
 kirk in East-Lothian, indicates a degree of caution on 
 the writer's part, seldom expressed as it is here. 
 
 '"Ere<5led by Will lam Slight in memory of his spouse 
 who died i^th August 1811. Here are also deposited 
 four of his children. If thev are in the Lord, it is ex- 
 pressly said — •When the Chief Shepherd shall appear, 
 di<.j sIkjH rt;ccivc a cit)wn of glory that fadeth not away.' 
 
■il 
 
 22 
 
 yohii Weever the Antiquarian, who died in 1632, has 
 this Epitaph in St James's Clerkenwell, London: — 
 
 •'Lancashire gave me birth, Cambridge — education ; 
 
 Middlesex gave me death ; this Church, my humation : 
 And Christ to me hath given 
 A place w^ith Him in Heaven." 
 
 At Rickmansworth Hertfordshire, is this Inscription : 
 ''Here lyeth buried vnder this Stone 
 
 The body of Thofuas Day^ 
 And his two waives Alice and Joane ; 
 The times here see you may. 
 y4//r<? deceased — the loth of July 1585. 
 Joane . . . the 6th of Avgvst 1598. 
 
 TJwirias the loth of Juh^ 1613. 
 
 ''These three, no doubt, had faith in Christ, 
 
 Their sins for to forgive ; 
 And they can tell, that knew^ them w^ell, 
 The poore they did relieve." 
 
 On the tomb of ^////?/; Tale Esq. sometime President 
 of Madras, w^ho died in 1724, is the following Epitaph : 
 (His remains lie at Wrexham, in Denbigh-shire.) 
 "Born in America, in Europe bred. 
 In Afric' travell'd and in Asia wed, 
 , Where long he liv'd and thriv'd, at London dead. 
 Much good, some ill he did, so hope all's even, 
 And that his soul through i^Iercy's gone to heaven. 
 You that siu'vive and read this tale, take care 
 For this most certain exit to prepare, 
 Where, bles* in peace, the actions of the just 
 Smell sweet and blossom in the silent dust." 
 
23 
 
 32, has 
 
 L :■ 
 
 ation ; 
 nation : 
 
 iption : 
 
 5t, 
 
 resident 
 Ipitaph : 
 e.) 
 
 lead. 
 
 n, 
 
 3aven. 
 
 A word or two to the reader, before we part. 
 
 To any thoughtful mind, a quiet stroll among those 
 resting-places of the departed, will forcibly suggest such 
 considerations as these. Generation after generation is 
 rapidly passing away : — dissimilar in some respects, yet 
 how much alike in others ! Do we enquire — 'Where are 
 the dead.^' If we take the plain unvarnished record of 
 Inspiration to guide us, we must admit with the poet, — 
 ''In Heaven or Hell, their disembodied spirits dwell." 
 We are ourselves hastening to the one or the other. To 
 which .^ Such thoughts can never be inappropriate, and 
 by God's blessing may be salutary. The mind naturally 
 feels solemnized in the Church-Yard, and revolts from 
 what is calculated to excite mirth ; and yet there are In-^ 
 scriptions to be found there, which, involuntarily call it 
 forth. We can only pity those who can write such Epi- 
 taphs, and those who find pleasure in reading them. 
 
 Of such Inscriptions however, as compose the 'Glean- 
 ings' here given, it should be remembered, that tliey are 
 in keeping with the habits of the times in which they 
 were written. Gardens were laid out with geometrical 
 accuracy : bushes were cut into all sorts of odd, fantastic 
 shapes, and an unnatural appearance generally prevailed. 
 Manners were no less stiff and precise ; but was there no 
 heart at all.^* Underlying all the absurdities of fashion, 
 there assuredly was, in many and many a case. 
 
 Still, we are thankful for greater simplicity in our day, 
 in most respedts, and not least, in our Church-Yards or 
 Cemeteries — in the Inscriptions on Tombstones or Tab- 
 lets — in the home-like appearance of the enclosures, kept 
 
I 
 
 24 
 
 tastefully, and tended carefully ; serving to perpetuate 
 the recolledlioii of kind words and deeds of those whose 
 hands and feet, once so adlive, are now still and motion- 
 less ; — whose lips are now closed and mute for a season. 
 
 And yet, while we much prefer the simplicity which 
 is now the rule rather than the exception, will not the 
 lessons taugiit by these old Inscriptions, quaint and hu- 
 miliating tho' they be, retain some power to benefit? 
 
 The disposition to postpone indefinitely, the thoughts 
 of death and the grave in relation to ourselves, is so very 
 common, that whatever may prevent the consideration 
 being entirely lost sight of, ought surely to be welcomed. 
 The facl remains, dismiss it as we may, that ever}^ one 
 for himself must say to corruption, "Thou art my father : 
 to the worm. Thou art my mother, and my sister." 
 
 I'he humbling considerations rather than the elevating 
 ones, may have been made more prominent by our fore- 
 fathers in their Monimiental Inscriptions. This may have 
 been in the belief, that such lessons were more needed by 
 the great majority, than those so peculiarly consolator}' 
 to the true Christian, who knows, that, despite the loath- 
 someness inseparable from the grave, the bodies of those 
 who were united to Christ on earth, cannot, altho' laid 
 in the grave be holden by it, any more than their Lord 
 was ;but that, in response to the Archangelic summons — 
 
 ''Those bodies that corrupted fell 
 
 Shall incorrupted rise, 
 And mortal forms shall spring to life, 
 
 Immortal in the skies." 
 
 7 ■■ •' ' 
 
i" i ti't«iiii III' inn 
 
 "A bright or dark Eternity in view, 
 With all its fixed, unutterable things. 
 What madness in the living to pursue, 
 As their chief portion, with the speed of wings, 
 • The joys that death-beds always turn to stings !" 
 
 {^'Live/or Eternity — by carlos wilcox.) 
 
 1, 
 
W^^^MJf.