Curious Epitaphs Part 14

An upright stone in the burial-ground at Hartwith Chapel, in Nidderdale, Yorks.h.i.+re, bears the following inscription:--

In memory of WILLIAM DARNBROUGH, who for the last forty years of his life was s.e.xton of this chapel. He died October 3rd, 1846, in the one hundredth year of his age.

"Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age."--Genesis XV., 15.

The graves around for many a year Were dug by him who slumbers here,-- Till worn with age, he dropped his spade, And in the dust his bones were laid.

As he now, mouldering, shares the doom Of those he buried in the tomb; So shall he, too, with them arise, To share the judgment of the skies.

An examination of Pateley Bridge Church registers proves that Darnbrough was one hundred and two years of age.

An epitaph from Saddleworth, Yorks.h.i.+re, tells us:--

Here was interred the body of JOHN BROADBENT, s.e.xton, who departed this life, August 3rd, 1769, in the 73rd year of his age.

Forty-eight years, strange to tell, He bore the bier and toll'd the bell, And faithfully discharged his trust, In "earth to earth" and "dust to dust."

Cease to lament, His life is spent, The grave is still his element; His old friend Death knew 'twas his sphere, So kindly laid the s.e.xton here.

At Rothwell, near Leeds, an old s.e.xton is buried in the church porch. A monumental inscription runs thus:--

In memory of THOMAS FLOCKTON, s.e.xton 59 years, buried 23rd day of February, 1783, aged 78 years.

Here lies within this porch so calm, Old Thomas. Pray sound his knell, Who thought no song was like a psalm-- No music like a bell.

At Darlington, there is a Latin epitaph over the remains of Richard Preston, which has been freely translated as follows:--

Under this marble are depos'd Poor PRESTON'S sad remains.

Alas! too true for light-rob'd jest To sing in playful strains.

Ye dread possessors of the grave, Who feed on others' woe, Abstain from Richard's small remains, And grateful pity shew;

For many a weighty corpse he gave To you with liberal hand; Then sure his little body may Some small respect command.

The gravestone bears the date of 1765.

Further examples might be included, but we have given sufficient to show the varied and curious epitaphs placed to the memory of parish clerks and s.e.xtons.

Punning Epitaphs.

Puns in epitaphs have been very common, and may be found in Greek and Latin, and still more plentifully in our English compositions. In the French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and other languages, examples occur. Empedocles wrote an epitaph containing the paronomasia, or pun, on a physician named Pausanias, and it has by Merivale been happily translated:--

PAUSANIAS--not so nam'd without a cause, As one who oft has giv'n to pain a pause, Blest son of aesculapius, good and wise, Here, in his native Gela, buried lies; Who many a wretch once rescu'd by his charms From dark Persephone's constraining arms.

In Holy Trinity Church, Hull, is an example of a punning epitaph. It is on a slab in the floor of the north aisle of the nave, to the memory of "The Wors.h.i.+pful Joseph Field, twice Mayor of this town, and Merchant Adventurer." He died in 1627, aged 63 years:--

Here is a Field sown, that at length must sprout, And 'gainst the ripening harvest's time break out, When to that Husband it a crop shall yield Who first did dress and till this new-sown Field; Yet ere this Field you see this crop can give, The seed first dies, that it again may live.

_Sit Deus amicus, Sanctis, vel in Sepulchris spes est._

On Bishop Theophilus Field, in Hereford Cathedral, ob. 1636, is another specimen:--

The Sun that light unto three churches gave Is set; this Field is buried in a grave.

This Sun shall rise, this Field renew his flowers, This sweetness breathe for ages, not for hours.

He was successively Bishop of Llandaff, St. Davids, and Hereford.

The following rather singular epitaph, with a play upon the name, occurs in the chancel of Checkley Church, Staffords.h.i.+re:--

To the Memory of the Reverend JAMES WHITEHALL, Rector of this place twenty and five years, who departed this life the second daie of March, 1644.

White was his name, and whiter than this stone.

In hope of joyfole resurrection Here lies that orthodox, that grave divine, In wisdom trve, vertve did soe clearly s.h.i.+ne; One that could live and die as he hath done Suffer'd not death but a translation.

Bvt ovt of charitie I'll speake no more, Lest his friends pine with sighs, with teares the poor.

From Hornsea Church we have the epitaph of Will Day, gentleman; he lived thirty-four years, died May 22nd, 1616:--

If that man's life be likened to a day, One here interr'd in youth did lose a day, By death, and yet no loss to him at all, For he a threefold day gain'd by his fall; One day of rest is bliss celestial.

Two days on earth by gifts terrestryall-- Three pounds at Christmas, three at Easter Day, Given to the poure until the world's last day, This was no cause to heaven; but, consequent, Who thither will, must tread the steps he went.

For why? Faith, Hope, and Christian Charity, Perfect the house framed for eternity.

On the east wall of the chancel of Kettlethorpe Church, co. Lincoln, is a tablet to the memory of "Johannes Becke, quondam Rector istius ecclesiae,"

who died 1597, with the following lines in old English characters:--

I am a BECKE, or river as you know, And wat'rd here ye church, ye schole, ye pore, While G.o.d did make my springes here for to flow: But now my fountain stopt, it runs no more; From Church and schole mi life ys now bereft, But no ye pore four poundes I yearly left.

We may add that the stream of his charity still flows, and is yearly distributed amongst the poor of Kettlethorpe.

Bishop Sanderson, in his "Survey of Lincoln Cathedral," gives the following epitaph on Dr. William Cole, Dean of Lincoln, who died in 1600.

The upper part of the stone, with Dr. Cole's arms, is, or was lately, in the Cathedral, but the epitaph has been lost:--

Reader, behold the pious pattern here Of true devotion and of holy fear.

He sought G.o.d's glory and the churches good.

Idle idol wors.h.i.+p he withstood.

Yet dyed in peace, whose body here doth lie In expectation of eternity.

And when the latter trump of heaven shall blow, Cole, now rak'd up in ashes, then shall glow.

Here is another from Lincoln Cathedral, on Dr. Otwell Hill:--

'Tis OTWELL HILL, a holy Hill, And truly, sooth to say, Upon this HILL be praised still The Lord both night and day.

Upon this Hill, this HILL did cry Aloud the scripture letter, And strove your wicked villains by Good conduct to make better.

And now this HILL, tho' under stones, Has the Lord's Hill to lie on; For Lincoln Hill has got his bones, His soul the Hill of Zion.

The _Guardian_, for 3rd Dec., 1873, gives the following epitaph as being in Lillington Church, Dorset, on the grave of a man named Cole, who died in 1669:--

Reader, you have within this grave A Cole rak'd up in dust.

His courteous Fate saw it was Late, And that to Bed he must.