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

Our 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.A lover at York inscribed the following lines to his sweetheart, who was accidentally drowned, December 24, 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.

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.

We are told that 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 Ashburton 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:—

In Tideswell churchyard, among several other singular gravestone inscriptions, the following occurs, and is worth reprinting:—

In Memory of
Brian, Son of John and Martha Haigh,
who died 22nd December, 1795,
Aged 17 years.
Come honest sexton, with thy spade,
And let my grave be quickly made;
Make my cold bed secure and deep,
That, undisturbed, my bones may sleep,
Until that great tremendous day,
When from above a voice shall say,—
“Awake, ye dead, lift up your eyes,
Your great Creator bids you rise!”
Then, free from this polluted dust,
I hope to be amongst the just.

The old church of St. Mary’s, Sculcoates, Hull, contains several interesting monuments, and we give a sketch of one, a quaint-looking mural memorial, having on it an inscription in short-hand. In Sheahan’s “History of Hull,” the following translation is given:—

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

The following curious epitaph is from Wirksworth, Derbyshire:—

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 raisÈd high, yet now lyes low his head;
His line and rule, so death concludes, are lockÈd 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 joy build him a stronger.
John Abel.
Vive ut vivas in vitam Æternam.

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.

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.