The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical Part 19

Remember man, that pa.s.seth by, As thou is now so once was I; And as I is so must thou be: Prepare thyself to follow me.

Under this inscription some one wrote-

To follow you's not my intent, Unless I knew which way you went.

At Queenborough-

Henry Knight, master of a s.h.i.+pp to Greenland, and Herpooner 24 voyages.

In Greenland I whales, sea-horses, bears did slay, Though now my body is intombe in clay.

At Minster-

Here interr'd George Anderson doth lye, By fallen on an anchor he did dye, In Sheerness Yard, on Good Friday, Ye 6th of April, I do say, All you that read my allegy: Be alwaies Ready for to dye-aged 42 years.

At Hadley church-yard, Suffolk-

The charnel mounted on the w } Sets to be seen in funer } A matron plain domestic } In care and pain continu } Not slow, not gay, not prodig } ALL.

Yet neighborly and hospit } Her children seven, yet living } Her sixty-seventh year hence did c } To rest her body natur } In hopes to rise spiritu }

The middle line furnishes the terminal letters or syllables of the words in the upper and lower lines, and when added they read thus-

Quos anguis tristi diro c.u.m vulnere stravit, Hos sanguis Christi miro tum munere lavit.

[Those who have felt the serpent's venomed wound, In Christ's miraculous blood have healing found.]

In a Paris cemetery-

I' attends ma femme. I await my wife.

1820. 1820.

------ ------ Me voila. I am here.

1830. 1830.

Shakespeare's tomb-

The inscription on Shakespeare's tomb forbids the removal of the body.

Subjoined is the prohibition-

"Good Friend, for Jesvs sake forbeare To digg Y-E dvst EncloAsed HERE.

Blest be Y-E Man T-Y spares T-hs Stones And cvrst be He T-Y moves my bones."

In consequence of this inscription, the people of Stratford-on-Avon are afraid to put their feet on the stones above the grave, and the body of the greatest English poet has not been placed with other geniuses in Westminster Abbey.

Stone tablet puzzle-

The following letters are inscribed on a stone tablet placed immediately over the Ten Commandments in a church in England, and are deciphered with only one letter-

PRSVR Y PRFCT MN!

VR KP THS PRCPTS TN.

Gr.i.m.m.i.n.gham church-yard, Norfolk, England-

To the memory of Thomas Jackson, Comedian, who was _engaged,_ 21st of Dec, 1741, to _play a comic cast of characters, in this great theatre_-the World: for many of which he was _prompted_ by nature to excel.

The _season_ being ended, his _benefit_ over, the charges all paid, and his account closed, he made his _exit_ in the _tragedy_ of Death, on the 17th of March, 1798, in full a.s.surance of being called once more to _rehearsal;_ where he hopes to find his _forfeits_ all cleared, his _cast of parts_ bettered, and his situation made agreeable by Him who paid the great stock-debt, for the love which he bore to _performers_ in general.

An inculpatory epitaph-

The following epitaph at West Allington, Devon, England, is not only a memorial of the deceased, but reproves the parson of the parish-

Here lyeth the Body of Daniel Jeffery the son of Mich ael Jeffery and Joan his wife he was buried y^e 22 day of September 1746 and in y^e 18th year of his age.

This Youth When In his sickness lay did for the minister Send?that he would Come and with him Pray?But he would not atend But when this Young Man Buried was The minister did him admit?he should be Caried into Church?that he might money geet By this you see what man will dwo?to geet money if he can?who did refuse to come pray?by the Foresaid young man

At St. Benedict Fink-

"1673, April 23rd, was buried M^r. Thomas Sharrow, Cloth-worker, late Churchwarden of this parish, killed by an accidental fall into a vault, in London Wall, men Corner, by Paternoster Row, and was supposed had lain there eleven days and nights before any one could tell where he was. _Let all that read this take heed of drink._"

At Clophill, Bedfords.h.i.+re-

DEATH DO NOT KICK AT MEE FOR CHRIST HATH TAKEN THY STING AWAY.

1623.

In the same-

HEAR LIES THE BODEY OF THOMAS DEARMAN T HAT GAVE 6 _P_ OVND A YEAR TO TH E LABE RERS O F CLOPH ILL 1631.

A watchmaker's epitaph-

Among the curious epitaphs to be seen in the graveyards of England, this one in the old church-yard of Lidford, Devon, is worthy of insertion-

Here lies, in a horizontal position, The outside case of George Rougleigh, watchmaker, Whose abilities in that line were an honor To his profession.

Integrity was the mainspring And prudence the regulator Of all the actions of his life.

Humane, generous and liberal, His hand never stopped Till he had relieved distress; So nicely were all his actions regulated That he never went wrong Except when set a-going By people Who did not know his key; Even then he was easily set aright again.

He had the art of disposing his time so well That his hours glided away In one continual round Of pleasure and delight, Till an unlucky minute put a period to his existence.

He departed this life November 14, 1802, Aged 57; Wound up In hopes of being taken in hand By his Maker, And of being thoroughly cleaned and repaired And set a-going In the world to come.

Grave of Robin Hood-

At Kirklees, in Yorks.h.i.+re, formerly a Benedictine nunnery, is a gravestone, near the park, under which it is said Robin Hood lies buried. Mr. Ralph Th.o.r.esby, in his "Ducatus Leodiensis," gives the following as the epitaph-

Here undernead dis laith stean Laiz Robert Earl of Huntington, Nea arcir ver az hie sa geude: An piple kaud im Robin Heud Sic utlawz as hi, an iz men, Wil England never sigh agen.

Obiit 24 kal. Dekembris, 1247.

_Great Tom of Lincoln._

The finest bell in England was the Great Tom of Lincoln, considerably older than St. Paul's. Its elevation gave it an horizon of fifty miles in every direction. Its note was like the chord of A upon a full organ.

It fell from its support and was destroyed.