Gleanings in Graveyards Part 3

She took the cup of life to sip, Too bitter 'twas to drain; She put it meekly from her lip, And went to sleep again.

At WOOD DITTON, on a gravestone in which is fixed an iron dish, according to the instructions of the deceased:-

On William Symons, ob. 1753, aet. 80.

Here lies my corpse, who was the man That loved a sop in the dripping pan; But now, believe me I am dead, See here the pan stands at my head.

Still for sops to the last I cried, But could not eat, and so I died.

My neighbours, they perhaps will laugh, When they do read my epitaph.

CAIUS COLLEGE CHAPEL, A.D. 1613:-

On William Webbe.

A richer Webb than any art can weave, The Soule that Faith to Christ makes firmly cleave.

This Webbe can Death, nor Devils, sunder nor untwist, For Christ and Grace both groundwork are and List.

At CASTLE CAMPS the following quaint epitaph on a former rector:-

Mors mortis morti mortem nisi morte dedisset, aeternae Vitae Janua clausa foret.

The translation is obviously,-

"Unless the Death of Death (Christ) had given death to death by his own death, the gate of eternal life had been closed."

A poetic specimen of declension!

ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, CAMBRIDGE.

An angel beckoned and her spirit flew, But oh! her last look it cut our souls in two.

ST. MARY'S, CAMBRIDGE.

On John Foster, Esq. of that town.

Nomen, decus, Tellus meum, Quid referunt haec ad te Genus etiamque meum, Clarum quid aut humile?

Forsan omnes alios longe Ego antecellui, Forsan cunctis aliis valde (Nam quid tunc?) succubui.

Ut hoc tu vides tumulum Hospes certe satis est, Ejus tu scis bene usum Tegit-"Nihil" interest.

_Translation_.

My name, my country, what are they to thee?

What, whether high or low, my pedigree?

Perhaps I surpa.s.sed by far all other men, Perhaps I fell below them all, what then?

Suffice it, stranger, that thou seest a tomb, Its use thou knowest; it hides-"no matter whom."

CAMBRIDGE.

Here lies interred, beneath this stone, The bones of a true hearty one, Who lived well and died better, And sings in Heaven Glory for ever.

ELY.

In the Cathedral is the following numerical curiosity:-

Human Redemption.

590 x 590 x 590 Born Sara Watts Died 600 x 600 x 600 30 x 00 x 33 Aged y 30 x 00 x 33 m 3 x d 31 -- 3 h 3 x 3 x 3 x 12

Nations make fun of his Commands.

S. M. E.

Judgments begun on Earth.

In memory of James Fountain, Died August 21, 1767, Aged 60 years.

Philippa Brown, died November 22nd, 1738, aged 63.

Here I lie, without the door, The church is full, 'twill hold no more; Here I lye, the less I pay, And still I lie as warm as they.

When thou art dead, let this thy comfort be, That all the world by turn, must follow thee.

On Luke Simon, died May 25, 1784, aged 63.

Man's life's a snare, a labyrinth of woe, Which mortal men are doomed to struggle this; To-day he's great, to-morrow he's undone, And thus with hope and fear he travels on: Till some disease, or else old age, Calls us poor mortals trembling off the stage.

Ches.h.i.+re.