The County Echo

EPITAPHS. [A COMPILATION, BY J.F.D.] Churchyard literature is essentially a grave subject but it is a most interesting one, and one which to the writer of this article has had an attraction for many years. In the pursuit of this study, than which probably no department of serious literature is richer in materials, he has collected so large a num- ber of epitaphs as to render the task of selection for the. purposes of this article a matter of some labour and difficulty. Those given here are specimens only, and are mostly intended to mark the diversity of taste prevailing at different periods of our history. Some of them are of an historic and national character, some are remarkable for their extreme adulation of the dead, some are records of mere local interest, while some among them are noteworthy only on account of their oddity. The most ancient epitaph of which we have any knowledge is that which Sardana- palus the last king of the Assyrians, about 876 B C, ordered to be inscribed upon his tomb. This king lived a life of feasting and of the most infamous pleasures. The epitaph runs thus:—" Go passenger, eat, drink, and rejoice, for the rest is nothing." An .epitaph," says Aristotle, fit for a hog." The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, were the earliest recorders of inscriptions of whom we have any satisfactory account, but it was reserved for the introduction of Christianity to extend these inscriptions, and to hold out to the living the resurrection of the body. The first six centuries after Christ are rich in Christian inscriptions of an eminently devo- tional character, and on the tombs of these times are frequently found extracts from the Bible. Turning now more particularly to the grave-yards of later times, and the epitaphs in our own language, we find much that, is worthy of admiration as well as much that must be condemned. One epitaph is beauti- ful in sentiment and feeling, and concise, as the language of sorrow should be. Another charms the ear with the rhythm of.its words and fineness of expression. Jut there are others which have scarcely anything to recommend them, setting both orthography aid syntax at defiance. The former we cannot but admire the latter are provocative of nothing but disgust. Previous to the Reformation in England, epitaphs are frequently distinguished by a feeling of devotion sometimes shown by a quotation from Scripture, or a brief prayer to the Father, or to the Saviour, or to the Virgin Mary for mercy, or as king for the prayers of the living for the benefit of the souls of the dead, or, for their salvation. The follo w- ing inscriptions are very common at this period Death is certain-the hour unseen" To-day mine—to-morrow thine." "On whose soul God have mercy, Amen." May he (or she) rest in peace." Salvation from the Cross." After the Reformation epitaphs assumed a florid style and became degraded to the base purposes of flattery. Devotional feeling in many of them appears to be quite extinct, the only object seeming to be to convey a high sense of importance of the dead, to commemo- rate the benefactions he made, or to acquaint the world with the number of his children. Here is an example, said to be the first in which a change of style may be noticed. When iti s stated that it was written by Sir Thomas More as an epitaph for his own tomb the p extreme modesty of the man will be apparent. Thomas More, born in the^city of London, of an honourable though hot5 illustrious; family* was yet conversant in literature,who,, al t6r' he b#d for some^years.5 while younr, pleaded in''the .Courts and acted as judgej«n. the sheriff's'fcourtTin the city, was summoned? •to'Court by'the invincible &ing-.Henry^jtjjMli,; to whom^alone- of'all* kings the unheafd' of glory happened • to "be styled -Defender of the Faith, which no wo J i lerited.ooin BJJF iisjl ,pen and "swoid,* i sen ofVjihe Com ul^! 01 ::Knlgli1^d, and at In t appointed *\it,e-' then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and at length by the great favour ( cl of his sovereign, Chancellor of England. But" previously he had been elected Speaker of the House of Commons, had several times been sent on embassies, and lastly in the embassy of Cambray was joined as colleague and jjcompanion with Cuthbert Tunstall, at that time Bishop of London, but since of Durham, than whom the world has scarcely, a more learned, prudent or virtuous man. There he was present as an ambassador, and saw with joy leagues renewed, and peace, so long desired in the world, restored among the greatest monarchs of the Christian world' Which peace may heaven confirm and ren- der lasting. While he was thus employed in a course of honourable duties, so that neither the best of princes could disapprove his labours, nor was he odious to the nobility, or disliked by the people, only feared by thieves, murderers, and heretics. His father, Sir John More, Knight, advanced by his sovereign to the rank of a Justice of the King's Bench: a man courteous, gentle, blameless, mild, merciful, just and upright, aged indeed, but active in oody, having his life prolonged to see his son Chance'lor of England, conceived himself to have stayed long enough upon earth, willingly departed to heaven. But the son after his decth (to whom compared when alive he was called the young man and seemed so to hi .iself) missing his absent father, and weighing in his mind that he had four children and eleven grand-children, began to grow old a bad state of health succeeding, another sign of old age, increased this opinion, the efore sated with mortal affairs, that which from his infancy he had prayed for, in his latter days to beat liberty, withdrawing himself by degrees from the cares and business of life to meditate on immortality, that (if God should favour his endeavours) he obtained on re- signing his honours, through the incomparable favour of his prince, and he caused this tomb to be erected for himself, having brought hither the remains of his first wife, that it might admonish him daily of his approaching death. Good reader, I beseech thee that thy pious prayers may attend him while living and follow him when dead, that he may not have done this in vain, nor trembling may dread the approach of death, but willingly for Christ's sake undergo it, and that death to him may not be altogether death but a door to everlasting Jife," It was with such epitaphs as this before his mind that Puttenham, an old English writer, remarks: "They make long and tedious discourses, and write them over the tombs of great men and others, which fee so exceeding long as one must have half-a-day's leisure to read one of them, and must be called away before he come half to the end, or else be locked into the Church by the sexton, as I myself was once served, leading an epitaph in a certain Cathedral Church of England. [To BE CONTINUED.]

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Mr Rpes Davies, *is„among "those- unvited'to the Parliamentary<dinner to§laei 'given on 4Saturday''eveniug-by Sir William Harcourc.. An inquest was held. on Saturdaysla3t|iat?. '« d y SIebech Park on".the. body of a man"Darae, ,Thomas Davies, employed as' under gardener by', the Baron de Ratzen. The deceased was described as fa. quiet, sober ,,a qui man, and the only reason that could be assigned for the committal of the rash act was disappointment-g,t failing to obtain,a situation which he applied for., From ( the. evidence given, it appeared that deceased it;. had shot himself with a gun. The jury returned a verdict that the deceased com- mitted suicide duriug a fit of temporary}^ > insanity, ")'t: i