64 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°<i S. X. July 28. '60. 



more under a sense of their truth and importance, than in 

 prospect of gain or success. After a life of labour and 

 trial, he died trusting alone in Christ for eternal life. 

 April 23rd, 1784. Aged 86." 



My father had for a fellow-pupil the nephew of 

 Oliver Goldsmith, and at the request of Oliver's 

 brother, my father followed Miss Goldsmith to her 

 grave, in Old St. Pancras churchyard. No me- 

 morial-stone was erected to perpetuate her me- 

 mory, or to mark the spot as being connected with 

 the poet : the barest mention of which fact would 

 have created much pleasurable interest in the 

 mind of the passing stranger ; as we really feel to 

 be the case when viewing the tomb of Mary Ce- 

 celia Haviland in the same churchyard, and whose 

 inscription says she was " Widow of y® late Major 

 Haviland of ye 45th Regiment, and Niece of the 

 Right Honorable Edmund Burke." Not far from 

 the spot where Oliver Goldsmith's niece lies buried, 

 there is a head-stone which has stood time very 

 badly. The lower half of the inscription has 

 crumbled away, but the following scrap can still 

 be gathered : — 



" Here Lies the Body of Thomas 'Best. A Name well 

 known to the lovers of Angling : who departed this Life 

 the 17th Day of June, 1810, aged 46 years. Long in the 

 thorny Path of Virtue " 



Thus finding Best's inscription appealing to all 

 brothers of the angle, we are led to consult 

 Lowndes; from whom we learn that, in 1787, one 

 Thomas Best published the Art of Angling, to 

 which is added the Complete Fly-Fisher, a work 

 which Lowndes marks as being " frequently re- 

 printed." In all probability he whose name was 

 so well known to all lovers of the gentle art, was 

 also the author of the above-mentioned work. 



Before closing the roll of tomb records, I would 

 call attention to another "reprinted" author — 

 Joshua Sturges ; whose works we may become 

 acquainted with, from the mention made of them 

 on the stone which covers his grave. I also find a 

 notice of Sturges, and a copy of his inscription, in 

 a short-hand letter written by my father in 1823 

 to his friend Thomas Molineux at Macclesfield; 

 he says : — 



" Walking the other Sunday with a friend in Pancras 

 churchyard, he called in3' attention to a tombstone, and 

 said, 'iihere lies a man the King delighted to honour; 

 often,' said he, 'have I heard Sturges remark, it was a 

 real pleasure to have the Prince for a pupil, he was such 

 an apt scholar; but read,' said he. I did so, and thanks 

 to sliort-hand wrote it down ; it was as follows : — 



" ' Sacred to the Memory of Mr. Joshua Sturges. 

 Many years a lle.-jpectable licenced Victualler in this 

 Parish ; who departed tliis Life the 12th of August, 1813. 

 Aged 55 years. He was esteemed for the many excel- 

 lent Qualities he possessed, and his desire to improve the 

 Minds, as also to l>enetit tlie Trade of his Brother Vic- 

 tuallers. His Genius was also eminently 'displayed to. 

 create innocent and rational amusement to Mankind, in 

 the Production of his Treatise on the diilicult game of 

 Draughts, which Treatise received the Approbation of 

 hia Prince, and many other Distinguished Characters. 



In private Life he was mild and unassuming; in his 

 public capacity neither the love of Interest or domestic 

 ease, could separate this faithful Friend from the Society 

 of which he was a Member, in the performance of Duties 

 which his Mind deemed Paramount to all others. His 

 example was worthy of Imitation in this World. May 

 his Virtues be rewarded in the next. Peace to his Soul, 

 and respected be his Memory.' " 



As many read tomb inscriptions Avith a kind of 

 thoughtless pleasure, so, to such, age, with the 

 times of birth and death, must appear the least 

 exciting of facts ; whereas scraps of history or 

 biography might lead many an idler to some in- 

 dustrious reflections. Sir John Hawkins, speak- 

 ing of Edward Purcellj observes that his " History 

 is contained in a monumental inscription on his 

 gravestone." This is most true, as may be seen 

 by turning to Sir John's History of Music, where 

 the inscription is given. And it is for such-like 

 inscriptions that the follower of the worthy 

 Weever panteth. Sometimes, after dry wander- 

 ings, his thirst is slaked at some biographical or 

 historical stream : as for instance, recently paus- 

 ing by a black marble slab lying on the ground in 

 Leyton churchyard, Essex, I with delight read 

 and transcribed the following : — 



" To the Memory of Captain Henry Morfi, Esq., who, 

 after a series of Fifty Years' Service, of which seven were 

 in Minorca, sixteen in Gibraltar, nine in the Highlands 

 of Scotland, the rest in the shore of England, with Ex- 

 actness and Fidelity, was rewarded with a Retirement on 

 the Office of Super-Intendant of Artillery and Military 

 Stores on the coast of Great Britain, and died at Low 

 Layton, March 7th, 1773. Aged 71 years. Erected by 

 his two Daughters, Co-heiresses of their Mother's Estate 

 in Yorkshire, and Father's in Essex. The above men- 

 tioned Henry More, second Son of .John More, of Pains 

 Farm, Gentleman, and last of the Famil)', was in a direct 

 Line, descended by a second Marriage, from Sir John; 

 More, Chief Justice of England ; wlio, by his first Wife, 

 was Father of Sir Thomas. His large possessions in 

 Oxfordshire devolved to the heirs of the second Mar- 

 riage ; which at present, together with their Name, there 

 are no more." 



It is, without doubt, owing to a general neglect 

 on the part of those who erect memorials to the 

 dead, that the student of family history, when 

 consulting churchyard tombs, has to wander as it 

 were through a desert ; while a very little con- 

 sideration, and no more words than are commonly 

 used, might soon turn each God's acre into a rich 

 and varied garden, overflowing with the flowers 

 of interesting information. Edwin Ror fe. 



Somers Town. 



UNPUBLISHED LETTER OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 



S"^ — I having receaved this enclosed peticion 

 from S"" John Morison, expressing a very severe 

 proceeding against him by the violacion of the 

 publique faith, because his report to M' Attorney 

 gen' hath not been yet made to the pari', I cannot 

 but for the vindicacion of the parl*^' armies honor, 



