Dec. 1. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



423 



Asbwell, Herts : 



" Behold in me the life of man. 

 Compared bj' David to a span. 

 Let friends and parents weep no more : 

 Here's all the odds — I went before." 



Aldenham, Herts. On John Robinson, 1674 : 



" Death parts the dearest lovers for a while, 

 And makes them mourn who only used to smile ; 

 But after death our unmixt loves shall tie 

 Eternal knots betwixt my love and I. 

 "J. R." 



" I, Sarah Smith, whom thou didst love alone, 

 For thy dear sake have laid this marble stone." 



R. W. Hackwood. 



The following epitaphs, in memory of three mem- 

 bers of the Penell family of Woodstone, copied 

 from brazen tablets in the chancel of Lindridge 

 Church, in Worcestershire, seem to be worthy of 

 publicity and preservation by insertion in " N. 

 &Q." 



I. " William Penell. Died, 1623. 



" This stone, that covers earth and claye, 

 Longe in the earth uncovered laye ; 

 Mail forct it from the mother's wombe, 

 And made thereof for man a tombe. 

 And nowe it speakes, and thus doth saye, — 

 The life of man is but a daye ; 

 The daye will pass, the night must come ; 

 Then here, poore man, is all thy roome. 

 The writer and the reader must, 

 Like this good man, be turn'd to duste : 

 He lived well, and soe doe thou ; 

 Then feare not death, when, where, or howe 

 It commes ; 'twill end all greilFe and paine, 

 And make thee ever live againe. 

 " Mors mihi vita." 



II. " Edwaed Penell. Died, 1G66. 



" In soe little place doth lye. 

 Virtue, goodness, loyalt}- ; 

 One who in all relations stood, 

 And basest times, both true and good. 

 'Tis for noe comnion losse our teares are p.aid, 

 Here the best husband, father, friend, is laid. 

 " Vivit post funera Virtus." 



III. " Edward Penell. Died, 1657. 



" Here rests his earthy part, whose soule above 

 Views her bright IMaker face to face, and proves 

 Pure joys which shall be full and perfect, when 

 These broken organs snail be peeced agen, 

 And reinformed. Reader, before thou passe, 

 Take his example, a clear looking-glasse. 

 To dress thy soule by, learne of him to bee 

 Good in bad times who mayst live worse to see. 

 " Beati mortui qui in Domino moriuntur." 



N. L. T. 



Epitaph on Mary Sexton, Bideford, Devon. — 



" Here lies the body of Mary Sexton, 

 Who pleas'd manj' a man, but never vex'd one : 

 Not like the woman who lies under the next stone." 



J.Y. 



No. 318.] 



Somersetshire Epitaphs, — 



" As us am so must you be. 

 Therefore prepare to follow we." , 



The above is an epitaph common in many country 

 churchyards in another form ; but this is given as 

 illustrating one of the peculiarities of the dialect 

 of Somersetshire. I copied it some years ago 

 in the churchyard at Porlock, where it was over 

 the tomb of a father and his son. 



An epitaph, of a different character, is In the 

 churchyard at Nettlecombe, Somerset. It is on a 

 small upright stone (grit), which is plaoed at the 

 foot of a large slab of lias, on which is this in- 

 scription : 



" Depositum Johannis Musgrave de Nettlecombe, Gent., 

 filii natu quarti, qui sibi uni visus est sat dire se vixisse. 

 Natus est iii" die Martii, anno 1656. Obit Aprilis xv", 

 anno 1684." 



By the side of this stone is a large altar-tomb to 

 his mother and other members of his familj', and 

 on the first-mentioned small stone is the following :- 



« April 15, 1684. 

 " Much of my welfare and content below, 

 I to my mother's love and virtues owe,! 

 Wherfore this humble grave, so neere her bones, 

 I more esteem than elsewhere marble stones. 

 John Musguave." 



W. C. Trevelyan. 



Wallington. 



Epitaph at Beverley. — While on a recent visit 

 to Beverley, I copied the following epitaph from a 

 monument appended to the exterior wall of the 

 church of St. Mary. If the wording is figurative 

 It is at least remarkable ; but if It is descriptive, 

 it suggests many queries of the laws and customs 

 now little understood. 



" Here two young Danish soldiers He, 

 The one in quarrel chanced to die ; 

 The other's head, by their own law. 

 With sword was severed at one blow. 



December 23, 1689." 



HE^•RY Daveney. 



Norwich. 



Epitaph. — The following epitaph is reprinted 

 la the Newcastle Journal of March 31, 1855, from 

 a paper of similar title of March 12, 1748 : 



" Ye witty mortals, as you're passing by, 

 Remark, that near this monument doth lie, 

 Center'd in dust. 

 Two husbands, two wives, 



Two sisters, two brothers. 

 Two fathers, a son, 



Two daughters, two mothers, 

 A grandfather, grandmother, and a granddaughter, 

 An uncle, an aunt, and their niece follow'd after. 

 This catalogue of persons, mentioned here. 

 Was only five, and all from incest clear." 



Will some correspondent explain ? Y. B. N. J. 



