2nd s. No 87., Acq. 29. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



175 



among savage and heathen nations. It proves, at 

 any rate, the existence of a mean, irreligious, uti- 

 litarian spirit, as well as the "keen desire for 

 church renovation," mentioned by your corre- 

 spondent : and, as monumental memorials are 

 admissible for legal evidence, their wilful destruc- 

 tion, obliteration, or concealment, can scarcely be 

 " in harmony with the law." That this abomina- 

 ble system was rife in Shakspeare's day, we might 

 conclude from his well-known epitaph (which I 

 here copy from Mr. Fairholt's Home of Shah- 

 speare, almost the only work in which it is cor- 

 rectly given) : — 

 " Good trend for Iesvs sake forbearb, 

 to digg tie dvst encloased peare ; 



BlES'E be T" man Y'^ SPARES HES STONES, 

 AND CVRST BE HE Y' MOVES MY BONES." 



There is a traditionary story, that "his wife 

 and daughters did earnestly desire to be laid in 

 the same grave with him ; but that not one, for 

 fear of the curse above said, dare touch his grave- 

 stone." As times go (and have gone), it would 

 be better if some such lines as these of Shak- 

 speare took the place of those fulsome churchyard 

 chronicles that have given rise to the proverb 

 " Menteur comme une epitapTie." The non-inter- 

 ference with Shakspeare's gravestone has not 

 been extended to the gravestones of his family ; 

 for Mr. Fairholt, in his account of the stone com- 

 memorating the last resting-place of Susanna, 

 wife of Dr. John Hall, says : 



" The whole of the rhyming part of her epitaph had 

 been obliterated ; and upon the place was cut an inscrip- 

 tion to the memory of one Richard Watts. This has in 

 its turn been erased, and the original inscription restored 

 by lowering the surface of the stone, and recutting the 

 letters." 



I also (like your correspondent K.) could men- 

 tion a church, where two gravestones to the 

 members of an ancient family had been removed 

 to the o?i/side of the entrance to the south porch, 

 where they still lie, with their inscriptions (one of 

 them to a person possessing the singular name of 

 Scudamore Cheese) well-nigh obliterated. Last 

 year the chancel of this same church was restored. 

 The chancel was unusually large, and free from 

 pews, &c. ; on its floor were about a score of me- 

 morials, the inscriptions on some being very in- 

 teresting, and one (which has already been given 

 in " N. & Q.") very curious. The whole of these 

 inscriptions, with their coats-of-arms, &c., are 

 now concealed by a flooring of encaustic tiles laid 

 over, and upon them. The inscriptions have not 

 been transferred to the tiles (in the manner men- 

 tioned by the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe) save in 

 one instance, that of the rector's own family. 

 Happening to be on the spot before the tiles were 

 laid down, I made a plan of the gravestones, and 

 an accurate copy of their inscriptions ; and this is 

 the only record existing of these now-unseen me- 



morials ; though I am about to make a duplicate 

 copy to present to the register-box of the parish. 



CUTHBERT BeDE, B.A. 



DR. JOHN DONNE S WIIX. 



(2"'» S. iv. 127.) 



W. L. inquires for a curious document : think- 

 ing it may probably interest your readers at large, 

 I send you a copy taken from a Broadside printed 

 Feb. 23, 1662. 



" Dr. Donnas Last Will and Testament, July 21, 1657. 



IT- J !• L Adieu mon Droit. 



Video mehora proboque. j^j^^ ^^^ ^^„ j^^^.^^ 



In the name of God. Amen. I John Donne, by the 

 Mercy of Christ Jesus, being, at this time, in good and 

 perfect understanding, do hereby make My last Will and 

 Testament in manner and form following: First, I give 

 my good and gracious God an Intire Sacrifice of Body 

 and Soul with my most humble Thanks, for that his 

 Blessed Spirit imprints in me now an assuredness of Sal- 

 vation of one, and the Resurrection of the other ; and for 

 that Constant and Cheerful Resolution which the same 

 Spirit Established in me, to live and dye in the same Re- 

 ligion Established in England by the known Law. In 

 Expectation of the Resurrection, I desire that my Body 

 may be buried in the most private manner that may be 

 in the Churchyard of the Parish where I now live, without 

 the Ceremony of Calling any Officers. And I desire to be 

 Carried to my Grave by the ordinarj* Bearers of the Dead, 

 without troubling any of my Friends, or letting them 

 know of my Death by any means, but by being put into 

 the Earth. And I desire my Executor to interpret my 

 meaning on this Request, by my Word, and not by his 

 own Discretion; who perad venture, for fashion's sake, and 

 apprehending we shall never meet, may think to order 

 things Better for my Credit. (God be thanked) I have 

 not lived by Jugling, therefore I desire to dye and be 

 buried without any : And not having, (as I hope,) been 

 burdensome to my Friends in my Life, I would not load 

 their shoulders being Dead. I desire and appoint the 

 Right Honourable Jerome, Earl of Portland to be my 

 Executor, hoping that for all his Cares of me, and Kind- 

 nesses to me, he will undertake to see this my Will punc- 

 tually performed ; Especially concerning my Burial. To 

 the Most Excellent, Good, Kind, Vertuous, Honorable Lady 

 Portland, I give all the Rest that I have in this Will un- 

 begueathed : And I do not this foolishly (as may at the 

 first sight appear) because my I^ord is my Executor ; but 

 because I know it will please the Gaiety of her Humour, 

 which ought to be preserv'd for all their sakes that have 

 the honour and happiness to be known unto her. To the 

 Right Honourable The Lord Newport, I bequeath the 

 Picture of St. Anthony in a round Frame. To my very 

 good friend Mr. John Harvy, the Picture of the Samaritan, 

 by whose kindness I have been often refreshed. To my 

 good friend Mr. Chr. Gise, Sir Thomas Moor's Head, 

 which upon my Conscience I think was not more Inge- 

 nious than his own. And I write this rather as a Comme- 

 moration than a Legacy, for I have always made a diffe- 

 rence between Kindnesses and Courtesies. To Mr. George 

 Pitt, I give the Picture of my Dutch Fair, which is full of 

 Business, but where there is alwaies room for a Kindness. 

 And I brag of the favours I received from him, because 

 they came not bj' Chance. To my Cousin Henry Stafford, 

 son to my kind friend Mr. William Stafford, I give all my 

 Printed Books, which although they are of no great value, 



