A QUAINT EPITAPH 4d 



chieftain, Aurelius Ambrosianus, who, after defeating 

 that weak king, gathered up the scattered patriots, and 

 feU upon the Saxons with such fury that they were 

 driven back to that Isle of Thanet which had originally 

 been given them for their services against the Scots of 

 Strathclyde. " Falchions drank blood that day ; the 

 buzzard buried his horny beak in the carcases of the 

 slain ; the eagles feasted royally on the flesh of them 

 that fell ; and the whitening bones of the Northmen 

 long afterwards strewed the fair land of Kent." 



Eight years later, the work of Aurelius began to 

 be undone, and in another eight years the veteran 

 Hengist and his son had completed the foundation of 

 their kingdom. 



Crayford, it will thus be seen, is a town of con- 

 siderable historic interest ; but, apart from this claim 

 upon one's attention, it has, I fear, no attraction 

 whatever. 



But here is Crayford church, in whose yard is one of 

 the quaintest epitaphs imaginable :— 



" Here lies the body of Peter Isnell, thirty years 

 clerk of this parish. He lived respected as a pious 

 and mirthful man, and died on his wa}^ to church, 

 to assist at a wedding, on the 31st of March, 1811, 

 aged 70. The inhabitants of Crayford have raised 

 this stone to his cheerful memory, and as a token 

 of his long and faithful services. 



The life of this Clerk was just three -score and ten, 



Nearly half of which time he chauuted Amen. 



In his youth he was married, like other young men ; 



But his wife died one day, so he chaunted Amen. 



A second he married — she departed— what then ? 



He married and buried a third, with Amen. 



Thus, his joys and his sorrows were treble ; but tlien 



His voice was deep bass as he sung out Amen. 



On the horn he could blow, as well as most men 



So his horn was exalted in sounding Amen. 



But he lost all his wind after three-score and ten 



And here, with three wives, he waits, till again 



The trumpet shall rouse him to sing out Amen. 



The distance l^etween Crayford and Dartford is but 

 two miles, past White Hill ; and all the way are fruit 



E 



