The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1858-06-10

here nss hobelt Barras and thats enough"
And think it right that so sweeping state.
ment, which has so long enjoyed the advantage
Of stone, should be at once contradicted in Ste
reotype. AS to poems, indeed, | have no quar-
rel with Mr. Robert Barras upon that matter
but as a stone cutter (though a journeyman)
aud a sculptor (though itinerant) think may
be allowed a word or two upon the second sub.
iect.
What opportunities had Mr.. Robert Barras,
while on earth, instead of earth being upon him,
to enable him to speak Of eptaphs in this fash
ion Was he ghoul, and therefore peculiarly
familiar with our church yard literature7 It is
not likely. Had he travelled all over England
and Wales, leaving no stone (grave) unturned,
in efforts TO obtain employment, and chiseling
enduring virtues out of nothing and blank ur-
faces out OF nothing. as have done? | think
not. Did he keep little book for the express
purpose Of noting down any remarkable cpitaphs
he might come across, with the yards where he
took them from in the margin to prevent
mistakes? 1t would be a remarkable conci-
dence it he did. | have such note book, at all
events, and here are some OF my notes. Many
headstones have, of course, not been able to
decipher quite rightly from some of them be-
ing mutiIated, have only been able to decipher
few words, which have struck ms as being
good, or humorous, or singular in any respect
decay and damp make almost as remorseles
SOM have found written in other languages.
or inscribed in, to M, unknown characters, aud
then have been Obliged to ask anl trust to
wiser pc pie for the meaning. In these cases
may not be reliable and Trustworthy as ! be-
lieve myself to be but all others which here
quote may be relied upon as genuine.
This is the inscription upon a stone coffin,
fom under the pavement OF Chichester Cithc-
dral, where was employed as a day -ldborcr on.
ly:
"Non intrcs in judicium cnm servo tue, Domino"
(Enter not into Judgment with thy servant, o
Lord as it was translated to me by kind yen.
| tlem1n in the ante-chhp'i The remains were
| those of an anonymous bishop; but dare say
for all the humility of his epitaph he was no
worse than many bishop one could nams.-
Not word about the Episcopal virtues of the
departed prelate. Not hint about his short
comings and back sldngs, such as one gathers
from the tombstone of another could mention.
No titles, no boasts. Only-Non ntres in judi
cum cum servo tuo, Domino.
| The kind gentleman before men ntioned, seeing
| that was interested i'm these matters, supplied
me with the following lines written by Robert
OF Gloucester upon our King Henry the First,
who died OF over-eating his favorte fish,
"And when he com hom he wilede of an lamprcyc to
etc,
Ac hys leeches hym oerbede. vt was feble mete
Ac he wOde noyt believe he oveds vt well ynow,
Ana etc as In better thulke lampreye
Vor anon rygt thereafter into anguysse he drow,
And died vor thys iampreye, thanc hys owe wow"
Which last statement means, suppose, 9TH re
his royal obsnacy." And the Sc me gentleman
also gove me this distichof different sort which
he himself had seen over grave in Prince Ed
wards Island
:" Here lies the boiy of poor Charles Lamb,
Killed by tree that fell slap bang"
Which gives but an i'll opinion of our colon
ial fan 81,
pc, to sound right. In England, when we
cant rhyme better than that, we don't attempt
it, bat express our ideas in blank verse; as in the
following ample upon rich merchants wi fe
in Coventry yard:
She was What was
But words Wanting to say what One.
What Wife should be
She was that
Wives should be downright ashamed to put
over their husbands heads such things as | Of
ten See written over wives. Look at IT, is:
Here lies my wife, poor Molly let her lie
She finds repose at last, and SO do l."
And here is what Cornish gentleman finds
it in his heart to inscribe upon his dear depart
ed:
"My wife is dead. an here she lies
No man laughs, and no man cries.
Where she's gone, how she fares,
Nobody knows ami nobody cares"
The following was clearly not composed by
Mr. S=xton, but by the husband of the lady, no
repoSes in her Immediate naighborhood
" Here lies the body of Sarah exton
She q wife veXcd one
can't say as much for her at the next stone"
What sort of matrimonial existence must Mr..
Dent, of Winchester have passed, | wonder
who as soon as his D1bor h was grassed over,
could indite upon her so lippant couplet as
this
a. Here lies the bo iy of Deborah Dent
She kicked up her heels, and away she went"
We will charitably hope that it was the ex-
treme seductiveness of the rhyme which caused
him TO represent the lady as having departed SO
summarly. Our epitaph makers will go deal
out OF their way for cool rhyme, and when
they find dissyllable to match with another
they hesitate at nothing in order to bring il in
AT Doncaster, for instance, read:
" Here lies two brothers by msiortunes surrounded
One died of his wounls,anl the other drownded" !"
And again, at BliicforI, Devon
"Her marriage day appointed was,
And her dlns clothes provided,
But when the day arrived did,
She sickenel and died did"
This one from st. AlbinS olt the other hand,
is SO full of an original and striking idea, that
tle sound becomes secondary object if even
that
% Sacred to the memory of Miss Martha Groyn
She was so very pure within,
She burst the outward she'll of sin,
And hate he'd herself cherubim."
Aud here again, at Dorchester, Oxon is an
example ol bard in despair for a couplet, who
contents himself with Stain! creditable fact
in Indifferent prose
" Here lies the body Of an honest man,
And when be died he owed nobody nothing"
A prolonged medical statement of the disease
the departed may have chant ed to have died. is
extremely popular. At Acton, in Cornwall
there is this particular account of how one Mr.
Morton came by his end:
" Here lies entombed one Roger Morton,
Whose sudden death was early brought on
Trying one day his corn TO NOW OF.
Tho razor slipped and cut his toe of;
The toe, or rather. what il grew to,
An Inflammation quickly few TO
The parts they took TO morhfying.
And poor dear Roger took to dying"