The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1880-02-07
Our Olio.
SOME CURIOUS EPITAPHs.
Compiled for The Democratic AdeocGfe
BY l.. r. NJ

SohE CURIOUS EPITAPHS.
Complied for the Democratic Adeoeate
BY l. RIM
There is peculiar kind Of sad pleasure
IN rowing among the quiet resting places
OF the dead, reading the curious inscrip-
tons, and noting the many different man
ners which are employed in Publishing
mems past records to their successors
through epitaphs. But epitaphs though
IN some instances criterion Of the ones
for whom they were intended, generally
possess certain degree Of incrsdulity and
1t were partly this, perhaps, that Byron
was thinking Of, when in his well known
poem, English Bards, he wrote these two
lines
Believe a woman or an epitaph,
or anything else THAT'S false
A few have here been collated, some Of
which with the circumstances attending
them would probably furnish sufficient
material in the hands Of skillful writers for
expansion into three-volume novels.
The epitaphs Of eminent men arc very
few, and even those that are, are generally
noted for their brevity and restitution Of
Of all suporauity
The body of Christopher Columbus was
taken to Seville, on the Guadiliquiyer
sometime after his death at Valladolid, and
there deposited in the family vault of the
Duke of Alcala, 10 the Cathedral. Upon
the table was inscribed, in Castilian, this
meagre couplet, which is still legibe
A Castillo Arngon
OtrO monde do Colon
TO Castillo and Aragon
Columbus gave another world
In 1886 the remains of this great navi.
gator and diseoverer were conveyed 10 ST.
Domingo, where they remained until re.
Gently, when they were again disinterred
and thence transported to Havana, at which
place they now are.
Franklins epitaph was written by him
self, at the age Of 23,-then a journey
man printer;
The Body
BEsJANIS FRASKIIS, Printer.
dixie the cover Of an old book
Its contents torn out.
and stripped oft. Letters aud gildingj
Lies food for worms
Yea the words itself shall not be lost
For II VIII Jas he believed appear once more
In new
And more beautiful edition,
Corrected aud amended
The Author.
That this welLknown typographical in
scription was plagiarised from Mather'
hagRaiid Christa americana is eviden
from Franklins own admission Of his "a
miiarity with the words Of ''the great Cot
ton To the perusal in early life, o.
Mathers Essays to do Good, Franklir
ascribes all his usefulness in the world.
The lines alluded to 10 the famous Eccle
siaslical History are by Benjamin Wool
bridge, member of the first graduating
class of Howard University, 1912.
On the fat stone covering Shakespeare
grave is inscribed, in very irregular char
acters, the following quaint supplieation
blessing and menance
Good Friend, for JEsys sake forbeare
To digg r-R dySt EncioAsed HERE.
Bicst be r.E Man-spares This stones
Aud evnt be IIe-moyes my bones
/ Before DR., Priestly, prominent as tn
discoyerer of oxygen, died, the Rev. Davi,
Davis, one of the wits Of the time, wrot
the subjoined epitaph, which the Doctor i
said TO have laughed over heartily
Here lies at rest
In oaken chest,
Together packed most nicely,
The bones and brains
Flesh, blood and veins
! Aud Dui Of DR. Pricstly
The number of sham epitaphs writtel
on persons Of particular trades or profes
sions is innumerable. Doctors, LAWYERS
shoemakers, tailors aud blacksmiths mr.
those chiefly honored in this way. Tn,
most ponderous efforts at wit have beer
written over these eallings in which th,
various implements used arc general,
dragged in series ofwretched puns. SOM
reference is sure to be made to the black
smith vice, the shoemaker is certain t,
"leave all behind, the tailor most likely
has been clipped by the shears of death
while the doctor is joked about his muir
derous propcnsities, the lawyer about BIZ
dishonesty, and the editor about his un
truthful proclivity. To this class the doc
tor and lawyer have perhaps contributed
the best series of witty epitaphs, as fo
instance
Here Doctor - lies Inferred
of oh
Those on the legal profession are per
haps the most numerous of all. A stont
cutter had been employed by the daughter
Of james Wilson, an eminent Scotch law
yer of Charlestown, Va, deceased, to cree
a tombstone over his grave. For propeI