The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1885-02-26
EPITAPHS IN RHYME.
Curious Collection From Various Old
Church Yards,

Il t8IuSs
The literature of epitaphs is almost
without end. Anybody who. has the time
and patience to decipher old tombstones
can add something to the collection of
queer inscriptions already placed before
the public. A writer in Chambers Jour-
nal hit upon some of the most unique
yet heard from in rhyme. In a Devon
shire church yard he found the following
relating the married experiences of
worthy man:
Beneath this stone, in sound repose,
Lies William Rich of Lydeard Close;
Eight wives he had, yet none survive,
And likewise children eight times five;
From whom an issue vast did pour
Of reatgrandchildren five times four. :
Rich born, rich bred, yet fate adverse
His wealth and fortune did reverse.
He lived and died immensely poor,
July the 10Th, aged ninety-four.
A Cornwall churchyard is enriched
with the following dainty verses:
Here entombed one Roger Morton,
Whose sudden death was early brought on;
Trying one day his corn to NOW off,
The razor slipped and cut his toe of.
The toe, or rather what it grew to,
An inflammation quickly flew to !;
The parts they took to notifying,
And poor dear Roger took to dying
A Welsh husband thus sings above the
grave of his better-half
This spot is the sweetest I've seen in my life,
For it raises my flowers and covers my wife.
And in Eldon churchyard another great
ly relieved individual says:
Here lies my wife in earthly mold,
- 4 ~1k 1,,fr r,rI@
Peace wake her not, for now she's still;
She had, but now have my will.
In Worcester churchyard is the follow
ing affecting double kind of compliment: +:
Martha and I together lived
just two years and half;
She went first and followed after =,
The cow before the calf.
The following punning verse is on a
tombstone in Sheffield churchyard,
erected above the grave of John Knott.
scissors grinder:
Here lies man that was Knott born.
His father was Knott before him,
/. He lived Knott, and did not die,
Yet underneath this stone doth lie.
- Knott christened,
Knott begot
And here he lies,
anu y0U was huOOU
At Fling, near Southampton, is the
following circumsta2tial statement:
Pray, reader, stop, and read my fate,
What caused my life to terminate;
For thieves one night, when in my bed,
Broke in my house and shot me dead.
The following, which is rather hard
upon the deceased lady, is said to adorn
some churchyard in Manchester;
Here rests in silent clay
Miss Arabella Young,
Who on the 21st of May
Began to hold her tongue.
This other one is slightly invidious:
Here lies Margaret Sexton,
Who never did ought to vex one;
Not like the woman under the next one.
At Kirk -Santon churchyard, the fol-
lowing epitaph is placed on the grave
stone of Il man named Daniel Teare:
Here, friend, is little Daniels tomb.
To Joseph's age he did arrive;
Sloth killing thousands in their bloom,
While labour kept poor Dan alive.
How strange, yet true, full seventy years
Was his wife happy in her tears.
At Ockham, Surrey, a wood cutter
thus describes his final exit:
The Lord saw good was looping off wood,
And down fell from the tree;
met with a check, and broke my neck,
And SO Death Topped off me.
A photographer has this rather pat in
scription over him:
Here lie, taken from life.
In St. Peters churchyard, Isle of
Thanet, is an epitaph written by some
elegisc rhymster, who was very careful
not to stand committed to the facts:
Against his will,
Here lies George Hill,
Who from a cliff
Fell down quite stiff.
When it happened is not known,
Therefore not mentioned on this stone