Imagens da página
PDF
ePub

CHURCH-YARD GLEANINGS.

"The pious work of names once famed ;
Now, dubious or forgot."

"Sic transit gloria mundi.”

IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.

WALKERS, whosoere you be!
If it prove you chance to see
Upon a solemn scarlet day,'
The City Senate pass this way,
Their grateful memory for to show
Which they the reverend ashes owe

Of BISHOP NORMAN here inhum'd,
By whom this city hath assum'd
Large priviledges: Those obtain'd
By him when Conqueror William reign'd;

This being by Barkham's thankfull minde renew'd,
Call it the monument of Gratitude.

IN ST. MARY'S, YORK.

Nigh to the River Ouse, in York's fair city,
Unto this pretty maid, Death show'd no pity:
As soon as she'd her pail with water fill'd,

Came sudden Death-and life, like water, spill'd.

These lines are in the church-yard on a tombstone sacred to the memory of a young maid, who was accidentally drowned, Dec. 24, 1696.-The inscription is said to be penned by her

lover.

B

IN GREY FRIARS, EDINBURGH,
Thou passenger, that shalt have so much time
To view my grave, and ask what was my crime,—
No stain or error, no black vice's brand,

Was that which chas'd me from my native land:
Love to my country, twice sentenc'd to die,
Constrain'd my hands forgotten arms to try.
More by friends' frauds my fall proceeded hath,
Than foes; tho' now they thrice decreed my death:
On my attempt tho' Providence did frown,
His oppress'd people God at length shall own.
Another hand, by more successful speed,
Shall raise the remnant, bruise the serpent's head.
Tho' my head fall, that is no tragic story,
Since, going hence, I enter endless glory.

These lines are on the monument of the Earl of Argyle, who was beheaded at Edinburgh, June 30, 1685. It is asserted, that this noble person wrote the lines foregoing, upon the day before his execution; that in that light they may be considered as a very strong instance of the quiet of his conscience, and of the serenity of his mind. But, besides this, they may be read to another end; for in them we plainly see his sentiments of the cause in which he died, and that to his very last moment he remained persuaded that he had done nothing contrary to the laws of his country, or, consequently, to the laws of God.

IN ST. BENNET'S, PAUL'S WHARF, LONDON. Here lies one More, and no More than he.

One More, and no More! how can that be?

Why one More, and no More, may well lie here alone: But here lies one More, and that's More than one.

ON A BELLOWS-MAKER.

Here lieth John Cruker, a maker of bellows;
He's crafts-master and king of good fellows;
Yet when he came to the houre of his death,
He that made bellowes could not make breath.
J. HOSKINES.

« AnteriorContinuar »