Part 10

In memory of his Genius and his Art, His matchless Industry and worthy Work For all his fellow-men, This monument Is humbly placed within this sacred Fane By her who loved him best, his widowed wife. Eliza Cruikshank, Feb. 9th, 1880.

A sketch of his life has been written by Walter Hamilton, under the title of "George Cruikshank, Artist and Humourist." (London: Elliot Stock, 1878.) William Bates, B.A., M.R.C.S., wrote "George Cruikshank, the Artist, the Humourist, and the Man, with Some Account of his Brother Robert." (Birmingham: Houghton & Hammond, 1878.) Blanchard Jerrold wrote "The Life of George Cruikshank." (London: Chatto & Windus, a new edition with eighty-four illustrations, 1883.) An able article contributed to the _Westminster Review_, by William Makepeace Thackeray, has been reproduced in book form by George Redway, London (1884). Some time ago the following appeared in a newspaper:--One day while Dr. B. W. Richardson was engaged at his house with an old patient who had been away many years in India, George Cruikshank's card was handed to the doctor. "It must be the grandson, or the son, at any rate, of the great artist I remember as a boy," said the patient. "It is impossible that George Cruikshank of Queen Caroline's trial-time can be alive!" The doctor asked the vivacious George to come in. He tripped in, in his eighty-fourth year, and, when the old officer expressed his astonishment, George exclaimed, "I'll show you whether he is alive!" With this he took the poker and tongs from the grate, laid them upon the carpet, and executed the sword dance before Dr. Richardson's astonished patient.

At the east end of the High Street, Portsmouth, and nearly opposite the house before which the Duke of Buckingham was stabbed by Felton, in 1628, stands the Unitarian Chapel. John Pounds habitually worshipped here on a Sunday evening, and the place where he used to sit, in front of one of the side galleries, just to the right of the minister, is still pointed out. He lies buried in the graveyard, on the left-hand side of the chapel, near the end of the little foot-path which leads round the building to the vestries. Shortly after his death a tablet was placed in the chapel, beneath the gallery, to his memory. Although his grave was dug as near as possible to that part of the chapel wall opposite where he used to sit, yet this tablet was, apparently without any reason, put some distance away from the spot. In shape and material it is of the usual orthodox style--a square slab of white marble, edged with black, and inscribed on it are the words:--

Erected by friends as a memorial of their esteem and respect for JOHN POUNDS, who, while earning his livelihood by mending shoes, gratuitously educated, and in part clothed and fed, some hundreds of poor children. He died suddenly on the 1st of January, 1839, aged 72 years. Thou shalt be blessed: for they cannot recompense thee.

Not long after this tablet was placed in position the idea was mooted that a monument should be erected over his grave. The Rev. Henry Hawkes, the minister who then had charge of the place, at once took the matter up, and subscriptions came in so well that the monument was more than paid for. The surplus money was wisely laid out in the purchase of a Memorial Library, which still occupies one of the ante-rooms of the chapel. The monument erected over the grave is of a suitable description, plain but substantial, and is in form a square and somewhat tapering block of stone about four feet high. On the front is the following inscription:--

Underneath this Monument rest the mortal remains of JOHN POUNDS, the Philanthropic Shoemaker of St. Mary's Street, Portsmouth, who while working at his trade in a very small room, gratuitously instructed in a useful education and partly clothed and fed, some hundreds of girls and boys. He died suddenly, on New Year's Day, MDCCCXXXIX, while in his active beneficence, aged LXXII years.

"Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

"Verily I say unto thee, inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, thou hast done it unto Me."

On the side facing the library door there are, in addition to the above, the ensuing sentences:--

This Monument has been erected chiefly by means of Penny Subscriptions, not only from the Christian Brotherhood with whom JOHN POUNDS habitually worshipped in the adjoining Chapel, but from persons of widely different Religious opinions throughout Great Britain and from the most distant parts of the World.

In connection with this memorial has also been founded in like manner within these precincts a Library to his memory designed to extend to an indefinite futurity the solid mental and moral usefulness to which the philanthropic shoemaker was so earnestly devoted to the last day of his life. Pray for the blessing of God to prosper it.

Large trees overshade the modest monument, and the spot is a quiet one, being as far as possible away from the street.[4]

On the gravestone of Richard Turner, Preston, a hawker of fish, the following inscription appears:

Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of RICHARD TURNER, author of the word Teetotal, as applied to abstinence from all intoxicating liquors, who departed this life on the 27th day of October, 1846, aged 56 years.

In Mr. W. E. A. Axon's able and entertaining volume, "Lancashire Gleanings" (pub. 1883), is an interesting chapter on the "Origin of the Word 'Teetotal.'" In the same work we are told that Dr. Whitaker, the historian of Whalley, wrote the following epitaph on a model publican:--

Here lies the Body of JOHN WIGGLESWORTH, More than fifty years he was the perpetual Innkeeper in this Town. Withstanding the temptations of that dangerous calling, he maintained good order in his House, kept the Sabbath day Holy, frequented the Public Worship with his Family, induced his guests to do the same, and regularly partook of the Holy Communion. He was also bountiful to the Poor, in private as well as in public, and, by the blessings of Providence on a life so spent, died possessed of competent Wealth, Feb. 28, 1813, aged 77 years.

The churchyard of Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, contains a gravestone bearing an inscription as follows:--

As a warning to female virtue, And a humble monument of female chastity, This stone marks the grave of MARY ASHFORD, Who, in the 20th year of her age, having Incautiously repaired to a scene of amusement, Was brutally violated and murdered On the 27th of May, 1817.

Lovely and chaste as the primrose pale, Rifled of virgin sweetness by the gale, Mary! the wretch who thee remorseless slew Avenging wrath, who sleeps not, will pursue; For though the deed of blood was veiled in night, Will not the Judge of all mankind do right? Fair blighted flower, the muse that weeps thy doom, Rears o'er thy murdered form this warning tomb.

The writer of the foregoing epitaph was Dr. Booker, vicar of Dudley. The inscription is associated with one of the most remarkable trials of the present century. It will not be without interest to furnish a few notes on the case. One Abraham Thornton was tried at the Warwick Assizes for the murder of Mary Ashford, and acquitted. The brother and next of kin of the deceased, not being satisfied with the verdict, sued out, as the law allowed him, an appeal against Thornton, by which he could be put on his trial again. The law allowed the appeal in case of murder, and it also gave option to the accused of having it tried by wager of law or by wager of battle. The brother of the unfortunate woman had taken no account of this, and accordingly, not only Mr. Ashford but the judge, jury, and bar were taken greatly aback, and stricken with dismay, when the accused, being requested to plead, took a paper from Mr. Reader, his counsel, and a pair of gloves, one of which he drew on, and, throwing the other on the ground, exclaimed, "Not guilty; and I am ready to defend the same with my body!" Lord Ellenborough on the bench appeared grave, and the accuser looked amazed, so the court was adjourned to enable the judge to have an opportunity of conferring with his learned brethren. After several adjournments, Lord Ellenborough at last declared solemnly, but reluctantly, that wager of battle was still the law of the land, and that the accused had a right of appeal to it. To get rid of the law an attempt was made, by passing a short and speedy Act of Parliament, but this was ruled impossible, as it would have been _ex post facto_, and people waited curiously to see the lists set up in the Tothill Fields. As Mr. Ashford refused to meet Thornton, he was obliged to cry "craven!" After that the appellor was allowed to go at large, and he could not be again tried by wager of law after having claimed his wager of battle. In 1819 an Act was passed to prevent any further appeals for wager of battle.

The following is from a gravestone in Saddleworth churchyard, and tells a painful story:--

Here lie interred the dreadfully bruised and lacerated bodies of WILLIAM BRADBURY and THOMAS his son, both of Greenfield, who were together savagely murdered, in an unusually horrible manner, on Monday night, April 2nd, 1832, old William being 84, and Thomas 46 years old.

Throughout the land, wherever news is read, Intelligence of their sad death has spread; Those now who talk of far-fam'd Greenfield's hills Will think of Bill o' Jacks and Tom o' Bills.

Such interest did their tragic end excite That, ere they were removed from human sight, Thousands upon thousands daily came to see The bloody scene of the catastrophe.

One house, one business, and one bed, And one most shocking death they had; One funeral came, one inquest pass'd, And now one grave they have at last.

The following on a Hull character is from South Cave churchyard:--

In memory of THOMAS SCRATCHARD, Who dy'd rich in friends, Dec. 10, 1809. Aged 58 years.

That Ann lov'd Tom, is very true, Perhaps you'll say, what's that to you. Who e'er thou art, remember this, Tom lov'd Ann, 'twas that made bliss.

In Welton churchyard, near Hull, the next curious inscription appears on an old gravestone:--

Here lieth He ould Jeremy who hath eight times maried been but now in his ould age he lies in his cage under the grass so green which JEREMIAH SIMP- SON departed this Life in the 84 yeare of his age in the year of our Lord 1719.

According to "Shropshire Folk-Lore" (published 1883), Edward Burton, of Longner, Shrewsbury, died in 1558, and in the garden of Longner Hall is a plain altar-tomb, dated 1614. He was a zealous Protestant, and died suddenly of excitement on hearing Shrewsbury bells ring for the accession of Queen Elizabeth. The minister of St. Chad's Church, Shrewsbury, refused to permit his body to be buried there; it was therefore taken home again and laid in his garden:--

Was't for denying Christ, or some notorious fact, That this man's body Christian burial lackt? Oh no; his faithful true profession Was the chief cause, what then was held transgression. When Pop'ry here did reign, the See of Rome Would not admit to any such, a tomb Within their Idol Temple Walls, but he, Truly professing Christianity, Was like Christ Jesus in a garden laid, Where he shall rest in peace till it be said, "Come, faithful servant, come, receive with Me, A just reward of thy integrity."

Mr. J. Potter Briscoe favours us with an account of a Nottingham character, and a copy of his epitaph. Vincent Eyre was by trade a needle-maker, and was a firm and consistent Tory in politics, taking an active interest in all the party struggles of the period. His good nature and honesty made him popular among the poorer classes, with whom he chiefly associated. A commendable trait in his character is worthy of special mention, namely, that, notwithstanding frequent temptations, he spurned to take a bribe from anyone. In the year 1727 an election for a Member of Parliament took place, and all the ardour of Vin's nature was at once aroused in the interests of his favourite party. The Tory candidate, Mr. Borlase Warren, was opposed by Mr. John Plumtree, the Whig nominee, and, in the heat of the excitement, Vin emphatically declared that he should not mind dying immediately if the Tories gained the victory. Strange to relate, such an event actually occurred, for when the contest and the "chairing" of the victor was over, he fell down dead with joy, September 6th, 1727. The epitaph upon him is as follows:--

Here lies VIN EYRE; Let fall a tear For one true man of honour; No courtly lord, Who breaks his word, Will ever be a mourner. In freedom's cause He stretched his jaws, Exhausted all his spirit, Then fell down dead. It must be said He was a man of merit. Let Freemen be As brave as he, And vote without a guinea; VIN EYRE is hurled To t'other world, And ne'er took bribe or penny.

True to his friend, to helpless parent kind, He died in honour's cause, to interest blind. Why should we grieve life's but an airy toy? We vainly weep for him who died of joy.

The following lines to the memory of Thomas Stokes are from his gravestone in Burton churchyard, upon which a profile of his head is cut. He for many years swept the roads in Burton:--

This stone was raised by Subscription to the memory of THOMAS STOKES, an eccentric, but much respected, Deaf and Dumb man, better known by the name of "DUMB TOM," who departed this life Feb. 25th, 1837, aged 54 years.

What man can pause and charge this senseless dust With fraud, or subtilty, or aught unjust? How few can conscientiously declare Their acts have been as honourably fair? No gilded bait, no heart ensnaring need Could bribe poor STOKES to one dishonest deed. Firm in attachment to his friends most true-- Though Deaf and Dumb, he was excell'd by few. Go ye, by nature form'd without defect, And copy Tom, and gain as much respect.

Next we deal with an instance of pure affection. The churchyard of the Yorkshire village of Bowes contains the grave of two lovers, whose touching fate suggested Mallet's beautiful ballad of "Edwin and Emma." The real names of the couple were Rodger Wrightson and Martha Railton. The story is rendered with no less accuracy than pathos by the poet:--

Far in the windings of the vale, Fast by a sheltering wood, The safe retreat of health and peace, A humble cottage stood.

There beauteous Emma flourished fair, Beneath a mother's eye; Whose only wish on earth was now To see her blest and die.

Long had she filled each youth with love, Each maiden with despair, And though by all a wonder owned, Yet knew not she was fair.

Till Edwin came, the pride of swains, A soul devoid of art; And from whose eyes, serenely mild, Shone forth the feeling heart.

We are told that Edwin's father and sister were bitterly opposed to their love. The poor youth pined away. When he was dying Emma was permitted to see him, but the cruel sister would scarcely allow her to bid him a word of farewell. Returning home, she heard the passing bell toll for the death of her lover--

Just then she reached, with trembling step, Her aged mother's door-- "He's gone!" she cried, "and I shall see That angel face no more!"

"I feel, I feel this breaking heart Beat high against my side"-- From her white arm down sunk her head; She, shivering, sighed, and died.

The lovers were buried the same day and in the same grave. In the year 1848, Dr. F. Dinsdale, F.S.A., editor of the "Ballads and Songs of David Mallet," etc., erected a simple but tasteful monument to the memory of the lovers, bearing the following inscription:--

RODGER WRIGHTSON, junr., and MARTHA RAILTON, both of Bowes; buried in one grave. He died in a fever, and upon tolling of his passing bell, she cry'd out My heart is broken and in a few hours expired, purely thro' love, March 15, 1714-15. Such is the brief and touching record contained in the parish register of burials. It has been handed down by unvarying tradition that the grave was at the west end of the church, directly beneath the bells. The sad history of these true and faithful lovers forms the subject of Mallet's pathetic ballad of "Edwin and Emma."[5]

In Middleton Tyas Church, near Richmond, is the following:--

This Monument rescues from Oblivion the Remains of the Reverend JOHN MAWER, D.D., Late vicar of this Parish, who died Nov. 18, 1763, aged 60. As also of HANNAH MAWER, his wife, who died Dec. 20th, 1766, aged 72. Buried in this Chancel. They were persons of eminent worth. The Doctor was descended from the Royal Family of Mawer, and was inferior to none of his illustrious ancestors in personal merit, being the greatest Linguist this Nation ever produced. He was able to speak & write twenty-two Languages, and particularly excelled in the Eastern Tongues, in which he proposed to His Royal Highness Frederick Prince of Wales, to whom he was firmly attached, to propagate the Christian Religion in the Abyssinian Empire; a great and noble Design, which was frustrated by the Death of that amiable Prince; to the great mortification of this excellent Person, whose merit meeting with no reward in this world, will, it's to be hoped, receive it in the next, from that Being which Justice only can influence.

Miscellaneous Epitaphs.

We bring together under this heading a number of specimens that we could not include in the foregoing chapters of classified epitaphs.

An epitaph on a brass in the south aisle of Barton Church, in Norfolk, is notable as being one of the oldest in existence in English, such memorials being usually in Latin at the period from which it dates. The inscription is as follows:--

Here are laid under this stone in the cley THOMAS AMYS and his wyffe MARGERY. Sometime we were, as you now be, And as we be, after this so shall ye. Of the good as God had, the said Thomas lent, Did make this chapel of a good intent. Wherefore they desire of you that be To pray for them to the last eternity. I beseach all people far and ner To pray for me THOMAS AMYS heartily, Which gave a mesbooke and made this chapel here, And a suit of blew damask also gave I. Of God 1511 and 5 yere I the said Thomas deceased verily, And the 4th day of August was buried here, On whose soul God have mercy.

In the churchyard of Stanton Harcourt is a gravestone bearing the following inscription:--

Near this place lie the bodies of JOHN HEWET and MARY DREW, an industrious young Man and virtuous Maiden of this Parish; Who, being at Harvest Work (with several others) were in one instant killed by Lightning the last day of July 1718.

Think not, by rig'rous Judgment seiz'd, A Pair so faithful could expire; Victims so pure Heav'n saw well pleas'd, And snatch'd them in celestial fire.

Live well, and fear no sudden fate; When God calls Virtue to the grave, Alike 'tis Justice soon or late, Mercy alike to kill or save.

Virtue unmov'd can hear the call, And face the flash that melts the ball.

According to a letter from Gay, the poet, to Fenton, relating the death of the pair, who were lovers, this epitaph was written by Pope, and the memorial erected at the cost of Lord Harcourt on the condition that Gay or Pope should write the epitaph. Gay gives the following as the joint production of the two poets:--

When Eastern lovers feed the fun'ral fire, On the same pile the faithful pair expire: Here pitying Heav'n that virtue mutual found, And blasted both, that it might neither wound. Hearts so sincere th' Almighty saw well pleas'd, Sent his own lightning, and the victims seiz'd.

"But," wrote Gay, "my Lord is apprehensive the country people will not understand this; and Mr. Pope says he'll make one with something of Scripture in it, and with as little of poetry as Hopkins and Sternhold." Hence the lines which appear on the tomb of the lovers.

Our next example is from Bury St. Edmunds churchyard:--

Here lies interred the Body of MARY HASELTON, A young maiden of this town, Born of Roman Catholic parents, And virtuously brought up, Who, being in the act of prayer Repeating her vespers, Was instantaneously killed by a flash of Lightning, August 16th, 1785. Aged 9 years.

Not Siloam's ruinous tower the victims slew, Because above the many sinn'd the few, Nor here the fated lightning wreaked its rage By vengeance sent for crimes matur'd by age. For whilst the thunder's awful voice was heard, The little suppliant with its hands uprear'd. Addressed her God in prayers the priest had taught, His mercy craved, and His protection sought; Learn reader hence that wisdom to adore, Thou canst not scan and fear His boundless power; Safe shalt thou be if thou perform'st His will, Blest if he spares, and more blest should He kill.

From Bury St. Edmunds is the following inscription which tells a sad story of the low value placed on human life at the close of the eighteenth century:--

Reader, Pause at this humble stone it records The fall of unguarded youth by the allurements of vice and treacherous snares of seduction.

SARAH LLOYD On the 23rd April, 1800, in the 22nd year of her age, Suffered a just and ignominious death. For admitting her abandoned seducer in the dwelling-house of her mistress, on the 3rd of October, 1799, and becoming the instrument in his hands of the crime of robbery and housebreaking. These were her last words: "May my example be a warning to thousands."

A lover at York inscribed the following lines to his sweetheart, who was accidentally drowned, December 24th, 1796:--

Nigh to the river Ouse, in York's fair city, Unto this pretty maid death shew'd no pity; As soon as she'd her pail with water fill'd Came sudden death, and life like water spill'd.

In Holy Trinity Church, Hull, is an elegant marble monument by Earle, with figures of a mother and two children. The inscription tells a painful story, and is as follows:--

OUR JOHN WILLIAM,

In the sixteenth year of his age, on the night of January 19th, 1858, was swept by the fury of a storm, from the pierhead, into the sea. We never found him--he was not, for God took him; the waves bore him to the hollow of the Father's hand. With hope and joy we cherished our last surviving flower, but the wind passed over it, and it was gone.

An infant brother had gone before, October 15th, 1841. In heaven their angel does always behold the face of our Father.

To the memory of these

We, their parents, John and Louisa Gray erect this monument of human sorrow and Christian hope. "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight!"

The record of the death of the parents follows.

An accidental death is recorded on a tombstone in Burton Joyce churchyard, placed to the memory of Elizabeth Cliff, who died in 1835:--

This monumental stone records the name Of her who perished in the night by flame Sudden and awful, for her hoary head; She was brought here to sleep amongst the dead. Her loving husband strove to damp the flame Till he was nearly sacrificed the same, Her sleeping dust, tho' by thee rudely trod, Proclaims aloud, prepare to meet thy God.

A tombstone in Creton churchyard states:--