From Kingsbridge, Devonshire, we have the following:--
Here I lie, at the chancel door, Here I lie, because I'm poor: The farther in, the more you pay, Here I lie as warm as they.
In the churchyard of Kirk Hallam, Derbyshire, a good specimen of a true Englishman is buried, named Samuel Cleater, who died May 1st, 1811, aged 65 years. The two-lined epitaph has such a genuine, sturdy ring about it, that it deserves to be rescued from oblivion:--
True to his King, his country was his glory, When Bony won, he said it was a story.
A monument in Bakewell Church, Derbyshire, is a curiosity, blending as it does in a remarkable manner business, loyalty, and religion:--
To the memory of MATTHEW STRUTT, of this town, farrier, long famed in these parts for veterinary skill. A good neighbour, and a staunch friend to Church and King. Being Churchwarden at the time the present peal of bells were hung, through zeal for the house of God, and unremitting attention to the airy business of the belfry, he caught a cold, which terminated his existence, May 25, 1798, in the 68th year of his age.
[Illustration: SHORTHAND EPITAPH IN OLD ST. MARY'S CHURCH, SCULCOATES.
The old church of St. Mary's, Sculcoates, Hull, contains several interesting monuments, and we give a picture from a specially taken photograph for this volume of a quaint-looking mural memorial, having on it an inscription in shorthand. In Sheahan's "History of Hull," the following translation is given:--
In the vault beneath this stone lies the body of Mrs. JANE DELAMOTH, who departed this life, 10th January, 1761. She was a poor sinner, but not wicked without holiness, departing from good works, and departed in the faith of the Catholic Church, in full assurance of eternal happiness, by the agony and bloody sweat, by the cross and passion, by the precious death and burial, by the glorious resurrection and ascension of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
We believe that the foregoing is a unique epitaph, at all events we have not heard of or seen any other monumental inscription in shorthand.
The following curious epitaph is from Wirksworth, Derbyshire:--
Near this place lies the body of PHILIP SHULLCROSS,
Once an eminent Quill-driver to the attorneys in this Town. He died the 17th of Nov., 1787, aged 67.