Prince Christian
The cross erected over the grave of Prince Christian Victor in the Pretoria Cathedral burial-ground is one of early Irish design with kerb of granite, and the railing is of metal from old British guns. The inscription records that the Prince was a grandson of Queen Victoria, and on the three sides of the base are inscribed texts with the various campaigns of the Prince:
| “I have fought a good fight.” | |
| Hazara | 1891 |
| Mirwagai | 1891 |
| Isazar | 1892 |
| “I have kept the faith.” | |
| Ashanti | 1895 |
| Soudan | 1898 |
| “I have finished my course.” | |
| Natal | 1889 |
| Transvaal | 1900 |
The designs have been carried out from suggestions made by Princess Christian.
The epilogue to Dryden’s “Tyrannic Love,” intended to be spoken by Eleanor Gwyn, when she was to be carried off by the pall-bearers, closes as follows:
As for my epitaph, when I am gone,
I’ll trust no poet, but will write my own:
Here Nellie lies, who though she lived a slattern,
Yet died a princess, acting in St. Cath’rine.
Thus we have the real character of the actress, and the character she represented in the play.
This inscription on a Connecticut tombstone: “Here lies the body of Jonathan Richardson, who never sacrificed his reason at the altar of Superstition’s god, and who never believed that Jonah swallowed a whale.”
An enthusiastic materialist put a headstone over the grave of his wife in a cemetery at Nievre, France, upon which there is the following inscription: “Deprived of all vitality, here lie the remains of the material that formed Madame Durand. No cards and no prayers.”
Hibernicisms, it seems, sometimes find their way into France. Upon a tombstone in the cemetery of Pagny-la-Violle may be read the following inscription: “To the memory of Claudine Menu, wife of Stephen Etienne Renard, died January 28th, 1855, aged 44 years, regretted by her four children, Anne, Pierre, François and Barbe, all dead before her.”
When “Tom” Corwin, disappointed and discouraged by the poor result of his mission to Mexico, was on the point of sailing for home he wrote to a cousin in Ohio, saying that he had accomplished all that he could, and when he got back to his country he should want something to do. He suggested that he had in youth some skill in imparting knowledge, and might teach a country school. But in case he should die before he arrived at home, he asked that no costly monument should be placed above him, and that a simple stone should bear only this inscription: “Thomas Corwin, born July 29, 1794; died ——. Dearly beloved by his family; universally despised by Democrats; useful in life only to knaves and pretended friends.”
The greatest smoker in Europe died at Rotterdam, and left behind him the most curious of wills. He expresses the wish in his last testament that all the smokers of the country be invited to attend his obsequies, and that they smoke while following in the funeral cortége. He directs that his body be placed in a coffin, which shall be lined with wood taken from old Havana cigar boxes. At the foot of his bier, tobacco, cigars, and matches are to be placed. And the epitaph which he requests shall be placed upon his tombstone is as follows:
HERE LIES
TOM KLAES,
The Greatest Smoker in Europe.
He Broke His Pipe
July 4, 1872.
Mourned by his family and all tobacco merchants.
STRANGER, SMOKE FOR HIM!
In the city of Amsterdam, Holland, is an epitaph with words signifying in English “exactly” under a carving of a pair of slippers. The inscription is over the grave of a rich old man, who, believing that he would only live a certain number of years, divided his fortune into yearly instalments, determined to have a good time. He calculated about right, and when he was dying he paid all his debts and found that he had nothing left but a pair of slippers.
The Florenca Illustrated of Leopoldo del Migliore, a famous antiquarian, informs us that the first inventor of spectacles was Signor Salvino Armato, which is confirmed by the inscription on his tomb:
Qui Giace
Salvino D’Armato Degli Armati
Di Firenze
Inventore Degli Occhiali
Dio Gli Perdonie a Peccata
Anno D MCCCXVII.
[Here lies Salvino Armato D’Armati of Florence, the inventor of spectacles. May God pardon his sins. The year 1317.]