Lincolnshire
The following quaint memorials of the unhonoured dead, are by the minister of the small and retired village of Waddingham. They have, at all events, the charm of originality, and were long ago inscribed in that quiet nook, where “many a holy text around is strewn, teaching the rustic moralist to die.”
In love we liv’d, in peace did part,
All tho it cot us to the heart.
O dear—what thoughts whe two had
To get for our 12 Children Bread;
Lord! send her health them to maintain:—
I hope to meet my love again.
O angry death yt would not be deny’d,
But break ye bonds of love so firmly ty’d!
She was a loving wife, a tender nurse,
And a faithful friend in every case.
SLEAFORD.
On Henry Fox, a weaver.
Of tender threads this mortal web is made,
The woof and warf, and colours early fade;
When pow’r divine awakes the sleeping dust,
He gives immortal garments to the just.
On the south side of the Sleaford Church, sculptured in the cornice of the water-table, is the following inscription:—
Here lyeth William Harebeter, and Elizabeth, his wife.
Cryest ihu graunte yem everlastyng lyfe.
It is noticed in Gough’s great work on Sepulchral Monuments, where, speaking of inscriptions cut on the ledges of stones, or raising them in high relief, he says, “Of this kind on public buildings, I know not a finer sample than in the water-table, on the south side of Sleaford Church.”
On William Gibson.
Who lies here?—Who do you think?
’Tis poor Will Gibson,—give him some drink;
Give him some drink, I’ll tell you why,
When he was living, he always was dry.