Friday 10 August 2012

Pop! 2

That inscription in full (by popular request excluding John Gray):

Here lyeth the body of William Jones who departed this life
the 18th of August
1660

Laugh not fanatics though he be gone
to have fought his fight and hath worn (?) a crown
Though from we he is gone in heaven he takes his rest
singing Alleluiah and is forever blest
In life he taught to dye and he did give 
in death a great example how to live
If wisdom learning and knowledge cannot dwell
secure from change vaine bubble earth farewell.


I am not sure about that word, 'worn' - it seems to contain two 'o's and looks more like 'woonc' - any ideas?  The punctuation and spelling was done by a mason, quite a while before Dr Johnson wrote his dictionary, and he put a full stop between each word, just to make life a little more interesting.  'vaine bubble earth...'


7 comments:

  1. Thank you for the full works...

    Could it be 'won' a crown? That would go with fighting his fight.

    At a guess the 'fanatics' might be presbyterians, or whatever other sect of puritanism offended the person ordering the epitaph...as I seem to recall that was the term used for them by Anglicans at the time.

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    1. You could well be right about the term 'fanatics', Fly.

      If the other word is 'won' (which did occur to me) then it is a very archaic spelling, as I know that it definitely begins with a 'W' and seems to have 2 'O's after it, followed by device where two letters are joined together, which look very like 'NC'. If it had been 'woone', then the 'E' does not look anything like all the others, so I don't think so.

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  2. my favourite is

    Here lies an Atheist
    All dressed up
    And no place to go.

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    1. That's a good one - I've never heard of it before. This could spark a "What would you have as an epitaph" post...

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  3. Well, if we do go there, there's a very large pink granite marker in a Tennessee cemetery, facing the road, and saying TOODALOO.

    I wonder if the fanatics got the point. We'll never know.

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    1. There is reputed to be one here with, "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?" on it.

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    2. Here the body of Tom Stephenson lies interred ('in turd' - GEDDITT?!)

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