EPITAPH ON ELIAS JAMES. *
When God was pleased, the world unwilling yet,
Elias James to nature paid his debt,
And here reposeth; as he liv'd he dyde;
The saying in him strongly verified—
Such life, such death; then, the known truth to tell,
He lived a godly lyfe, and dyde as well.
EPITAPH ON SIR THOMAS STANLEY. **
Ask who lyes here, but do not weepe:
He is not dead, he doth but sleepe;
This stony register is for his bones,
His fame is more perpetual than these stones,
And his own goodness, with himself being gone,
Shall live when earthly monument is none.
* On the authority of "a MS. volume of poems by Herrick and
others, said to be in the handwriting of Charles I., in the
Bodleian Library.
** On the authority of Sir William Dugdale ("Visitation
Book"), who says, "The following verses were made by William
Shakespeare, the late famous tragedian." This appears to be
our author's longest and most ambitious work.
Not monumental stone preserves our fame
Nor skye aspyring pyramids our name;
The memory of him for whom this stands
Shall outlive marble and defacer's hands,
"When all to Time's consumption shall be given;
Stanley, for whom this stands, shall stand in heaven.
EPITAPH OX TOM-A-COMBE, OTHERWISE THIXBEARD. *
Thin in beard and thick in purse,
Never man beloved worse;
He went to the grave with many a curse,
The Devil and he had both one nurse.
WHOM I HAVE DRUNKEN WITH. **
Piping Pebworth, dancing Marston,
Haunted Hillsborough and hungry Grafton;
With dancing Exhall, Papist Wixford,
Beggarly Bloom and drunken Bidford.
DAVID AND GOLIATH. ***
Goliath comes with sword and spear,
And David with a sling;
Although Goliath rage and swear
Down David doth him bring.
ON JOHN COMBE, A COVETOUS RICH MAN, MR. WILLIAM SHAKE-SPEARE WRIGHT THIS ATT HIS REQUEST WHILE HEE WAS YETT LIVEING FOR HIS EPITAPHE. ****
Ten in the hundred lies here engraved;
' Tis a hundred to ten his soul is not saved;
If any one asks, "Who lies in this tomb?"
"Hoi hoi" quoth the Devil, "'tis my John a Combe."——
* On the authority of Peck, "Memoirs of Milton," 4to, 1740
** On the authority of John Jordan. There is a strong
poetic license here—according to the well-known legend,
William had really only drunk with Bidford; the quantrain is
probably the work of Jordan and not Shakespeare.
*** On the authority of Stratford local tradition.
**** Aslimolean MS., cited by Halliwell. The pun is on the
Warwickshire pronunciation, "Ho! ho!" quoth the Devil, "'tis
my John has come!" See Aubrey's version:
"Ten in the hundred the Devil allows,
But Coombs will have twelve he swears and vows," etc.
——BUT BEING DEAD, AND MAKING THE POOR HIS HEIRES, HEE AFTER WRIGHTES THIS FOR HIS EPITAPHE. *
Howere he lived judge not,
John Combe shall never be forgott
While poor hathe memmorye, for he did gather
To make the poor his issue, be their father,
As record of his tilth and seedes,
Did crown him in his later needes.
Finis. W. Shak.