Cambridgeshire.
ALL SAINT’S CHURCH, CAMBRIDGE.
Epitaph of a Wine Merchant.
“In Obitum Mio Johannis Hammond Ænopolæ Epitaphium
“Spiritus ascendit generosi Nectaris astra,
“Juxta Altare Calex hic facet ecco sacrum
“Corporu αναδταδει cū fit Communia magna
“Unio tunc fuerit Nectaris et Calicis.”
SOHAM
1 | To God | 2 | To Prince | 3 | Wife | 4 | Kindred |
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| 5 | Friend | 6 | Poor |
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1 | Religious | 2 | Loyal | 3 | True | 4 | Kind |
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| 5 | Steadfast | 6 | Dear |
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1 | In Zeal | 2 | Faith | 3 | Love | 4 | Blood |
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| 5 | Amity | 6 | And Store |
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He hath so lived,and so Deceased | |||||||
Lie—Here. | |||||||
Translation.
It consists of four lines, each of which contains five ambusses, or ten syllables (which is evident, from the rhyming) and therefore it should be read thus:—
To God, to Prince, Wife, Kindred, Friend, the Poor,
Religious, Loyal, True, Kind, Stedfast, Dear.
In Zeal, Faith, Love, Blood, Amity, and Store,
He hath so liv’d, and so Deceas’d, lies here.
The meaning appears to be, that the deceased was Religious to God, Loyal to his Prince, true to his Wife, Kind to his Kindred, Stedfast to his Friend, and Dear to the Poor; that he was endued with those qualities all his life, and died in the possession of them.—As to the Figures, most likely they were used to distinguish particularly the relation which a word in one line bore to that, which in another line had the same figure.
At BABRAHAM is this on Orazio Palovicini, who was the last deputed to this country to collect the Peter pence; but instead of returning to Rome, he divided the spoil with the Queen, and bought the estate at Babraham.
Here lies Orazio Palovicin,
Who robb’d the Pope to pay the Queen.
He was a thief. A thief? Thou liest!
For why? He robbed but antichrist.Him Death with besom swept from Babraham,
Unto the bosom of old Abraham;
Then came Hercules, with his club,
And knocked him down to Beelzebub.
ALL SAINTS’, CAMBRIDGE.
She took the cup of life to sip,
Too bitter ’twas to drain;
She put it meekly from her lip,
And went to sleep again.
At WOOD DITTON, on a gravestone in which is fixed an iron dish, according to the instructions of the deceased:—
On William Symons, ob. 1753, æt. 80.
Here lies my corpse, who was the man
That loved a sop in the dripping pan;
But now, believe me I am dead,
See here the pan stands at my head.
Still for sops to the last I cried,
But could not eat, and so I died.
My neighbours, they perhaps will laugh,
When they do read my epitaph.
CAIUS COLLEGE CHAPEL, A.D. 1613:—
On William Webbe.
A richer Webb than any art can weave,
The Soule that Faith to Christ makes firmly cleave.
This Webbe can Death, nor Devils, sunder nor untwist,
For Christ and Grace both groundwork are and List.
At CASTLE CAMPS the following quaint epitaph on a former rector:—
Mors mortis morti mortem nisi morte dedisset,
Æternæ Vitæ Janua clausa foret.
The translation is obviously,—
“Unless the Death of Death (Christ) had given death to death by his own death, the gate of eternal life had been closed.”
A poetic specimen of declension!
ST. ANDREW’S CHURCH, CAMBRIDGE.
An angel beckoned and her spirit flew,
But oh! her last look it cut our souls in two.
ST. MARY’S, CAMBRIDGE.
On John Foster, Esq. of that town.
Nomen, decus, Tellus meum,
Quid referunt hæc ad te
Genus etiamque meum,
Clarum quid aut humile?Forsan omnes alios longè
Ego antecellui,
Forsan cunctis aliis valdè
(Nam quid tunc?) succubui.Ut hoc tu vides tumulum
Hospes certè satis est,
Ejus tu scis benè usum
Tegit—“Nihil” interest.
Translation.
My name, my country, what are they to thee?
What, whether high or low, my pedigree?
Perhaps I surpassed by far all other men,
Perhaps I fell below them all, what then?
Suffice it, stranger, that thou seest a tomb,
Its use thou knowest; it hides—“no matter whom.”
CAMBRIDGE.
Here lies interred, beneath this stone,
The bones of a true hearty one,
Who lived well and died better,
And sings in Heaven Glory for ever.
ELY.
In the Cathedral is the following numerical curiosity:—
Human Redemption.
| 590 | x | 590 | x | 590 | ||
| Born | • | Sara | • | Watts | ||
| Died | ||||||
| 600 | x | 600 | x | 600 | ||
| 30 | x | 00 | x | 33 | ||
| Aged | ||||||
| y 30 | x | 00 | x | 33 | ||
| m 3 | x | d 31 | -- | 3 | ||
| h 3 | x | 3 | x | 3 | x | 12 |
Nations make fun of his
Commands.
S. M. E.
Judgments begun on Earth.
In memory of
James Fountain,
Died August 21, 1767,
Aged 60 years.
Philippa Brown, died November 22nd, 1738, aged 63.
Here I lie, without the door,
The church is full, ’twill hold no more;
Here I lye, the less I pay,
And still I lie as warm as they.
When thou art dead, let this thy comfort be,
That all the world by turn, must follow thee.
On Luke Simon, died May 25, 1784, aged 63.
Man’s life’s a snare, a labyrinth of woe,
Which mortal men are doomed to struggle this;
To-day he’s great, to-morrow he’s undone,
And thus with hope and fear he travels on:
Till some disease, or else old age,
Calls us poor mortals trembling off the stage.