EPITAPHS, ETC.
Epitaphs.—There is, or was, one at Pisa which thus concludes:
"Doctor doctorum jacet hac Burgundius urna,
Schema Magistrorum, laudabilis et diuturna;
Dogma poetarum cui littera Græca, Latina,
Ars Medicinarum patuit sapientia trina.
Et nunc Pisa, dole, tristeris Thuscia tota,
Nullus sub sole est cui sic sunt omnia nota.
Rursus ab Angelico cœtu super aera vectum
Nuper et Angelico, cœlo gaude te receptum.
Ann. Dom. MCLXXXXIIII. III Calend. Novembr."
Nearer home, in Shoreditch churchyard:
"Sacred to the memory of Sarah Micci, who departed this life April 7th, 1819, aged 50 years.
Memento judicii mei, sic enim erit mihi heri, tibi hodie."
Not far from this is the following laconic one:
"Dr. John Gardner's last and best bed-room, who departed this life the 8th of April, 1835, in his 84th year."
Which reminds me of one at Finedon:
"Here lyeth Richard Dent,
In his last tenement.
1709."
B. H. C.
Curious Inscription (Vol. iv., p. 88.).—In the first edition of Imperatorum Romanorum Numismata Aurea, by De Bie, Antwerp, 1615, at the foot of a page addressed "Ad Lectorem," and marked c. ii., are the following verses, which may be noted as forming a pendant to those referred to:
| |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Signed "C. Hættron." |
W. H. Scott.
Edinburgh.
Epitaph in Lavenham Church, Norfolk.—
"Continuall prayse these lynes in brass
Of Allaine Dister here,
Clothier vertuous whyle he was
In Lavenham many a yeare;
For as in lyfe he loved best
The poore to clothe and feede,
Soe with the riche and alle the reste,
He neighbourlie agreed;
And did appoint before he died,
A smalle yearlie rent,
Which would be every Whitsuntide
Among the poorest spent."
I send you this copy from a nibbing of a quaint epitaph, made in the beautiful old church of Lavenham many years since, with a view to putting a Query as to its construction. The first two lines, as I read them, want a verb, unless we read the conclusion of the first line as a verb, to in-brasse (i.e. to record in brass). Can any of your readers give me an authority, from an old author, for the use of this or any similar verb? To in-grain seems somewhat like it, but is modern. If no authority for such a verb can be given, I should be glad to have the construction of the lines explained.
A. B. R.
Belmont.