TRANSLATED EPITAPH.
(To the Editor of the Mirror.)
Quod fuit esse quod est, quod non fuit esse quod esse,
Esse quod est non esse, quod est non, erit esse.
As a translation of this curious epitaph (in Lavenham churchyard) which is formed out of two Latin words, has been requested from some of your readers, I send the following:—
What John Giles has been
Is what he is, (a bachelor.)
What he has not been,
Is what he is, (a corpse.)
To be what he is
Is not to be, (a living creature.)
He will have to be
What he is not. (dust.)
JOSEPH MASON.
Another.
What we have been and what we are,
The present and the time that's past,
We cannot properly compare
With what we are to be at last.
Tho' we ourselves have fancied forms,
And beings that have never been,
We unto something shall be turned—
Which we have not conceived or seen.
G.H.