[50] Notes and Queries, Ninth Series, xii. 453.
The verses written in his honour are worth quoting:
Here lies an old ringer beneath the cold clay
Who has rung many peals both for serious and gay;
Through Grandsire and Trebles with ease he could range,
Till death called Bob, which brought round the last change.
For all the village came to him
When they had need to call;
His counsel free to all was given,
For he was kind to all.
Ring on, ring' on, sweet Sabbath bell,
Still kind to me thy matins swell,
And when from earthly things I part,
Sigh o'er my grave and lull my heart.
These last four lines strike a sweet note, and are far superior to the usual class of monumental poetry. I will not guarantee the correct copying of the third and fourth lines. Various copyists have produced various versions. One version runs:
Bob majors and trebles with ease he could bang,
Till Death called a bob which brought the last clang.
In Staple-next-Wingham, Kent, there is a stone to the memory of the parish clerk who died in 1820, aged eighty-six years, and thus inscribed:
He was honest and just, in friendship sincere,
And Clerk of this Parish for sixty-seven years.
At Worth Church, Sussex, near the south entrance is a headstone, inscribed thus:
In memory of John Alcorn, Clerk and Sexton of this parish, who died Dec. 13: 1868 in the 81st year of his age.