Whether this, from a village churchyard, is an improvement on Young, is a question:—
Death loves a shining mark,
and
In this case he had it.
EPITAPH FOR A GREAT TALKER.
Hic tacet—instead of hic jacet.
IN OTSEGO COUNTY, N. Y.
John burns.
(On this a commentator remarks, “Most men suffer enough above ground without being bunglingly abused, post mortem, in ill-written inscriptions which were at least intended to be civil. We suppose the words were simply intended to record the man’s name; but they look marvellously like a noun substantive coupled with a verb in the indicative mood, and affording a sad indication that John burns. There is no hint that John deserved the fate to which he appears to have been consigned since his decease, and we can only say as we read the startling declaration, we should be very sorry to believe it.”)
In the church of Stoke Holy Cross, near Norwich, Eng., is the following epitaph:—