Epitaphs.—Churchyard literature presents to us some curious specimens of metaphor; and it is interesting to observe how an old idea is sometimes unintentionally reproduced. The following lines may be seen on a gravestone in the churchyard at Kinver, Staffordshire:
"Tired with wand'ring thro' a world of sin,
Hither we came to Nature's common Inn,
To rest our wearied bodys for a night,
In hopes to rise that Christ may give us light."
The writer was probably not aware that Spenser says, in his Faerie Queen, iii. 3. 30.:
"And if he then with victorie can lin,
He shall his days with peace bring to his earthly In."
And again, Faerie Queen, ii. 1. 59.: