Chelsea.
"Quod fuit esse" (Vol. vii., p. 235.).—Allow me to suggest the following meaning of the epitaph in Lavenham churchyard, which is the subject of A. B. R.'s Query. The word est has evidently been omitted in the third line: with this restored, the lines will read as a couple of hexameters:
"Quod fuit esse, quod est; quod non fuit esse, quod esse;
Esse quod (est), non esse; quod est, non est, erit, esse."
And the literal meaning, will be: "What was existence, is that which lies here; that which was not existence, is that which is existence; to be what is now, is not to be; that which is now, is not existence, but will be hereafter."
This, perhaps, is as enigmatical as the original: but the following lines will render the meaning plainer, though it is difficult to preserve the brevity of the Latin in an English version:
All that I really was lies here in dust;
That which was death before is life, I trust.
To be what is, is not, I ween, to be;
Is not, but will be in eternity.