G. J. De Wilde.
Enigmatical Epitaph.—I offer for solution an enigma, copied from a tomb in the churchyard of Christchurch in Hampshire:
"WE WERE NOT SLAYNE BUT RAYSD;
RAYSD NOT TO LIFE,
BVT TO BE BVRIED TWICE
BY MEN OF STRIFE.
WHAT REST COVLD ᵀᴴ LIVING HAVE,
WHEN DEAD HAD NONE?
AGREE AMONGST YOV,
HERE WE TEN ARE ONE.
HEN. ROGERS DIED APRIL 17, 1641.I. R."
The popular legend is, that the ten men perished by the falling in of a gravel-pit, and that their remains were buried together. This, however, will not account for the "men of strife."
Is it not probable that, in the time of the civil wars, the bodies might have been disinterred for the sake of the leaden coffins, and then deposited in their present resting-place?
The tomb may have been erected some time afterwards by "I. R.," probably a relative of the "Henry Rogers," the date of whose death is commemorated.
T. J.
Bath.
Books worthy to be reprinted (Vol. vii., pp. 153. 203.).—In addition to those previously mentioned in "N. & Q.," there is one for which a crying necessity exists for a new edition, namely, The Complaynt of Scotland. It is often advertised and otherwise sought for; and when found, can only be had at a most extravagant price. It was originally written in 1548; and in 1801, a limited impression, edited by Dr. Leyden, was published; and in 1829, "Critiques upon it by David Herd, and others, with observations in answer by Dr. Leyden," to the number of seventy copies. The Complaynt of Scotland and Sir Tristrem, an edition of which was edited by Sir Walter Scott, and published in 1804, are two of the oldest works of which the literature of Scotland can boast.