FIG. 37.—AT SWANSCOMBE.
"To Elizabeth Hall, died 1779, aged 76 years."
FIG. 38.—AT ASHFORD.
"To Stephen Kennedy, died Sept. 1791, aged
61 years."
In the latter illustration there are three stars to which I can give no signification. The snake-ring is, of course, eternity, and the book, as before surmised, may stand for the record of a good life.
More ingenious, more didactic, and altogether more meritorious than these is another series of designs belonging to the same period of time. They are not only as a rule conceived in better taste, but are, almost consequently, better in their execution. The following example from Cooling, a small village in the Medway Marshes, is an excellent specimen of its class, and a very exceptional "find" for a spot so remote.
FIG. 39.—AT COOLING.