"To William King, upwards of 60 years
gardener of this parish, died Dec. 16th,
1863, aged 84 years."
The next problem is rather more doubtful, and in considering the possibility of the memorial indicated being "professional," we must remember that the parish of West Ham, now a populous place, was quite out of town and almost undiscovered until a comparatively recent time. Its eighteenth-century gravestones are consequently for the most part rustic and primitive. The skull and other bones here depicted, decked with wheat-ears and other vegetation, probably have some literal reference to the agricultural pursuits of the deceased, although of course they may be only poetical allusions to the life to come.
FIG. 63.—AT WEST HAM.
"To Andrew James, died 1754, aged 68 years."