And prove to them most kind."
But the most startling perversion of the original text I saw in the churchyard at Saundersfoot, South Wales, where the stone-carver had evidently had his lesson by dictation, and made many original mistakes, the most notable of which was in the second line:—
"Affliction sore long time I bore,
Anitions were in vain," etc.
The following from Hyden, Yorkshire, is remarkable:
"William Strutton, of Padrington, buried 18th May, 1734, aged 97 years, who had by his first wife 28 children, by his second, 17: was own father to 45, grandfather to 86, great-grandfather to 23; in all 154 children."
Witty tombstones, even when they are not vulgar, are always in bad taste. Two well-known instances may suffice—
On Dr. Walker, who wrote a book on English
Particles:
"Here lie Walker's Particles."