Sacred
To the Memory of
Thomas Depledge,
Who was murdered at Darfield,
On the 11th of October, 1841.
At midnight drear by this wayside
A murdered man poor Depledge died,
The guiltless victim of a blow
Aimed to have brought another low,
From men whom he had never harmed
By hate and drunken passions warmed.
Now learn to shun in youth’s fresh spring
The courses which to ruin bring.
The following singular verse occurs upon a tombstone contiguous to the chancel door in Grindon churchyard, near Leek, Staffordshire:—
Farewell, dear friends; to follow me prepare;
Also our loss we’d have you to beware,
And your own business mind. Let us alone,
For you have faults great plenty of your own.
Judge not of us, now We are in our Graves
Lest ye be Judg’d and awfull Sentence have;
For Backbiters, railers, thieves, and liars,
Must torment have in Everlasting Fires.
Bibliography of Epitaphs.
Addison, Joseph. Westminster Abbey, the Spectator, Nos. 26 and 329.
Alden, Rev. Timothy. A Collection of American Epitaphs; New York, 1814, 12mo., 5 vols.
Andrews, William, F.R.H.S. Gleanings from Yorkshire Graveyards, Yorkshire Magazine, vol. 2, pp. 95-6; Epitaphs on Sportsmen, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, July 24th and 31st, 1880. Curious Epitaphs, Chambers’s Journal, vol. 55, pp. 570-572. Many articles in the Argonaut, Eastern Morning News, Fireside, Hand and Heart, Hull Miscellany, Hull News, Long Ago, Newcastle Courant, Notes and Queries, Notes about Notts., Nottingham Daily Guardian, Oldham Chronicle, Press News, Reliquary, Whitaker’s Journal, Yorkshireman, and about fifty other London magazines and provincial newspapers.
Anthologia: A Collection of Ludicrous Epitaphs and Epigrams; 1807, 12mo.