GULIELMUS SOMERVILE. ARM.
SI QUID IN ME BONI COMPERTUM HABEAS,
IMITATE.
SI QUID MALI, TOTIS VIRIBUS EVITA.
CHRISTO CONFIDE,
ET SCIAS TE QUOQUE FRAGILEM ESSE
ET MORTALEM.
Such words have a meaning that sinks deep into the heart when they are read upon the gravestone that covers the poet's dust. They came to me like a message from an old friend who had long been waiting for the opportunity of this solemn greeting and wise counsel. Another epitaph written by Somerville,—and one that shows equally the kindness of his heart and the quaintness of his character,—appears upon a little, low, lichen-covered stone in Wootton-Wawen churchyard, where it commemorates his huntsman and butler, Jacob Bocter, who was hurt in the hunting-field, and died of this accident:—
H. S. E.
JACOBUS BOCTER.