In the churchyard of Stanton Harcourt is a gravestone bearing the following inscription

Near this place lie the bodies of
JOHN HEWET and MARY Drew,

an industrious young Man
and virtuous Maiden of this Parish;
Who, being at Harvest Work
(with several others)

were in one instant killed by Lightning
the last day of July 1718.

Think not, by rig'rous Judgment seiz❜d,
A Pair so faithful could expire;
Victims so pure Heav'n saw well pleas'd,
And snatch'd them in celestial fire.

Live well, and fear no sudden fate;
When God calls Virtue to the grave,

Alike 'tis Justice soon or late,

Mercy alike to kill or save.

Virtue unmov'd can hear the call,

And face the flash that melts the ball.

According to a letter from Gay, the poet, to Fenton, relating the death of the pair, who were lovers, this epitaph was written by Pope, and the memorial erected at the cost of Lord Harcourt on the condition that Gay or Pope should write the epitaph. Gay gives the following as the joint production of the two poets:

When Eastern lovers feed the fun'ral fire,

On the same pile the faithful pair expire:

Here pitying Heav'n that virtue mutual found,
And blasted both, that it might neither wound.
Hearts so sincere th' Almighty saw well pleas'd,
Sent his own lightning, and the victims seiz'd.

But," wrote Gay, "my Lord is apprehensive the country people will not understand this; and Mr. Pope says he'll make one with something of Scripture in it, and with as little of poetry as Hopkins and Sternhold.' Hence the lines which appear on the tomb of the lovers.

Our next example is from Bury St. Edmunds churchyard :—

Here lies interred the Body of

MARY HASELTON,

A young maiden of this town,
Born of Roman Catholic parents,
And virtuously brought up,
Who, being in the act of prayer
Repeating her vespers,

Was instantaneously killed by a

flash of Lightning, August 16th,

1785. Aged 9 years.

Not Siloam's ruinous tower the victims slew,
Because above the many sinn'd the few,
Nor here the fated lightning wreaked its rage
By vengeance sent for crimes matur'd by age.
For whilst the thunder's awful voice was heard,
The little suppliant with its hands uprear'd.
Addressed her God in prayers the priest had taught,
His mercy craved, and His protection sought;
Learn reader hence that wisdom to adore,

Thou canst not scan and fear His boundless power;
Safe shalt thou be if thou perform'st His will,

Blest if he spares, and more blest should He kill.

From Bury St. Edmunds is the following inscription which tells a sad story of the low value placed on human life at the close of the eighteenth century :

Reader,

Pause at this humble stone it records

The fall of unguarded youth by the allurements of
vice and treacherous snares of seduction.

SARAH LLOYD

On the 23rd April, 1800, in the 22nd year of her age,
Suffered a just and ignominious death.

For admitting her abandoned seducer in the
dwelling-house of her mistress, on the 3rd of
October, 1799, and becoming the instrument in
his hands of the crime of robbery and
housebreaking.

These were her last words:

"May my example be a warning to thousands."

A lover at York inscribed the following lines to his sweetheart, who was accidentally drowned, December 24th, 1796

Nigh to the river Ouse, in York's fair city,
Unto this pretty maid death shew'd no pity;
As soon as she'd her pail with water fill'd

Came sudden death, and life like water spill'd.

In Holy Trinity Church, Hull, is an elegant marble monument by Earle, with figures of a

mother and two children.

The inscription tells

a painful story, and is as follows:—

Our JOHN WILLIAM,

In the sixteenth year of his age, on the night of January 19th, 1858, was swept by the fury of a storm, from the pierhead, into the sea. We never found him-he was not, for God took him; the waves bore him to the hollow of the Father's hand. With hope and joy we cherished our last surviving flower, but the wind passed over it, and it was gone.

An infant brother had gone before, October 15th, 1841. In heaven their angel does always behold the face of our Father.

To the memory of these

We, their parents, John and Louisa Gray erect this monument of human sorrow and Christian hope. "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight!"

The record of the death of the parents follows.

An accidental death is recorded on a tombstone in Burton Joyce churchyard, placed to the memory of Elizabeth Cliff, who died in 1835

This monumental stone records the name

Of her who perished in the night by flame
Sudden and awful, for her hoary head;

She was brought here to sleep amongst the dead.
Her loving husband strove to damp the flame
Till he was nearly sacrificed the same,
Her sleeping dust, tho' by thee rudely trod,
Proclaims aloud, prepare to meet thy God.

A tombstone in Creton churchyard states :

On a Thursday she was born,
On a Thursday made a bride,
On a Thursday put to bed,

On a Thursday broke her leg, and

On a Thursday died.

From Kingsbridge, Devonshire, we have the following:

Here I lie, at the chancel door,

Here I lie, because I'm poor :

The farther in, the more you pay,

Here I lie as warm as they.

In the churchyard of Kirk Hallam, Derbyshire, a good specimen of a true Englishman is buried, named Samuel Cleater, who died May 1st, 1811, aged 65 years. The two-lined epitaph has such a genuine, sturdy ring about it, that it deserves to be rescued from oblivion :—

True to his King, his country was his glory,

When Bony won, he said it was a story.

A monument in Bakewell Church, Derbyshire, is a curiosity, blending as it does in a remarkable manner business, loyalty, and religion

To the memory of MATTHEW STRUTT, of this town, farrier, long famed in these parts for veterinary skill. A good neighbour, and a staunch friend to Church and King. Being Churchwarden at the time the present peal of bells were hung, through zeal for the house of God, and unremitting attention to the airy business of the belfry, he caught a cold, which terminated his existence, May 25, 1798, in the 68th year of his age.