his death, he was never once absent from his Sunday and week-day duties in the forty-seven years during which he held office. He succeeded his father, James Worrall, who died in 1806, aged seventy-nine, after being parish clerk of Wolverley for thirty years. His tombstone, near to that of his son, was erected to record his worth both in his public and private character, and as a mark of personal esteem-h.l. F. H. &W.C.p.c.' I am told that these initials stand for F. Hurtle and the Rev. William Callow, and that the latter was the author of the following lines inscribed on the monument, which are well worth quoting If courtly bards adorn each statesman's bust, Him who enslaved as him who saved the state, A memorial record on the church of Holy Trinity, Hull, is as follows: In memory of JOHN STONE Excellent in his way Buried here 26 May 1727 First amongst notable sextons is the name of Old Scarlett, who died July 2, 1591, at the good old age of ninety-eight, and occupied for a long time the position of sexton of Peterborough Cathedral. He buried two generations of his fellow-creatures. A portrait of him, placed at the west end of that noble church, has perpetuated his fame, and caused him to be introduced in effigy in various publications. Says a writer in the "Book of Days": "And what a lively effigyshort, stout, hardy, and self-complacent, perfectly satisfied, and perhaps even proud, of his profession, and content to be exhibited with all its insignia about him! Two queens had passed through his hands into that bed which gives a lasting rest to queens and to peasants alike. An officer of Death, who had so long defied his principal, could not but have made some impression on the minds of bishop, dean, prebends, and other magnates of the Cathedral, and hence, as we may suppose, the erection of this lively portraiture of the old man, which is believed to have been only once renewed since it was first put up. Dr. Dib din, who last copied it, tells us that 'Old Scarlett's jacket and trunkhose are of a brownish red, his OLD SCARLETT, THE PETERBOROUGH SEXTON. stockings blue, his shoes black, tied with blue ribbons, and the soles of his feet red. The cap upon his head is red, and so also is the ground of The following lines below his portrait are characteristic of his age : You see OLD SCARLETT's picture stand on hie ; Was done: no doubt his soule doth live for aye, The first of the queens interred by Scarlett was Catherine, the divorced wife of Henry VIII., who died in 1535, at Kimbolton Castle, in Huntingdonshire. The second was Mary, Queen of Scots, who was beheaded at Fotheringay in 1587, and first interred here, though subsequently transported to Westminster Abbey. Our next example is from Bingley, Yorkshire :— In memory of Hezekiah BrigGS, who died August 5th, 1844, in the 80th year of his age. He was sexton at this church 43 years, and interred upwards of 7000 corpses. [Here the names of his wife and several children are given.] Here lies an old ringer, beneath the cold clay, Who has rung many peals both for serious and gay ; Through Grandsire and Trebles with ease he could range, When they had need to call; Ring on, ring on, sweet Sabbath bell, Sigh o'er my grave, and lull my heart. An upright stone in the burial-ground at Hartwith Chapel, in Nidderdale, Yorkshire, bears the following inscription : In memory of William DarnbrOUGH, who for the last forty years of his life was sexton of this chapel. He died October 3rd, 1846, in the one hundredth year of his age. "Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried As he now, mouldering, shares the doom So shall he, too, with them arise, To share the judgment of the skies. An examination of Pateley Bridge Church registers proves that Darnbrough hundred and two years of age. was one |