Curious Epitaphs, Collected from the Graveyards of Great Britain and Ireland.Andrews, William
General
Curious Epitaphs, Collected from the Graveyards of Great Britain and Ireland.
Andrews, William
Epitaphs -- Great Britain
The lovers were buried the same day and in the same grave. In the year
1848, Dr. F. Dinsdale, F.S.A., editor of the "Ballads and Songs of David
Mallet," etc., erected a simple but tasteful monument to the memory of the
lovers, bearing the following inscription:--
RODGER WRIGHTSON, junr., and MARTHA RAILTON, both of Bowes; buried in
one grave. He died in a fever, and upon tolling his passing bell, she
cry'd out My heart is broke, and in a few hours expired, purely thro'
love, March 15, 1714-15. Such is the brief and touching record
contained in the parish register of burials. It has been handed down
by unvarying tradition that the grave was at the west end of the
church, directly beneath the bells. The sad history of these true and
faithful lovers forms the subject of Mallet's pathetic ballad of
"Edwin and Emma."[2]
[2] Black's "Guide to Yorkshire."
In St. Peter's churchyard, Barton-on-Humber, there is a tombstone with the
following strange inscription:--
Doom'd to receive half my soul held dear,
The other half with grief, she left me here.
Ask not her name, for she was true and just;
Once a fine woman, but now a heap of dust.
As may be inferred, no name is given; the date is 1777. A curious and
romantic legend attaches to the epitaph. In the above year an unknown lady
of great beauty, who is conjectured to have loved "not wisely, but too
well," came to reside in the town. She was accompanied by a gentleman, who
left her after making lavish arrangements for her comfort. She was proudly
reserved in her manners, frequently took long solitary walks, and
studiously avoided all intercourse. In giving birth to a child she died,
and did not disclose her name or family connections. After her decease,
the gentleman who came with her arrived, and was overwhelmed with grief at
the intelligence which awaited him. He took the child away without
unravelling the secret, having first ordered the stone to be erected, and
delivered into the mason's hands the verse, which is at once a mystery and
a memento. Such are the particulars gathered from "The Social History and
Antiquities of Barton-on-Humber," by H. W. Ball, issued in 1856. Since the
publication of Mr. Ball's book, we have received from him the following
notes, which mar somewhat the romantic story as above related. We are
informed that the person referred to in the epitaph was the wife of a man
named Jonathan Burkitt, who came from the neighbourhood of Grantham. He
had been _valet de chambre_ to some gentleman or nobleman, who gave him a
large sum of money on his marrying the lady. They came to reside at
Barton, where she died in childbirth. Burkitt, after the death of his
wife, left the town, taking the infant (a boy), who survived. In about
three years he returned, and married a Miss Ostler, daughter of an
apothecary at Barton. He there kept the King's Head, a public-house at
that time. The man got through about £2000 between leaving Grantham and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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