Dr. John Gardner, "the worm doctor," originally of Long Acre, erected
his tomb and wrote the inscription thereon some years before his death.
Strangers reading the inscription naturally concluded he was like his
predecessor, "Egregious Moore," immortalized by Pope, "food for worms,"
whereas he was still following his profession, that of a worm-doctor,
in Norton Folgate, where he had a shop, in the window of which were
displayed numerous bottles containing specimens of tape and other
worms, with the names of the persons who had been tormented by them,
and the date of their ejection. Finding his practice declining from the
false impression conveyed by his epitaph, he dexterously caused the
word _intended_ to be interpolated, and the inscription for a long time
afterwards ran as follows:--
intended
Dr. John Gardner's last and best bedroom.
^
He was a stout, burly man, with a flaxen wig, and rode daily into
London on a large roan-coloured horse.
Not a few misers have carried their penury into the arrangements for
their interment. Edward Nokes, of Hornchurch, by his own direction,
was buried in this curious fashion:--A short time before his death,
which he hastened by the daily indulgence in nearly a quart of spirits,
he gave strict charge that his coffin should not have a nail in it,
which was actually adhered to, the lid being made fast with hinges of
cord, and minus a coffin-plate, for which the initials E. N. cut upon
the wood were substituted. His shroud was made of a pound of wool. The
coffin was covered with a sheet in place of a pall, and was carried by
six men, to each of whom he directed should be given half-a-crown. At
his particular desire, too, not one who followed him to the grave was
in mourning; but, on the contrary, each of the mourners appeared to
try whose dress should be the most striking. Even the undertaker was
dressed in a blue coat and scarlet waistcoat.
Another deplorable case might be cited, that of Thomas Pitt, of
Warwickshire. It is reported that some weeks prior to the sickness
which terminated his despicable career, he went to several undertakers
in quest of a cheap coffin. He had left behind him 3,475_l._ in the
public funds.
[Illustration: Major Peter Labelliere. From Kingsbury's print.]
Burials on Box Hill and Leith Hill.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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