This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler. GLEANINGS IN GRAVEYARDS: A COLLECTION OF CURIOUS EPITAPHS. * * * * * COLLATED, COMPILED, AND EDITED BY HORATIO EDWARD NORFOLK, HONORARY SECRETARY TO THE CHELSEA ATHENÆUM. * * * * * * * * * * _SECOND EDITION_. * * * * * * * * * * London: JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE. 1861. * * * * * LONDON PRINTED BY P. PICKTON, PERRY’S PLACE, 29, OXFORD STREET. * * * * * TO ROBERT HUNT, ESQ., F.R.S., F.S.S. H.M. KEEPER OF MINING RECORDS, ETC. ETC. THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS INSCRIBED WITH EVERY FEELING OF RESPECT AS A SMALL TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE FOR MANY ACTS OF KINDNESS AT HIS HANDS, BY THE EDITOR. CONTENTS. PAGE EPITAPHS IN ENGLAND 1 WALES 107 SCOTLAND 111 MISCELLANEOUS 123 PREFACE. (TO THE FIRST EDITION.) Although this country may be behind many others in the poetic or classic character of its monumental inscriptions, it is certainly not so in the production of Epitaphs of a curious and absurd character. Whether it is that the British are, as a nation, witty and humorous, and that they are desirous that their peculiarities should be recorded even in the sanctuaries of their dead, or that they consider _true_ records of the departed to be of little or no value, has yet to be shown. It is, however, remarkable that if we refer to the epitaphial records of other nations, we find that they are, as a rule, noted for their beauty, elegance, or truth, whereas of the many graveyards in Great Britain there is scarcely one that does not afford examples of humourous effusions. The Egyptians, although they do not furnish us with many epitaphs worthy of note, do not seem to have devoted themselves to the production of frivolous inscriptions, but contented themselves with inscribing on their sarcophagi and coffins, the name, descent, and functions of the departed.