“Of his personal appearance, a friend of mine--on the authority of the late Mr. Harry Morgan, attorney at Usk, whose father had been in Marten’s company, and by whom he had been informed of it--says that Mr. Morgan described him, in general terms, as ‘a smart, active little man, and the merriest companion he ever was in company with in his life.’ Wood praises his social qualities, and talent for conversation; but that ‘he lived in a shabbeel condition, and would take a pot of ale from any one that would give it to him,’ may be doubted; unless he meant that the kindness shown to him by the families in and near Chepstow admitted such an interpretation.[24] “Let us attend him to the grave. It is hardly possible to admit that such a mind as that of Marten would have penned--much less to suppose that he would have wished to have engraved on his tomb--the wretched doggerel that goes under the name of his ‘Epitaph,’ and which is said to have been written by him during his confinement in the castle. Not the smallest circumstance respecting his funeral is left on record; and whether his obsequies were marked with public procession, or whether he retired to the grave unnoticed and unregarded, tradition has not preserved the slightest memorandum.” His biographer might, without difficulty, have concluded that--in those times, at all events--an imprisoned rebel would not be permitted to have any but the most private funeral. All that we are certain of is, that he was buried in the chancel of the church of Chepstow; and that, on a large stone from the Forest of Dean, is still to be traced the following “Epitaph, written on himself,” by way of acrostic, but now much defaced:-- (ARMS.) Here, September the ninth, was buried A true Englishman, Who, in Berkshire, was well known To love his country’s freedom ’bove his own; But being immured full twenty year, Had time to write, as doth appear, HIS EPITAPH. =H= ere or elsewhere--all’s one to you, to me-- =E= arth, air, or water, gripes my ghostly dust, =N= one knows how soon to be by fire set free: =R= eader, if you an oft-tryed rule will trust, =Y= ou’ll gladly do and suffer what you must. =M= y time was spent in serving you, and you; =A= nd death’s my pay, it seems, and welcome too: =R= evenge destroying but itself, while I =T= o birds of prey leave my old cage, and fly. =E= xamples preach to the eye.--Care thou, mine says, =N= ot how you end, but how you spend your days.[25]