Page:Over fen and wold; (IA overfenwold00hissiala).pdf/270

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placed over him, save only a plain stone slab with the two words

Vermis Sum."

But he was a great man and lives in history. Frank Osborne, the author and moralist, and contemporary of Speaker Lenthall, also dictated the epitaph on his simple tombstone at Netherworton in Oxfordshire, in which he pertinently remarks:

I envy not those graves which take up room
Merely with Jetts and Porphyry: since a tomb
      Adds no desert.

After all, simplicity and brevity of epitaph appeal more to the heart of man than fulsome eulogy or "monumental show."

In the chancel wall, immediately to the left of the east window, is a tall narrow niche. The rector said he did not know the original purpose of this, unless it were for ornament. The niche was too tall for a statue, and we imagined from its form that probably it was intended, of old, to receive the processional cross—the pre-Reformation churches being, I believe, provided with a recess or a locker for this purpose. A specimen of the latter, with the ancient ornamented oak door still in position, may be found in the church at Barnby in Suffolk.

Then, bidding good-bye to the courteous and hospitable rector, we once more resumed our pleasant pilgrimage, and, passing through an eye-refreshing and peace-bestowing country of green meadows, waving woods, and silvery streams, we reached the