alas in vain, that I the writer, instead of thee, had been the subject of a funeral elegy. John Chadwick, Sept. 9th, 1597."
"Hos tibi jam posui versus Mattathia Sct. Poll,
Qui primum in sacro nomina fonte dedi.
Quam vellem (at frustra), te nempe superstite, scriptor
Essem funerei carminis ipse mihi."
THE BUSLINGTHORPE BRASS Close to the St. Poll monument in the chantry is a stone in memory of George Brownlow Doughty, 1743, who married a Tichborne heiress, and took the name in addition to his own. From Snarford, less than four miles brings us to Buslingthorpe, where is a Crusader's effigy, which, like the priest at Little Steeping, had been turned upside down and used as a paving-*stone, possibly for the sake of saving it from destruction. This may be Sir John de Buslingthorpe, c. 1250. But the great treasure of the church is a brass half-effigy on a coffin-lid, which also had been buried, and was only recovered in 1707. This represents a knight in armour, holding a heart and wearing remarkable scaled gauntlets. The inscription in Norman French is without date, but reads: "Issy gyt Sire Richard le fiz sire John de Boselyngthorp," and is probably not later than 1290. This is earlier than the somewhat similar brass in Croft Church, which is assigned to 1300 or 1310, but is not so early as the fine brass of Sir John d'Abernoun at Stoke d'Abernon in Surrey, which is dated 1277. Anyhow, it is the earliest in Lincolnshire. From here, less than four miles brings us back on to the Market Rasen road at Linwood, only two miles from Rasen.
Instead of going by Snarford and Buslingthorpe we might have reached Rasen by a more direct route from Snelland through Wickenby to Lissington. Here the road divides, the right hand going to Legsby and Sixhills, and then turning left-handed to join the Louth and Rasen road at North Willingham; or, if the day is clear, the traveller can go straight on from Sixhills and climb the Wold, which with a rise of one hundred feet will give him a view and bring him to the crown of the same road at Ludford. The left-hand road from Lissington will bring us to Rasen via Linwood. This is a pretty road just elevated above the flat, whence the church spire is visible for a long way. This interesting church, dedicated to St. Cornelius, Bishop of Rome, A.D. 251, is of the Early English period with Perpendicular tower. The brasses, which are good, have been removed from the south chantry to the north aisle and placed at the west end.
