QUAINT EPITAPHS
A Colonel of the sixty-third regiment, who died in 1838, has
a mural tablet here, which tells us that "In the discharge of
his publick duties he was firm and just yet lenient, and as a
private gentleman his integrity and urbanity endeared him to
all his friends." This is almost worthy to be placed beside that
of the man who on ending "his social career" is stated to have
"endeared himself to all his friends and acquaintances by the
charm of his manner and his elegant performance on the bassoon."
Curious, what things people used to think proper to put up in
churches! One of the oddest is at Harewood in Yorkshire,
where, under a bust of Sir Thomas Denison, who is represented in
a wig, his widow writes that "he was pressed and at last prevailed
on to accept the office of Judge in the Kings Bench, the
duties of which he discharged with unsuspected integrity."
Doubtless she meant with an integrity which was above suspicion,
but it reads so very much as if those who knew him had
never for a moment suspected him of possessing the virtue
mentioned. For other examples see Chapter V.
After Horkstow we come to South Ferriby, where a chalk road leads along the edge of the cliff towards a little landing stage on the water's edge, giving a pretty view over the wide estuary to the Yorkshire continuation of the Wold, and the little village of North Ferriby opposite.
The church of South Ferriby, which is dedicated, as many coast churches are, to St. Nicholas, the patron Saint of children and fishermen, has its nave running north and south, and a bit railed off at the north end for the altar, though that is now placed at the south end.
The name suggests a ferry over the Humber, but the locality seems to forbid this, for in no place is the Humber wider until you have almost reached Grimsby, and from Barton to Hessle, about three miles further down stream, it is only about half the width, and there, no doubt, there was a ferry. The reason of this great width is that the Humber has made inroads here and washed away a good deal of land which used to be between Ferriby Hall and the water. This being partly deposited on the "old Warp" sand bank, once the breeding place of many sea birds, has formed a permanent pasture there, now claimed by the Crown and called "Reads Island."
A hundred years ago the 'hoy,' a sloop-rigged packet, used to take passengers from Barton Waterside Inn, just north of
