17
C.
A white marble tablet on grey stone—
"As a token of respect | gratitude and veneration | for departed excellence | this tablet is inscribed to the memory of | Sarah widow of Charles Belcher | by her surviving children | She died at Warwick 29th day of February 1816 | in the 83rd year of her age | and was buried in the family vault of this Church."
There was also a flat stone in the Mercer's Chapel before the restoration of the Church, a copy of which is given hereafter.
D.
Immediately beneath the foregoing is a quaint monument with the following inscription, in old capitals, surmounted by a shield of arms, (plate ii.):—
"Forbid not | little ones to come unto Christ, for of such | is the kingdom of heaven. | Out of these stones shall God rayse | a childe of William Staunton, of | Staunton, in the com. of Nott., Esq, and | Anne, his wife, who hear offer | up, as holy to ye Lord, ye first fruit | of ye wombe, their eldest daughter | Fraunces, who performed hir vow | to forsake the world, anno ætatis 7 | anno Salutis 1638. This is no monument | of their griefe, but a memorial of that blessing, ye guift whearof | they so loved that they held even |the loss deare.—
"Deare losse, who this remaynes alone,
That we, bad parents, give a stone;
Since destiny, as it appeares,
By method kills not, nor by years;
And thou, who tookest our shape & breath,
Are made our auncient now in death,
Be thou our pledge to Heaven, whylst we
Haste to the grave to follow thee."
And on a panel at the bottom of the monument-
"To live, nor know life did advaunce
Thy life to extasy and traunce,
And what was dreame before, past on,
Comsumated in vision:
The Tree of Knowledge, scap'd untasted, is,
Thy plea to innocence and paradise."
This child was buried in the chancel.
