Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/60

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. n. JULY ie,


at His right hand for ever, Jesus Christ the Right- eous Therefore, though I am nothing, and less than nothing, and vanity, yet the mighty God the everlasting Lord, the Creator of the ends of the llrth will hear me. Oh ! to what privileges are worms Tdvanced, and how do the extremes o! power Tnd weakness, puritvand sinfulness, meet together by the mediation of the Man Christ Jesus ! Ihe Lord give me some sense of His goodness, m this

wonderful reconciliation ! Mr. Newton seems

7erv desirous of having Mrs Un n (Unwm) and

myself for neighbours, and I am sure we should think ourselves highly favoured to be committed to the care of such a pastor ! May we be enabled to .hold him in double honour, for his work s sake, .according to the will of the great Shepherd of^us

.all! I have unfeigned regard for Lady , a

sincere affection, and am therefore glad of oppor- tunities to lead her thoughts, as far as the Lord shall enable me, to the things that belong to her peace so that I never write to her without attempt- ing it, but there are wide gaps in our correspond- ence, which nevertheless proceeds alter a iasnion. I received from her lately a kind invitation to her

house at ,t but necessity is laid upon me, and 1

cannot accept these offers.

Though she is every thing that is amiable among men, yet I fear the veil is upon her heart, for I have never heard her speak Shibboleth plainly; nor does the abundance of her poor heart seem to be what it should be. Yet the Lord may have purposes of grace towards her, which I beseech Him to manifest in His own time. My dear Aunt, how lovely must be the spirits of just men made perfect, since .creatures so lovely in our eyes, may yet have the wrath of God abiding on them. The Lord avert it from her, and remember her, with the glorious assembly before His throne forever.

Your affectionate nephew, etc. etc.

JOHN E. B. MAYOR. Cambridge.

(To be continued.)


GAELIC INSCRIPTIONS IN MAN.

IN my collection of Manx inscriptions

.published in the Manx Church Magazine,

No. 10, for October, 1901, 1 said that all such

inscriptions are epitaphs. But it appears

  • Hesketh. Mrs. Cowper's note, ' Character of

Lady ': See letter from Almira, p. 26 (where

we read) : " I love her, I think, most dearly. She has so many good qualities, and, I may add, so many -Christian graces, that I often think (as 1 have heard \you kindly say) she is too good for the world, M'hich engrosses so much of her time and thoughts. that she was not only almost, but altogether a Chris- tian ! "

f Freemantle, a villa near Southampton. See Cowper's ' Letters,' ed. Wright, 1904, i. 44 ; letter to Lady Hesketh, September 4, 1765: "You cannot think how glad I am to hear you are going to com- mence lady and mistress of Freemantle you are

kind to invite jne to it."


that I was generalizing from imperfect knowledge, though that is better than none. In a letter dated 20 April, 1903, the Rev. W. lago, of 5, Western Terrace, Bodmin , informs me that he copied on 18 July, 1851, in Kirk Patrick Churchyard, Isle of Man, an inscrip- tion on a sundial made in the form of a triangle perforated so as to produce the three legs of the Manx arms. It ran thus :

. COONE . CRECHA . CIARE . AS . TA . MY .

HRAA; but perhaps the third word began with G. On the same dial there were also these inscriptions : " The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master," Job iii. 19; "ut hora sic vita dum species fugit." An inscription on a dial, how- ever, is but an epitaph on immortal time. Does this one still exist 1

Moreover Canon Kewley, editor of that magazine, published in the Manx Sun for

14 Sept., 1901 (at Douglas), two epitaphs which

1 had overlooked in his churchyard at Kirk Arbory, by Ballabeg, but he never inserted them in the magazine. For the benefit of Keltic-loving students it will be well to give them more lasting fame within the shelter of a volume of * N. & Q.'

1. " Sacred to the memory of John Clarke, who departed this life the 5th of March, 1862, aged 55 years. * I have a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better ' (Philippians i. 23). ' Ta me skee jeh'n seihll, as dagh nhee t'ayn, as booiagh cosney voish.'"

These Gaelic words were rendered by Canon Kewley thus : " I am tired of the world, and everything that is in it, and willing to escape from it."

2. "Sacred to the memory of Robert Cubbon, of Ronague, who departed this life November 21st, 1858, aged 84 years :

Ta bannagh Yee er deiney mie, Nyn cadley ayns y joan, Cre beagh ny oltyn bwooagh Ihie Ayns baas, agh raad va'n Kione."

Canon Kewley translated these verses as follows :

Good men by God are ever blest, The dust is here their bed : How glad the members are to rest In death, and join the Head.

He added another version, by the Rev. W. C. Bell :-

How willingly we slumber here ! God blesses still the just : The way by which the members come To join the Head is dust.

I had already published in the aforesaid collection the epitaph of Paul Keig, who died

15 May, 1870. Canon Kewley believes it to have been composed by Henry Taylor, of Erystein. It is worth reproducing here, so