Page:Tragical history of Crazy Jane, and young Henry.pdf/21

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CRAZY JANE.
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affected him; he despised the cruelty and injustice of Henry; and had frequently declared to the good farmer, that, had his son requested his consent to marry the beauteous Jane, he would have given it with unfeigned transport.

On the fourth day after her decease, her funeral took place in the village church yard. Her coffin was borne by young maidens in white robes and on their heads they wore chaplets of cypress Mr Percival, and the weeping relations of Jane, closed the mournful procession. There was not a dry eye among the villagers: The deep tolling knell was accompanied by sighs and heart-felt groans; while the aged parents, as the funeral passed their doors, bade their sons beware of the fatal crime of seducing credulous innocence; and their daughters to avoid the fate of the broken-hearted Jane, by scorning the villain who would dare to make them a dishonourable offer.

The remains of Crazy Jane were deposited under the shade of an aged yew; and on a rough-hewn stone was placed the following artless epitaph:

Traveller, stop, whoe'er thou art,
Shed a tear ere thou depart;
For here, releas'd from care and pain,
Lies Love's sad victim, Crazy Jane.


A few short weeks from the burial of the distracted fair one, saw the remains of Mr Percival and the woe-worn Margaretta, committed to