Grampian Club > Monuments and monumental inscriptions in Scotland > Volume 1

196 HADDINGTONSHIRE.
magistrate of the burgh, who died in February, 1755, aged sixty-
two, has these lines on his gravestone : —
" death, how absohite thy sway !
At thy command we must obey ;
In hardy strength 'tis vain to trust.
Even stone thou crumbiest into dust."
Monteith supplies the following ; it has now disappeared : —
" Hout, Atropos, hard-hearted Hag,
To cut the sheugh of Jamie Craig ;
For had he lived a wheen mae years,
He had been owre teugh for your sheirs ;
Now Jamie's deid, sua man we a',
And for his salce I'll say this sa
In Hei'en, Jamie, be tliy saul !"
The following rhymes are from tombstones in Haddington
Churchyard : —
" Oft have I till'd the fertile soil,
Which was my destined lot ;
But here beneath this towering elm
I lie to be forgot."
" Silent tomb, to thee I trust
This sacred hoard of precious dust ;
Guard it safe, silent tomb.
Until a son shall ask for room."
" He died in faith of the glorious Gospel's heavenly light,
Whereby he lived with comfort and with comibrt died;
He viewed beyond that gloomy scene the tomb
A life of endless happiness to come."
" If they are happy why should we mourn
For them whose joys are bow l)egun ?
And if begun we may depend
That they will never have an end."
A faithful domestic is thus celebrated : —
" Here, within this tomb confined,
Virtue and probity combined ;
An honest cook, who many a year
To her employers found good cheer."