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

378 AYRSHIRE.
Behold our sorrow for a son
We loved so tenderly and dear.
But called from his native home,
And on a strange and foreign shore,
To pay the tribute due to death,
But hopes to meet to part no more."
William Crooks, captain of the ship Abyss, who perished at sea
26th November, 1791, aged twenty-two, is lamented thus: —
" Pray, gentle reader, drop a tear
At his untimely fate;
You like to him may dread no fear,
And dangers you await.
He that did give can take away
That life which was his own,
Either on the briny sea
Or lands in frozen zone.
He here lies anchored with his fleet,
Companions not at strife.
In hopes his Saviour, Christ, to meet.
So reader, lead a sound life."
By these lines John Docherty celebrates his wife, Sarah Kerr,
who died 25th December, 1818, aged thirty-eight years : —
" My love here in the dust doth lie,
Deprived of life, and so must I ;
Four orphans dear for her may mourn.
But, alas ! to them she cannot return.
You readers all, as you pass by.
On your sister's memory cast an eye ;
Her glass is run, and yours is running,
Eefrain from sin, for judgment's coming."
The following epitaphs are from Irvine Churchyard : —
" Art thou a parent ? reverence this bier,
The parent's fondest hopes lie buried here.
Art thou a youth, prepared on life to start.
With opening talents and a genuine heart,
Fair hopes and flattering prospects all thine own ?
Lo ! here their end— a monumental stone."