BLIDWORTH.

Several tablets are upon the walls of Blidworth Church, but the most interesting memorial is a square alabaster frame of considerable antiquity, on which are rudely carved in relief the the figures of a stag and three hounds, together with long-bows, cross-bows, fleshing-knives, spears, swords, a hunting horn, and other implements of the chase. Tradition says that this once formed part of a monument to Will Scarlett, the companion of Robin Hood. The frame now encloses a black marble slab, on which is inscribed :

"Here rests T. Leake whose vertues weere so knowne

In all these parts that this engraved stone

Needs naught relate but his untimely end

Which was in single fight whylst youth did lend
His aide to valour. He with ease o'er past
Many slight dangers greater than this laste
But wilfolle fate in these things govern all
He towld out three score yeares before his fall
Most of wch. tyme he wasted in this woode
Mvch of his health and last of all his bloode
A,D. 1608.

In the churchyard is a stone bearing this inscription :

"I that Hath this Stone Made

Shews in Next Vers Where I be lade

That is When I do End this Life

I wood be Lade here by my wife."

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On the tombstone of Timothy Coleman, a blacksmith, is lettered:

"My Tongs and Hammer lies declined
My Bellows has quite lost their wind,
My fire's extinct my forge decayed

My Vice is in the dust all laid.

My Coal is spent, my Iron gone,

My neails is drove, my work is done.

1713."

Another stone bears this inscription:—

"A tender wife, a mother dear,

A faithful friend lies sleeping here;
Took off in youth and bloom of life,
Here lies a true and virtuous wife,
To say her praise, or tell her worth
"Twas not to be expressed on earth."

B

BRIDGFORD-ON-THE-HILL.

The following epitaph is taken from the gravestone of John Walker, at Bridgford-on-the-Hill.

"Farewell, my wife and father dear;

My glass is run, my work is done,
And now my head lies quiet here.
That many an engine I've set up,
And got great praise from men :

I made them work on British ground,
And on the roaring seas.

My engine's stopped, my valves are bad,

And lies so deep within,

No engineer could there be found

To put me new ones in.

But Jesus Christ converted me,

And took me up above.

I hope once more to meet once more,

And sing redeeming love."

BURTON JOYCE.

From Burton Joyce churchyard the following lines are taken from the headstone of Elizabeth Cliff, who died in 1835:

"This monumental stone records the name

Of her who perished in the night by flame
Sudden and awful, for her hoary head;

She was brought here to sleep amongst the dead.

Her loving husband strove to damp the flame

Till he was nearly sacrificed the same.

Her sleeping dust, tho' by thee rudely trod,
Proclaims aloud, prepare to meet thy God."

CUCKNEY.

In Cuckney churchyard may be found a headstone inscribed:

"A long and flattering sickness did me Greeve,

No helpe nor medicine could me Releeve,

then patiently i did Resign my Breath,

in hopes to find more comfort after death."

CLAYWORTH.

In Clayworth churchyard is a tombstone, on which is inscribed:

"Blessed be he that set this stone,

That I may not be forgotten;

And curst be he that moves my bones

Before that they be rotten."

The following lines occur on a fine altar tomb erected to Sir William Sutton, who died in 1611, and Dame Susanna, his wife :

"Sir William Sutton's corps here entombed sleepes,

Whose happy soul in better mansion Keepes.
Thrice nine years liv'd he with his lady faire,
A lovely, noble, and like virtuous payre.
Their generous ofspring (parent's joy of heart),
Eight of each sex: of each an equal part,
Usher'd to Heaven their father, and the other
Remained behind him to attend their mother."

FILLINGLEY.

In the churchyard at Fillingley, near Bawtry, the following epitaph is given on the tombstone of Rebecca Sargent :

"My earthly troubles are o'er: this life is past;

Hard did I toil whilst life did last.

My children dear, weep not for me,

But from the wrath to come do flee."

FLAWFORD.

On a headstone, dated 1783, in Flawford churchyard, to the memory of Mr. Boote, is inscribed :—

"All you that comes (sic.) to see my stone

Think how quickly I was gone

Death did to me short warning give

Therefore be careful how you live.

Repent in time, no time delay, I in short

Time was snatched away."

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Upon another headstone in the same churchyard are these lines::

"My Rose was cropt just in my bloom,
My Morning Sun went down at Noon.
In Youth and strength put not your trust
The strength of Living is but Dust."

HUCKNALL TORKARD.

The simple marble tablet erected to the memory of Lord Byron, on the south wall of the chancel of Hucknall Torkard Church, Nottinghamshire, bears the following inscription :—

"In the vault beneath, where many of his ancestors and his mother are buried, lie the remains of George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron of Rochdale, in the county of Lancaster, and author of 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.' He was

born in London on the 22nd of January, 1788; he died at Missolonghi, in Western Greece, on the 19th of April, 1824, engaged in the glorious attempt to restore that country to its ancient freedom and renown. His sister, the Hon. Augusta Maria Leigh, placed this tablet to his memory."

MUSKHAM.

An altar tomb in Muskham Church, erected to the memory of one Thomas Smith, bears these lines:

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"Here lieth the corps of Thomas Smith,

Meat for worms to feed therewith;
Whose soul has gone to God on hie, (sic.)
Through Xt's merits and God's mercie!

Whose body I hope shall rise again,
And ever with Christ to remayne,

Deceased the second day of May,

Being in years of age thirty-three. 1581."

NOTTINGHAM.-ST. MARY'S.

On the gravestone of a well-known fortune teller, Mrs. Buff, in St. Mary's churchyard, Nottingham, is this inscription :

"Here lies Mrs. Buff, who had more than enough

Of money laid in store,

And when she died, she shut her eyes,

And never spoke no more." (sic.)

In the same churchyard is the following epitaph on the tombstone of George Africanus, who died in 1804 :—

"Our life is nothing but a winter's day:
Some break their fast and go away;
Others stay dinner, and depart full fed;
The deepest age but sups and goes to bed.
He's most in debt that lingers out the day;
Who dies betimes has less and less to pay."

In the north transept of St. Mary's Church is a mural monument to the memory of Frederick John Cox, a youth of great promise, both for piety and talents, cut off in the morning of life. He died in 1809, in his sixteenth year :

"Farewell, dear youth! too soon thy course is sped,
Fond nature cries, and mourns the untimely dead;

Yet why these tears? in everlasting day

Still blooms thy youth, and never shall decay:

What could a parent wish, but see thee rise?

God knew that wish, and took thee to the skies.
Farewell, in happier realms thy harvest reap.
There shall we meet thee, and then cease to weep."

Also, to the memory of Frederick John Lissant Cox, brother of the above, and like him, cut off at school, in his sixteenth year, in 1816:

"Early they fall, two young and fairest plants
The first all vig'rous and in greenest health,
Tow'ring to loftiest height and amplest shade,
Not so the other, sickly at the root,

He yet put forth the buds and flowers of mind,
And bore his fruits too early, and then died.
But in another and more congenial clime,
They both shall live again in endless bloom."

NOTTINGHAM.-ST. PETER'S.

On a stone in the north aisle of St. Peter's Church, Nottingham, to the memory of John Grieves, who died in 1718, is inscribed :"Here lies a Man who Nere did start

Was lame ons Leg Yet sound at Heart."

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SELSTONE.

In Selstone churchyard old Dan Boswell, the head of a wellknown party of gipsies, lies buried. His epitaph is :

"I've lodged in many a town,

I've travelled many a year,

But death at length has brought me down

To my last lodging here."

WILFORD.

On a stone to the memory of Ann Pickard, in Wilford church

yard, is inscribed :

"She loved peace and quietness,

And here entombed doth lie;
We hope her soul has gone to rest
Above the starry sky."