The chief glory of the church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, is the
possession of Milton's dust. But this does not constitute its only
distinction. It boasts a magnificent organ, and the most beautiful
epitaph with which I am acquainted. As this last may be as much of a
stranger to many of your readers as it was to me, and may bestow upon
the curious in such matters some portion of the pleasure which its
discovery gave me, I venture to crave for it a nook in your columns.
Considerably to the right of the pulpit, at no great distance, if I
recollect aright, to the left of the main entrance, is a monument to
William Staples, a citizen of London, who died in 1650, whereon is
inscribed the following elegiac couplet:
"Quod cum coelicolis habitus, pars altera nostri,
Non dolet, hic tantûm me superesse dolet."
Which may be thus Englished:
"That Heaven's thy home, I grieve not, soul most dear;
I grieve but for myself, the lingerer here."