Malta.
"Here lies a Wife, a Friend, a Mother,
I believe there never was such another;
She had a head to earn and a heart to give,
And many poor she did relieve.
She lived in virtue and in virtue died,
And now in Heaven she doth reside.
Yes! it is true as tongue can tell,
If she had a fault, it was loving me too well.
And when I am lying by her side,
Who was in life her daily pride,
Tho' she's confined in coffins three,
She'd leave them all and come to me!"
The above lines, written on a tablet in a church at Exeter, were composed
by Mr. Tuckett, tallow-chandler, to the memory of his wife. An old
subscriber of "N. & Q." thinks this epitaph more strange and curious than
any which has yet appeared in the columns of that valuable publication.