(Vol. viii., p. 5.)
Your correspondent CHEVERELLS refers to the "tradition" of one of the
Harcourt family being buried in an erect posture, and asks, "Is the
probability of this being the case supported by any, and what instances?"
As this Query has been raised, it may be worth while to mention the
following circumstance, as a singular illustration of a remarkable subject;
though (as will be seen) the actual burial in an erect posture is here also
probably "traditional."
Towards the close of the last century, there lived in Kidderminster an
eccentric person of the name of Orton (_not_ that Orton, the friend of
Doddridge, who passed some time in the town), but "Job Orton," the landlord
of the Bell Inn. During his lifetime he erected his tomb in the parish
churchyard, with this _memento-mori_ inscription graven in large characters
on the upper slab:
"Job Orton, a man from Leicestershire;
And when he's dead, he must lie under here."
This inscription remains unaltered to this day, and may be seen on the
right-hand of the broad walk on the north side of the spacious churchyard.
His coffin was constructed at the same time; and, until it should be
required for other and personal purposes, was used as a _wine-bin_. But, to
carry his eccentricity even to the grave, he left strict orders that he
should be buried in an _erect posture_: and "tradition" (of course) says
that his request was complied with. Your correspondent says that tradition
"assigns no reason for the peculiarity" of the Harcourt knight's burial;
but tradition has been more explicit in Job Orton's case, whose _reason_
(?) for his erect posture in the tomb was, that at the last day he might be
able to rise from his grave before his wife, who was buried in the usual
horizontal manner! Job Orton appears to have had a peculiar talent for the
composition of epitaphs; as, in his more playful moments, he was accustomed
to tell his better-half that if he outlived her he should put the following
lines on her tombstone:
"Esther Orton--a bitter, sour weed;
God never lov'd her, nor increas'd her seed."
He seems, however, to have spared her this gratuitous insult. As a farther
illustration of the characters of this singular couple, the following
anecdote is told. Esther Orton having frequently declared, that she should
"never die happy until she had rolled in riches," Job, like a good husband,
determined to secure his wife's happiness. Having sold some land for a
thousand pounds, he insisted that the money should be paid wholly in
guineas. Taking these home in a bag, he locked his wife up in a room;
knocked her down, opened his bag of guineas, and raining the golden wealth
upon her, rolled his Danae over and over in the coin. "And now, Esther,"
said Job Orton, "thee mayst die as soon as thee pleases: for thee'st had
thy wish, and _roll'd in riches_."