In Memory of
ALEXANDER SELKIRK,
Mariner,
A native of Largo, in the county of Fife, Scotland,
Who lived on this island, in complete
solitude, for four years and four months.
He was landed from the Cinque Ports galley, 96 tons,
18 guns, A.D. 1704, and was taken off in the
Duke, privateer, 12th February, 1709.
He died Lieutenant of H.M.S. Weymouth,
A.D. 1723, aged 47 years.
This Tablet is erected near Selkirk's look out,
By Commodore Powell and the Officers
of H.M.S. Topaze, A.D. 1868.
It is generally believed that the adventures of Selkirk suggested to
Daniel Defoe the attractive story of "Robinson Crusoe." In the "Dictionary
of English Literature," by William Davenport Adams, will be found
important information bearing on this subject.
In _Gloucester Notes and Queries_ we read as follows: "Stout's Hill is the
name of a house situated on high ground to the south of the Village of
Uley, built in the style which, in the last century, was intended for
Gothic, but which may be more exactly defined as the 'Strawberry Hill'
style. In a house of earlier date lived the father of Samuel Rudder, the
laborious compiler of the _History of Gloucestershire_ (1779). He lies in
the churchyard of Uley, on the south side of the chancel, and his
grave-stone has a brass-plate inserted, which records a remarkable fact:--
Underneath lies the remains of ROGER RUTTER, _alias_ RUDDER, eldest
son of John Rutter, of Uley, who was buried August 30, 1771, aged 84
years, having never eaten flesh, fish, or fowl, during the course of
his long life.
Tradition tells us that this vegetarian lived mainly on 'dump,' in various
forms. Usually he ate 'plain dump:' when tired of plain dump, he changed
his diet to 'hard dump;' and when he was in a special state of
exhilaration, he added the variety of 'apple dump' to his very moderate
fare."
On the gravestone of Richard Turner, Preston, a hawker of fish, the
following inscription appears:--
Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of RICHARD TURNER, author
of the word Teetotal, as applied to abstinence from all intoxicating
liquors, who departed this life on the 27th day of October, 1846, aged
56 years.
In Mr. W. E. A. Axon's able and entertaining volume, "Lancashire
Gleanings" (pub. 1883), is an interesting chapter on the "Origin of the
Word 'Teetotal.'" In the same work we are told that Dr. Whitaker, the
historian of Whalley, wrote the following epitaph on a model publican:--
Here lies the Body of
JOHN WIGGLESWORTH,
More than fifty years he was the
perpetual Innkeeper in this Town.
Withstanding the temptations of that dangerous calling,
he maintained good order in his
House, kept the Sabbath day Holy,
frequented the Public Worship
with his Family, induced his guests
to do the same, and regularly
partook of the Holy Communion.
He was also bountiful to the Poor,
in private as well as in public,
and, by the blessings of Providence
on a life so spent, died
possessed of competent Wealth,
Feb. 28, 1813,
aged 77 years.
The churchyard of Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, contains a gravestone
bearing an inscription as follows:--
As a warning to female virtue,
And a humble monument of female chastity,
This stone marks the grave of
MARY ASHFORD,
Who, in the 20th year of her age, having
Incautiously repaired to a scene of amusement,
Was brutally violated and murdered
On the 27th of May, 1817.
Lovely and chaste as the primrose pale,
Rifled of virgin sweetness by the gale,
Mary! the wretch who thee remorseless slew
Avenging wrath, who sleeps not, will pursue;
For though the deed of blood was veiled in night,
Will not the Judge of all mankind do right?
Fair blighted flower, the muse that weeps thy doom,
Rears o'er thy murdered form this warning tomb.
The writer of the foregoing epitaph was Dr. Booker, vicar of Dudley. The
inscription is associated with one of the most remarkable trials of the
present century. It will not be without interest to furnish a few notes on
the case. One Abraham Thornton was tried at the Warwick assizes for the
murder of Mary Ashford, and acquitted. The brother and next of kin of the
deceased, not being satisfied with the verdict, sued out, as the law
allowed him, an appeal against Thornton, by which he could be put on his
trial again. The law allowed the appeal in case of murder, and it also
gave option to the accused of having it tried by wager of law or by wager
of battle. The brother of the unfortunate woman had taken no account of
this, and accordingly, not only Mr. Ashford, but the judge, jury, and bar
were taken greatly aback, and stricken with dismay when the accused, being
requested to plead, took a paper from Mr. Reader, his counsel, and a pair
of gloves, one of which he drew on, and, throwing the other on the ground,
exclaimed, "Not guilty; and I am ready to defend the same with my body!"
Lord Ellenborough on the bench appeared grave, and the accuser looked
amazed, so the court was adjourned to enable the judge to have an
opportunity of conferring with his learned brethren. After several
adjournments, Lord Ellenborough at last declared solemnly, but
reluctantly, that wager of battle was still the law of the land, and that
the accused had a right of appeal to it. To get rid of the law an attempt
was made, by passing a short and speedy Act of Parliament, but this was
ruled impossible, as it would have been _ex post facto_, and people wanted
curiously to see the lists set up in the Tothill Fields. As Mr. Ashford
refused to meet Thornton, he was obliged to cry "craven!" After that the
appellor was allowed to go at large, and he could not be again tried by
wager of law after having claimed his wager of battle. In 1819 an Act was
passed to prevent any further appeals for wager of battle.
The following is copied from a gravestone in Saddleworth churchyard, and
tells a painful story:--
Here lies interred the dreadfully bruised and lacerated bodies of
WILLIAM BRADBURY and THOMAS his son, both of Greenfield, who were
together savagely murdered, in an unusually horrible manner, on Monday
night, April 2nd, 1832, old William being 84, and Thomas 46 years old.
Throughout the land, wherever news is read,
Intelligence of their sad death has spread;
Those now who talk of far-fam'd Greenfield's hills
Will think of Bill i' Jacks and Tom o' Bills.
Such interest did their tragic end excite
That, ere they were removed from human sight,
Thousands upon thousands daily came to see
The bloody scene of the catastrophe.
One house, one business, and one bed,
And one most shocking death they had;
One funeral came, one inquest pass'd,
And now one grave they have at last.