book proclaims the promise of the heaven beyond.

[Illustration: FIG. 6. PLUMSTEAD.]

[Illustration: FIG. 7. DARTFORD.]

[Illustration: FIG. 8. DARTFORD.]


FIG. 5.--AT LEWES.

"To Samuel Earnes, died May 6th, 1757, aged
21 years."

The coincidence of date would almost warrant a belief that this piece
of imagery may have emanated from the same brain and been executed by
the same hands as are accountable for the two which we have seen seven
miles away, but the workmanship is really not in the least alike, and
I have learnt almost to discard in this connection the theory of local
idiosyncrasies. Even when we find, as we do find, similar, and
almost identical, designs in neighbouring churchyards, or in the
same churchyard, it is safer to conjecture that a meaner sculptor has
copied the earlier work than that the first designer would weaken his
inventive character by a replication. The following, which cannot
be described as less than a distortion of a worthier model, is to be
found in many places, and in such abundance as to suggest a wholesale
manufacture.

FIG. 6.--AT PLUMSTEAD, KENT.