CHAPTER III.

ARTISTIC GRAVESTONES.


In the later half of the eighteenth century greater pains and finer
workmanship appear to have been bestowed upon the symbolic figurement
of the gravestone, and the more elaborate allegorical representations
of which a few sketches have been given came into vogue and grew in
popular favour until the century's end. Nor did the opening of a new
century altogether abolish the fashion; perhaps it can hardly be
said to have been abolished even now at the century's close, but the
evidences extant combine to shew that the flourishing period of the
pictorial headstone lay well within the twenty-five years preceding
Anno Domini 1800. For the sake of comparison one with another, I have
taken, in addition to the sketch at page 1 (Fig. 1), three examples of
the device which seems most frequently to typify the resurrection
of the dead. In two of these the illustration is accompanied by a
quotation explanatory of its subject, but the words are not the same
in both cases. The stone at Horton Kirby, near Dartford, depicted in
Fig. 32, shews the inscription clearly.

FIG. 32.--AT HORTON KIRBY.

"To John Davidge. died April 22, 1775, aged
75 years."

[Illustration: FIG. 32. HORTON KIRBY.]

[Illustration: FIG. 33. CLIFFE.]