May the example contribute to emancipate thy mind
From the idle fears of Superstition,
And the wicked Act of Priesthood!


Almost as historical as the above, is the inscription on the tombstone
erected over Mary Ashford, at Sutton Coldfield:--


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
Without proper protection,
Was brutally violated and murdered,
On the 27th May, 1817.

Lovely and chaste as is the primrose pale,
Rifled of virgin sweetness by the gale,
Mary! The wretch who thee remorseless slew,
Will surely God's avenging wrath pursue.

For, though the deed of blood be veiled in night,
"Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
Fair, blighted flower! The muse, that weeps thy doom,
Rears o'er thy sleeping dust this warning tomb!