Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/404

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. xn. NOV. 20, mis.

with a golden sceptre and crown upon it. This was the sepulchre of King David, to the left of which they saw that of Solomon -in a similar state, and other sepulchres of the kings who were buried there. Suddenly a blast of wind like a storm threw them down lifeless on the ground. There they remained until evening, when another blast of wind rushed forth accompanied by a voice : " Get up and go forth from this place." With fear and trembling the men reported to the Patriarch what had happened. This prelate summoned into his presence Rabbi Abraham of Constantinople, a pious ascetic and one of the "mourners of Jerusalem" (presumably one of the precur- sors of the present professional " weepers " at the " wailing - place "). The Rabbi in- formed thePatriarch that they haddiscovered the sepulchres of the house of David and of the kings of Judah. The labourers were sent for to go on with the work, but they refused, being still full of fear. Then the Patriarch ordered the place to be walled up, BO as to hide it effectually for the future.

This story was told to Benjamin of Tudela by the same Rabbi Abraham, fifteen years having elapsed since the date of those occurrences.

Thomas Wright, the careful and learned editor of ' Benjamin of Tudela ' for Bonn's ' Early Travels in Palestine ' (from which the above story has been paraphrased), con- siders that the visit of this remarkable Jew to the Holy City took place in 1163. The date of the supposed discovery of the royal sepulchres, fifteen years previously, would therefore be 1148, during the reign of Baldwin III., under the Pontificate of Foul- ^cher, formerly Archbishop of Tyre, the Patriarch who consecrated the new church of the Holy Sepulchre, and who may possibly have been the author c-f one of the numerous rebuildings of the " Cenaculum."

The whole story is evidently a romance, and chiefly interesting as concocted in the Middle Ages almost without reference to any his- torical facts. Benjamin's visit to Jerusalem was in the last years of the Latin kingdom, and by the time his story of the finding of the sepulchres had become current in the civilized world the opportunity for testing the truth of his statements had passed away.

Whatever the effect on men's minds of this legend may have been during the suc- ceeding three centuries, there is no evidence that anybody ever attempted to discover the walled-up cave with its fabulous trea- sures. G. J., F.S.A.

(To be concluded.)

INSCRIPTIONS IN THE CHURCHYARD OF ST. MARY'S, LAMBETH.

(See ante, pp. 296, 355.) BAST SIDE OF EASTERN PATH.

97. John Tradescant, d. 1608. Jane, his wife, d. 1634. John, his son, d. 25 April, 1662. John Tradescant, his gr. son, d. 11 Sept., 1652. Hester, wife of John Tradescant the younger, d. 6 April, 1678.

Know, stranger, ere thott^pass, beneath this stone Lye John Tradescant, grandsire, father, son. The last dy'd in his spring ; the other two Liv'd till they had travelled Art and Nature

through,

As by their choice collections may appear Of what is rare in Land, in Sea, in Air, Whilst they (as Homer's Iliad in a nut) A world of wonders in one closet shut. These famous Antiquarians that had been Both gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen, Transplanted now themselves sleep here ; and

when

Angels shall with their trumpets waken men, And fire shall purge the world, these hence shall

rise,

And change this garden for a Paradise. The tomb originally erected on this spot | in the year 1662 | by Hester, relict of John Tradescant the younger | being in a state of decay | was repaired by subscription | in the year 1773.

After the lapse of nearly two centuries since its erection | it was entirely restored by subscription
 * in the year 1853.

98. Mr. John Godfrey, d. 11 May, 1815, a. 70.

99. Elizabeth, wife of Rear-Admiral Bligh, d. 15 April, 1812, a. 59. Anne Campbell Bligh, their youngest dau., d. 1 Nov., 1844, a. 50. . . the sons of ... and Rear- Admiral Bligh, also W. Bligh, B. Bligh, their gr. children. . . William Bligh, Esq., F.R.S., Vice-Admiral of the Blue, the celebrated navigator, who first trans- planted the Bread Fruit from Otahoite to the West Indies, bravely fought the battles of his country, and died beloved, respected and lamented, 7 Dec., 1817, a. 64.

100. Henry John Cowcher, d. 14 May, 1816, a. 4. Anne Parker, d. Feb., 1818, a. 78. Wm. Thomas Cowcher, d. Aug.,, a. 20. Elizabeth Ann CoAVcher, d. Nov.,, a. 56. Grenville Ewing Greig, d. 18 Feb.,, a. 30.

101. William Pearson, d. 22 Sept., 1821, a. 85. Grace, his wife, d. 9 July, 1824, a. 84. Sarah Honey, dau. of the above, d. 18 June, 1815, a. 37. Thomas Pearson, son of the above, d. 14 Sept., 1824, a. 57. Sarah, w. of Timothy Collett, dau. of W. Pearson, d. 31 Jan., 1841, a. 59. Timothy Collett, d. 9 Oct., 1846, a. 69.

102. Alexander Cosser, d. 18 Sept., 1815, a. 55.

103. Elizabeth Armsby, d. 29 Dec., 1830, in her 5(7 )th year. Thomas Armsby, her husband, d. 22 Aug., 1832, a. 50.

104. James Joy, d. 20 Aug., 1813, a. 45.

105. Mr. John Beckford, of 19, Hercules Build- ings, Lambeth, d. 20 Oct., 1814, a. 68. Maria Ann, his w., d. 29 June, 1820, a. 63. William Daniel, son of William and Mary Beckford, gr. son of the above, d. 29 June, 1824, a. 10. Mary Ann, their dau., d. 27 July, 1825, a. 7. Ann, dau. of