Page:Over fen and wold; (IA overfenwold00hissiala).pdf/155



The church had been restored recently, so the rector informed us, and by aid of a ladder the inscription had been deciphered as follows:—

VOVS : KE : PAR ISSI : PASSEZ PVR : LE : ALME TOMAS : PVR DEN : PRIEZ

which I afterwards put into English thus, though I do not profess to be a Norman-French scholar, but in this case the translation seems manifest:—You that pass by here pray for the soul of Thomas Purden. This truly sounds rather like a command than begging a favour of a stranger, still I trust that this Thomas Purden had his demands amply gratified, and I further trust that his soul has benefited thereby—but what of the countless number of souls of other poor folk, equally dear to them, who had neither money nor influence to cause such an entreaty to be made public thus for their benefit? It was a hard faith that seemed to make it thus easier "for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" than for a poor man, and calls to mind the Puritans' dictum that Purgatory was invented to enrich the priest!

Who this Thomas Purden was the rector could not say, possibly now no one can: he may have been the founder of the church, though in that case one would have expected to find this memorial of him in the chancel, according to the prevailing custom; it appears to me more probable, therefore, that he was the builder of the tower, or possibly a