Yes, though the sceptic’s tongue derideThose martyrs who for conscience died—Though modern history blight their fame,And sneering courtiers hoot the nameOf men who dared alone be free,Amidst a nation’s slavery;—Yet long for them the poet’s lyreShall wake its notes of heavenly fire;Their names shall nerve the patriot’s handUpraised to save a sinking land;And piety shall learn to burnWith holier transports o’er their urn.James Grahame.Peace to their mem’ry! let no impious breathSell their fair fame, or triumph o’er their death.Let Scotia’s grateful sons their tear-drops shed,Where low they lie in honour’s gory bed;Rich with the spoil their glorious deeds had won,And purchas’d freedom to a land undone—A land which owes its glory and its worthTo those whom tyrants banish’d from the earth.For the accomplishment of this resolution, the three kingdoms lie under no small debt of gratitude to the Covenanters. They suffered and bled both in fields and on scaffolds for the cause of civil and religious liberty; and shall we reap the fruit of their sufferings, their prayers and their blood, and yet treat their memory either with indifference or scorn? No! whatever minor faults may be laid to their charge, whatever trivial accusations may be brought against them, it cannot be but acknowledged that they were the men who, “singly and alone,” stood forward in defence of Scotland’s dearest rights, and to whom we at the present day owe everything that is valuable to us either as men or as Christians.
For the accomplishment of this resolution, the three kingdoms lie under no small debt of gratitude to the Covenanters. They suffered and bled both in fields and on scaffolds for the cause of civil and religious liberty; and shall we reap the fruit of their sufferings, their prayers and their blood, and yet treat their memory either with indifference or scorn? No! whatever minor faults may be laid to their charge, whatever trivial accusations may be brought against them, it cannot be but acknowledged that they were the men who, “singly and alone,” stood forward in defence of Scotland’s dearest rights, and to whom we at the present day owe everything that is valuable to us either as men or as Christians.
THE PUZZLE.
Reproduced from a picture published in 1796.
It is an easy matter to arrange words forming a simple sentence in English to appear like Latin. This was successfully done in 1796, when a print was published under the title of “The Puzzle.” “This curious inscription is humbly dedicated,” says the author, “to the penetrating geniuses of Oxford, Cambridge, Eton, and the learned Societyof Antiquaries.” The words have every appearance of a Latin inscription, but if the stops and capital letters or division of the words are disregarded, the epitaph may easily be read as follows:—
Beneaththis stone reposethClaud Coster,tripe-seller, of Impington,as doth his consort Jane.
Ye Ende
Index.