in the middle of the eighteenth
century, I went over to Lewes, the county town being only seven miles
by railway. But I found nothing to shew that Lewes was the seat of so
much skill, and I have since failed to discover the source in Brighton
or any other adjacent town. Indeed, it may be said at once that large
towns are the most unlikely of all places in which to find peculiar
gravestones. At Lewes, however, I lighted on one novelty somewhat to
my purpose, and, although a comparatively simple illustration, it
is not without its merits, and I was glad to add it to my small
collection. The mattock and spade are realistic of the grave; the open
book proclaims the promise of the heaven beyond.

[Illustration: FIG. 6. PLUMSTEAD.]

[Illustration: FIG. 7. DARTFORD.]

[Illustration: FIG. 8. DARTFORD.]

FIG. 5.--AT LEWES.

"To Samuel Earnes, died May 6th, 1757, aged
21 years."

The coincidence of date would almost warrant a belief that this piece
of imagery may have emanated from the same brain and been executed by
the same hands as are accountable for the two which we have seen seven
miles away, but the workmanship is really not in the least alike, and
I have learnt almost to discard in this connection the theory of local
idiosyncrasies. Even when we find, as we do find, similar, and
almost identical, designs in neighbouring churchyards, or in the
same churchyard, it is safer to conjecture that a meaner sculptor has
copied the earlier work than that the first designer would weaken his
inventive character by a replication. The following, which cannot
be described as less than a distortion of a worthier model, is to be
found in many places, and in such abundance as to suggest a wholesale
manufacture.

FIG. 6.--AT PLUMSTEAD, KENT.

"To Elizabeth Bennett, died 1781, aged
53 years."

It is obvious that the idea intended to be represented is figurative
of death in infancy or childhood, and illustrates the well-known words
of the Saviour, "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid
them not: for of such is the kingdom of God," quoted on the stone
itself. In this and many similar cases in which the design and text
are used for old or elderly people, they have been certainly strained
from their true significance. The figure of a little child is,
however, employed occasionally to represent the soul, and may also be
taken to indicate the "new birth."

There is an almost exact reproduc