Epitaph
Reader!
If thou hast a heart
famed for tenderness and pity,
contemplate this spot.
In which are deposited
the remains of a young lady,
whose artless beauty, innocence
of mind and gentle manner
obtained her the esteem
of all who knew her.
But when nerves were
too delicately spun
to bear the rude shakes
and jostlings, which we meet
in this transitory world,
nature gave way. She sank and died
a martyr to excessive sensibility.
Mrs Sarah Fletcher,
wife of Captain Fletcher,
who departed this life
at the village of Clifton
on the 7th June, 1799
in the 29th year of her age.
May her soul meet that peace
which this earth denied her.
Sarah committed suicide. Her ghost was said to haunt the house where she lived. Her tomb is in Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire.
Published on:
September 2, 2009
