Now! Then! Francis and Mary Huntrodes are buried together at St. Mary’s, Whitby with a poetic epitaph

12 September 1680: Francis and Mary Huntrodes are buried together at St. Mary’s, Whitby with a poetic epitaph

George Young. 1817. A History of Whitby, and Streoneshalh Abbey, Vol. 2/2. Whitby: Clark and Medd. Get it:

Excerpt

In the same quarter [the east side of the south transept], but close to the church wall, at the chancel door, is a flat stone, which bore the following singular inscription, not now legible:

Here lieth the body of Francis Huntrodes, sen., and Mary his wife, who were interred here on the 12th day of September, anno 1680.

Husband, and wife that did ten children bear,
Died the same day; alike both aged were.
About eighty years they lived: five hours did part
(Even on their marriage day) each dearest heart.
So fit a match surely could never be;
Both, in their lives, and in their deaths, agree.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

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Original

In the same quarter [the east side of the south transept], but close to the church wall, at the chancel door, is a flat stone, which bore the following singular inscription, not now legible:

Here lieth the body of Francis Huntrodes, sen., and Mary his wife, who were interred here on the 12th day of September, anno 1680.

Husband, and wife that did ten children bear,
Died the same day; alike both aged were.
About eighty years they lived: five hours did part
(Even on their marriage day) each dearest heart.
So fit a match surely could never be;
Both, in their lives, and in their deaths, agree.

120 words.