Morbid Fact Du Jour For February 23, 2011
February 23rd, 2011
Today’s Quick Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
Epitaph from the gravestone of Mary Richards (1740-71) in St. Mary, Doddington, England:
All ye who stop to read this stone
Consider how soon she was gone.
Death doth not always warning give
Therefore be careful how you live.
Culled from: Eccentric Epitaphs by Michelle Lovric
This epitaph makes me wonder how she died? “Be careful how you live”? I’m thinking she must have died during sex. Your theory?
Maybe. Or maybe she drank hard and died because of that. Or got into a lot of fights. Or was generally careless and reckless and had some kind of accident.
Or maybe the epitaph is just a general warning to live wisely because you could die at any time.
Seems very odd that the epitaph switches between the plural familiar pronoun “ye” to the singular formal pronoun “you” – shouldn’t that last line be “Therefore be careful how thou dost live” ..?
… er scratch that – Old English grammar wouldn’t apply in the 1700′s.
Maybe she was walking alone, possibly even at night. The expectations of proper female behavior meant that a whole host of modern, normal behavior would have been considered unwise and dangerous, courting disaster.