Fig. 41.—­At East Wickham.

  “To Thomas Vere of Woolwich, shipwright,
      died 10th August, 1789.”

The two next subjects are to be found in many variations.  The angel with the cross in each case may represent salvation proclaimed.

Fig. 42.—­At Snargate.

  “To Edward Wood, died Sept. 1779, aged
  50 years.”

Fig. 43.—­At East Ham.

  “To Mr Richard Wright, died July 28, 1781,
  aged 39 years.”

The winged scroll in Fig. 44 is unfolded to display, we may suppose, a register of good and holy deeds done in an extended life.  The scythes and the reversed torches may be taken at their usual significance, which is death.  This is copied from a stone in the churchyard of Wilmington by Dartford Heath.

[Illustration:  Fig. 44.  Wilmington.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 45.  Wanstead.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 46.  Southfleet.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 47.  Wilmington.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 48.  Lewisham.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 49.  Bunhill fields.]

Fig. 44.—­At Wilmington.

“To Richard Barman, died 1793, aged 71 years.”

More elegant testimony is paid by the figure of a winged urn in Wanstead Old Churchyard, the flame which burns above indicating, it would seem, that though the body be reduced to ashes, the soul survives.

Fig. 45.—­At Wanstead.

“To William Cleverly, died 1780, aged
40 years.”

Eternity is usually, as we have seen, represented by an endless ring—­often as a serpent.  It is so in the Southfleet sketch, in which appear the two horns of the archangels, and the living torch, with some other objects which are not quite clearly defined.

Fig. 46.—­At Southfleet.

“To John Palmer, died 1781, aged 61 years.”

In another selection from Wilmington the winged hour-glass may be read as the flight of time, the cloud is probably the future life, and the bones below convey their customary moral.

Fig. 47.—­At Wilmington.

“To Ann Parsons, died Nov. 3, 1777, aged
60 years.”

Sometimes, but not often, will be found engraved on a stone the suggestive fancy of an axe laid at the foot of a tree, or some metaphorical figure to the same intent.  An instance occurs at Lewisham in which the idea is conveyed by the pick and shovel under a flourishing palm.

Fig. 48.—­At Lewisham.

“To Thomas Lambert, died Nov. 25, 1781,
aged 59 years.”

A symbol so simple and yet so significant as this is scarcely to be surpassed.  One almost in the same category is the following, a small anaglyph in Bunhill Fields Burial-ground, London.