Tombstone Tuesday: This brother-in-law knew the true story

A Monument in Horsley-Down Church, Cumberland, England, bears the following singular and admonitory inscription (1768):

Here lie the bodies Of Thomas Bond and Mary his wife.

She was temperate, chaste, and charitable;

But

She was proud, peevish, and passionate.

She was an affectionate wife, and a tender mother;

But

Her husband and child, whom she loved,

Seldom saw her countenance without a disgusting

frown,

Whilst she received visitors, whom she despised, with
an endearing smile.

Her behaviour was discreet towards strangers;

But

Independent in her family.

Abroad, her conduct was influenced by good breeding;

But

At home, by ill temper.

She was a professed enemy to flattery,

And was seldom known to praise or commend;

But

The talents in which she principally excelled, Were difference of

opinion, and discovering flaws and imperfections.

She was an admirable economist,

And, without prodigality,

Dispensed plenty to every person in her family;

But

Would sacrifice their eyes to a farthing candle.

She sometimes made her husband happy with her good qualities;

But

Much more frequently miserable — with her many failings:

Insomuch that in thirty years cohabitation he often lamented

That maugre all her virtues,

He had not, in the whole, enjoyed two years of matrimonial comfort.

At Length

Finding that she had lost the affections of her husband,

As well as the regard of her neighbours,

Family disputes having been divulged by servants,

She died of vexation, July 20, 1768, Aged 48 years.

Her worn out husband survived her four months and two days,

And departed this life, Nov. 28, 1768,

In the 54th year of his age.

William Bond, brother to the deceased, erected this

stone,

As a weekly monitor to the surviving wives of

this parish,

That they may avoid the infamy

Of having their memories handed to posterity

With a Patch Work character.

VINEGAR OF THE FOUR THIEVES: Recipes & curious tips from the past

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About Donna R Causey

Donna R. Causey, resident of Alabama, was a teacher in the public school system for twenty years. When she retired, Donna found time to focus on her lifetime passion for historical writing. She developed the websites www.alabamapioneers and www.daysgoneby.me All her books can be purchased at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. She has authored numerous genealogy books. RIBBON OF LOVE: A Novel Of Colonial America (TAPESTRY OF LOVE) is her first novel in the Tapestry of Love about her family where she uses actual characters, facts, dates and places to create a story about life as it might have happened in colonial Virginia. Faith and Courage: Tapestry of Love (Volume 2) is the second book and the third FreeHearts: A Novel of Colonial America (Book 3 in the Tapestry of Love Series) Discordance: The Cottinghams (Volume 1) is the continuation of the story. . For a complete list of books, visit Donna R Causey