I Read Therefore I Am discussion

Here lies in the horizontal position
The outside case of
George Routleigh, Watchmaker,
Whose abilities in that line were an honour
To his profession:
Integrity was the main-spring,
And prudence the regulator
Of all the actions of his life:
Humane, generous and liberal,
His hand never stopped
Till he had relieved distress;
So nicely regulated were all his movements
That he never went wrong
Except when set-a-going
By people
Who did not know his key;
Even then, he was easily
Set right again:
He had the art of disposing of his time
So well
That his hours glided away
In one continual round
Of pleasure and delight,
Till an unlucky moment put a period to
His existence;
He departed this life
November 14, 1802
Wound up,
in hopes of being taken in hand
By his Maker,
And of being
Thoroughly cleaned, repaired and set-a-going
In the World to come.


This epitaph appeared on the grave of George Routledge, a watchmaker who died in the village of Lydford, Devon in 1802 aged 57.

For some time, it was thought that George had written his own epitaph some years before his death but it is now known that the words were published in an American almanac in 1797, the work of a black American astronomer called Benjamin Banneker who was also a clockmaker. However, in more recent years, an even earlier version has been discovered as having been printed in the Derby Mercury in 1786.

I love this, whoever wrote it :0)

Lovely!!