This is the epitaph she caused to be written by Father Drono (who piqued
himself upon his Latinity) on the stone commemorating the death of her
late lord:--
Hic est Guilfridus, belli dum vixit avidus:
Cum gladio et lancea, Normania et quoque Francia
Verbera dura dabat: per Turcos multum equitabat:
Guilbertum occidit: atque Hierosolyma vidit.
Heu! nunc sub fossa sunt tanti militis ossa,
Uxor Athelstani est conjux castissima Thani.
And this is the translation which the doggerel knave Wamba made of the
Latin lines:
"REQUIESCAT.
"Under the stone you behold,
Buried, and coffined, and cold,
Lieth Sir Wilfrid the Bold.
"Always he marched in advance,
Warring in Flanders and France,
Doughty with sword and with lance.
"Famous in Saracen fight,
Rode in his youth the good knight,
Scattering Paynims in flight.
"Brian the Templar untrue,
Fairly in tourney he slew,
Saw Hierusalem too.
"Now he is buried and gone,
Lying beneath the gray stone:
Where shall you find such a one?
"Long time his widow deplored,
Weeping the fate of her lord,
Sadly cut off by the sword.
"When she was eased of her pain,
Came the good Lord Athelstane,
When her ladyship married again.
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