Do you see that rudely-shaped, dark blue stone, about 2 feet in width,
the same in height, and 8 inches thick? Do you see the inscription upon
it--E W in coarsely-carved letters, and the figures 1658 over them?
That is, doubtless, the headstone of Whalley's grave. The footstone is
similar, having the same letters; but above them you see figures that
may be read either sixteen hundred and fifty-eight, or sixteen hundred
and seventy-eight--16578. The latter was the date of the General's
death; and the figures, perhaps, were thus tampered with to baffle the
Royalists.
The other stone, about a foot broad and ten inches high, bearing the
letters M. G. and the number 80, is supposed to indicate the
resting-place of Goffe. He died about the year 1680. The M, with a
deep-drawn stroke under its limbs, may be taken for an inverted W; and
thus, with the G, stand for William Goffe, in harmony with the designed
concealment that pervades the whole. Colonel John Dixwell lived here,
for seventeen years or more, under the assumed name of James Davids,
and died here after an exile of twenty-nine years from his native
country.
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