Moseley Hall, was buried in the parish church of Bushbury. The inscription on his monument is written in vigorous Latin, and the heated feeling of that stirring time seems still warm in the marble words. Here are most of them:
"STOP, TRAVELLER, TO REVERE THE FAITHFUL ASHES HEREIN,
HE WHO LIES HERE WAS A SERVANT WORTHY OF CÆSAR.
IT IS NOT A GREAT THING TO SERVE THE GREAT WHEN THE SKY IS SERENE;
HE WAS A SERVANT WHEN THE TIMES WERE CLOUDY;
HIS GUEST WAS THE KING WHEN VANQUISHED, DEFENCELESS, POOR,
COMPLETELY DISGUISED AND UNLIKE HIMSELF;
WHILE, THUNDERING IN ARMS, BREATHING FIRE AND FLAMES,
A BLOODY TROOP WAS SEEKING THE KING,
ANON POURING FORTH BRIGHT GOLD WITH THEIR CRIES,
ADDING LARGE BRIBES TO THEIR THREATS.
BUT XX DID NOT SEDUCE NOR PERIL APEAL HIM;
FOR FAITHFUL, LOVE WAXED STRONGER IN HIS NOBLE BREAST,
THE FAITHFUL LOVE OF KING AND THE BRITISH REALM.
SO IF THOU ART WISE LEARN FIDELITY FROM THIS MARBLE."
Charles's host at Moseley Hall, this Thomas Whitgreave, seems to have outlived nearly all the companions and helpers of his flight and escape; for he died on the 14th of July, 1702, at the age of 84. What is the precise meaning of XX in his epitaph I have not undertaken to give in the foregoing translation, Whether XX gold sovereigns, or a Bank of England note to that amount, made the bribe usually offered by Cromwell's "bloody troop" for betraying the King, or whether the two numbers represent some other
