As we rise, sing glory glory, through the skies
Mrs. Margaret
the Wife of Mr.
Ezekiel Cole,
Died March 9th
1792: In the
59th Year of
her Age.
The one that Lodges in this tomb
Had Rachel’s face & Leah’s fruitfull womb
Abigail’s wisdom & Sarah’s faithfull Heart
Martha’s just care & Mary’s better part.
Before turning to the epitaph verse, take a moment to admire the fine floral carving of the pilasters, the sun and moon flanking Margaret Cole’s soul-effigy, and the delicate gesture with which she calls our attention to the glorious message carved along the top of the typanum.
This epitaph, chock-full of Biblical references, is recurring though unidentified. The identical text is transcribed in the January 1902 edition of Notes and Queries and Historic Magazine, under the heading “Epitaphs from Old Almanacs”, dated 1783. The only difference is in the first line, which reads “The Dame that lodges in this tomb.” No information is provided on location or name of the deceased. Notes and Queries, subtitled A Monthly of History, Folk-Lore, Mathematics, Literature, Art, Arcane Societies, Etc., was published in Manchester, New Hampshire, by S. C. and L. M. Gould. It is a quaint old publication, part anthology of odd articles and poetry, part an early analogue form of a Wiki, in which readers post questions about everything from Biblical numerology to obscure quotations, and answers are printed in subsequent editions. I subsequently read T. J. Tomlin’s wonderful study A Divinity for All Persuasions: Almanacs and Early American Religious Life (New York, 2014), in which he found the epitaph in Nathanael Low’s Almanac for – sure enough – 1783. That a verse printed in an almanac was chosen for Margaret Cole epitaph about ten years later illustrates one way in which these texts might travel from town to town across early New England.
The long-anonymous author of this little quatrain was familiar with famous women of the Bible, and equally clearly expected his readers to be conversant with each reference. In Genesis 29, Rachel and Leah are the two wives of Jacob – Rachel “beautiful and well-favored” but barren, Leah “tender-eyed” and blessed by God to bear four sons. In I Samuel 25, Abigail, “a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance,” advises David to forswear vengeance on her churlish evil husband and prophesies that in return God will make David ruler over all Israel. In Genesis 17-21, Abraham and his wife Sarah are told by God that after many years of childlessness she will become pregnant – at age 90. She initially disbelieves the prophecy but comes to believe and indeed she conceives and bears a son, Isaac. Finally, the story of Martha and her sister Mary is told in Luke 10. Martha has received Jesus into her home and is busily showing “just care” in arranging to make him welcome while Mary just sits at his feet and hears his word. Martha asks Jesus to bid Mary to help, but he gently counsels her not to be troubled, explaining “But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part.”
Quite a litany condensed into four short lines—an earnest tribute to the virtues of Margaret Cole, and a rhyming catechism for her survivors to study and profit from.
