callumogden: Faith, Charity and Hope, 1651Greyfriars Burial Ground, Perth“This stone was raise
callumogden: Faith, Charity and Hope, 1651Greyfriars Burial Ground, Perth“This stone was raised for Helen Hamilton in 1650 and her husband, but repeatedly altered and reused. Faith stands by the cross leading a boy and raising a chalice. Hope has a crown, two anchors and a crowing cock. In the centre, Charity is represented by three figures, one on an arched pulpit, raising a chalice with a perching dove, one lying under a quilt, perhaps a dying man, and a horned figure whose heart is being pecked by two birds. Above them all, a dove rises to join two winged souls. At the foot of the crossed femora, a tailor’s shears and a tailor’s pressing iron inverted, perhaps because disused. Some symbols are conventional; crossbones of Death, winged immortal Souls, the Crown of Life or Victory, the Dove of the Spirit, the Hope and Anchor; but some are very rare, and the combination is unique.”Captain David Scott, 1758Greyfriars Burial Ground, Perth“David Scott, Sailor and merchant in Bombay, died “in the East Indias” in 1758 aged 41. Many Scots went east to seek their fortunes, and many found an early grave. His ship is more modern than Robert Browhouse’s (1747), with a gaff-and-boom on the mizzen-mast, and no jackmast on the bowsprit. Scott’s ship has more sheer in the bows, instead of the high military forecastle of the Browhouse’s but his motto “Readdy Ay Readdy” is better known as a line in Hearts of Oak, “Cheer up brave lads, ‘tis to Glory we steer…”. Memento Morie is misspelled at the foot of the stone.”Cirsteu Biset, Spouse to Robert Browshouse, Sailer, 1747Greyfriars Burial Ground, Perth“This stone is dominated by the wonderfully detailed ship. Note the high forecastle, the jackmast on the bowsprit, and the lateen sail on the mizzen-mast, rather than the later gaff-and-boom on David Scott’s stone (1755). The Saltire flies from the mizzen, with anchor flags on the main and foremasts as signs of hope. Above is a monogram framed by a serpent with its tail in its mouth, a rare emblem of eternity. Beneath is a shield with a compass and anchor, borne by two sailors wearing short breeches short jackets and stout shoes. The one on the right seems to be smoking a pipe. At the bottom is the scroll soli Deo gloria, ‘Glory to God only’. The pilasters are decorated with upward flaming torches (Resurrection) and downward doused torches (Death). On the shoulders of the stone are mourning putti. Perth’s harbour was just beside Greyfriars, but is now at Friartown, half a mile downriver.On the east face is more conventional, with a winged soul above, emblems of death below, and the initials of the dead. In the centre is an open scroll inscribed with with the details of the departed and, unusually in 18th century Perth, a rhyming epitaph, ‘Happy the soul that lives on hie, Whil dust lyes resting here…’ flanked by a pair of friendly little skeletons” -- source link