Twenty-Five years hence a very considerable proportion of the inscriptions and epitaphs recorded in the following pages will have entirely disappeared. This is due, not altogether - in some cases, indeed, not at all - to neglect or wilful spoliation. The laws of disintegration operate with merciless severity upon the sacred relics and the quaint and curious words engraved on their surface. Except where the stone is very durable, epitaphs, after the lapse of a couple of centuries, become defaced and unintelligible.<br><br>The memory of our forefathers, however remote the period in which they lived, however simple their lives and humble their origin, is worthy of being perpetuated. Apart altogether from the question of genealogy and pedigree, there is an element of deep pathos in all that concerns our departed kindred, and the simple words which record their virtues (not always omitting their vices). Time's stern corroding touch deals hardly with our most cherished and sacred memorials, whether in the shape of tombstones or church buildings.