| Notes |
--- "A Chronicle of Cranborne" by Thomas William Wake Smart, 1841, page 27-9:
On the north side of the east window, is the following monument. A figure, in Alabaster, of a youth seated, leaning his head on the right hand, the elbow supported by a scull on his knee, the left arm resting on the thigh and holding a bunch of flowers. Above the head is the following inscription, surmounted with the arms of Elliot with eleven quarterings.
M.S.
Desideratissimi capitis Iohannis Elliott, Io. F. Cornubiensis Armigeri, Ex Honora F. Danielis Norton Militis South. Qui dum hic vernaculis literis incubuit repentina vi morbi oppressus occubuit 2 Februar MDCXLI.
---thus rendered;---
Sacred to the memory of the much lamented John Elliott, Son of John Elliott Esqr. of Cornwall, by Honor daughter of John Norton, of Southampton, Knight, who died suddenly whilst at school in this town, February 2. 1641.
(Tradition assigns his death to the swallowing a bone which caused suffocation.) Underneath the Statue is the following. ---
At qualis adolescentulus quantae spei in aetate jam puerili, vix uspiam majus exemplum memoriae, comitatis, ingeii, dotum denique naturae omnium, quas dum arte sedulo et studiose perpolire conatur, supergressus fere modum humanum, Angelorum inseritur choro. Avia D.N. nepoti bene merenti maerens P.P.
---thus rendered;---
What a remarkable boy he was! there has scarely ever been a more extraordinary instance of the powers of memory, of amiability, of intelligence, in a word, of all the gifts of nature. Whilst striving to improve them by care and study, and having made an almost supernatural progress, he was taken into the company of angels. His sorrowing grandmother Lady Norton, has caused this to be erected to her well-deserving grandson.
--- Below that again,---
Parvus avos referens, puer hic non degener ambos
Nortonum vivos, Eliotumque dedit.
Septenni incidit vitam laudesque parentum
Mors vitae victrix laudibus inferior;
Quae tamen immodicos virtutis crescere fructus
In teneris annis imperiosa vetat.
which we endeavour to imitate thus,---
The undegen'rate scion of his line
Norton and Elliott in his likeness shine,
But seven suns told, all conquering death laid low,
His Parents' hopes, and him at one fell blow.
Despotic death, that comes with blighting wing
To spoil the rich luxuriance of spring.
--- "Notes and Queries" Oxford University Press, 1868, page 472-3:
In the church of Cranborne there is a monument to the grandson of the great Sir John Eliot (3rd S. i. 445), who died at school there, and in consequence, it is said, of being choked by a bone whilst eating his dinner. The statue of the youth is at some height from the floor, and he holds something in his hand which is obscurely seen from below, but which popular tradition declares to be a representation of the identical mutton bone that caused his death! On closer inspection it proves to be a nosegay!
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Bef 1636 - 1642 (> 5 years)
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