A CASHEL GRAVESTONE
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] was very interested to see, in the current issue of the Spectator (June 9th), a letter from "H. M. W." quoting an epitaph from a Cashel gravestone, a similar one having been seen in New York—running : "Remember man as you pass by, As you are now, so once was I, As I am now, so you will be, Remember man, Eternity."
I have seen a similar verse in a place very far distant from either Cashel or New York. On the Caucasian coast of the Black Sea is a large Russian monastery of " Novy Afon " (New Athos), and near by, at the top of a precipitous hill, 3,000 feet high, is a tiny chapel tended by a hermit monk. The climb is an arduous one, and one is rewarded by seeing, near the summit, an ancient tomb, one side of which has been replaced by a pane of glass ; through this one sees some skulls and a number of bones of holy men ; above is written a verse, the translation running something like this "You who pass by,
- Pray gaze on us ; We were once like you, Mid you will be like us."
Talbot Lodge, Clarence Road, St. Albans. - •
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