A STRANGE BURIAL PLACE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19102, 22 February 1924, Page 4

A STRANGE BURIAL PLACE.

"MAGGOTY” JOHNSON’S GRATE, At the cornet' o£ the crossroads before entering the village of Gaweworth, Cheshire, is a etlle with path leading into the woods, and here is the grave of Samuel Johnson, an eccentric character, also known as "wid Maggoty” and by the grander title of Lord Flame. He., was wit, poet, musician, and actor, says an English writer, and when on hia death-bed he requested that his body should not bo buried in the churchyard, but in the wood where it how lies. On the higher stone over his grave are engraved the following lines; “Under this stone rest the remains of Mt Samuel Johnson, afterwards ennobled with the grander title of Lord Flame, who, after having been in his life distinct from other men, by. the eccentricities of his genius, choso to. retain the same character after his death, and was at his own desire buried here. May the Sih, 1773, aged 82. Stay thou, whom chance directs, or ease persuades. To seek the quiet of those sylvan shades; Here, undisturbed, and hid from vulgar eyes, A wit, musician, poet, player lies; A dancing master, too, in grace he shone. And all the arts of opera were his own. In comedy well skilled he drew Lord Flame, Acted the part, and gained himself the name. Adverse to strife, bow oft he’d gravely say These peaceful groves should shade his breathless day That, when he rose again, laid here alone. No friend and he should quarrel for a bone; Thinking that some old lame gossip nigh. She possibly might take his leg or thigh.