Molyneaux Bunny

[poliphilo]

HERE lieth Molyneaux Bunny who served with Reputation in the Armies of King William and Queen Ann and was a Gentleman born He died on the 6th day of May Anno Dom 1749

No- I didn't invent it. Here's the original inscription.....



Bunny is buried in the churchyard in the Yorkshire town of Penistone (I didn't invent that either) 


 

Comments

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Molyneaux Bunny, what a GREAT name for a children's book.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Isn't it just!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You've made a magnificent start.

Perhaps you should carry on and give us the "True Narrative of The Life of Molyneaux Bunny, Gent."

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Oh NO, I should think Molyneaux Bunny would be daintily shod, tiny feet, big heart.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

In a red coat with black facings....

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

But a lovely lace-edged handkerchief, which he carries in the long velvet sleeve of his coat!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I find myself wondering about him.

No rank is noted. So was he a gentleman ranker- a rich man's son reduced to soldiering by debts and bad company?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, lots of that.

"damned from here to eternity...."

Re: We have done with Hope and Honour, we are lost to Love and Truth

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ain't it great!

Kipling's verse is seriously under-valued. Academe doesn't like him because he's so damn accessible.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

I remember somewhere an argument in the British courts, whereby a man was trying to get out of paying a tax with the argument that he wasn't a gentleman, but a farmer. The courts decided that yes, he was a gentleman, based on the fact he kept hounds and horses and rode to the fox, something like that.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

it's interesting that the the gentlemanliness is insisted on. I suspect Mr Bunny insisted on it himself- whilst carousing with the farmers and tradesmen at the local pub.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

What a beautiful inscription! I love the lettering of old tombstones, but this is a great find, where the content is as delightful as the form.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We spent most of yesterday afternoon in search of 18th century tombstones.

[manfalling.livejournal.com]

graves like tables rock.
graves with curlicue fonting rock too.
churches.
england looks so cool. i miss this stuff.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's good isn't it!

[seaslug-of-doom.livejournal.com]

Old Molyneaux was very insistent that he be identified as a Gentleman to protect the respectability of his family and to take with him, and bury, his indiscreet past.

In his youth he was known as Moly the Hare, not only because of his surname, but also for his propensity to "breed like a rabbit" and his facility with fast getaways from angry husbands and fathers.

His career in the military was a necessity for its usefulness in moving from place to place. Indeed, he served with Reputation. A last jest from his many friends and admirers.

Unfortunately, his wife and 16 children did not get quite the sober funeral they hoped for. There was quite a scandal about what was described as "a startling number of unescorted women" hanging back under the trees at the edge of the graveyard. The good father's pater nosters were frequently interrupted by sniggers that quickly turned into loud coughing. So much so that some people said evil vapors from the tombs crowding close caused a plague to descend on the mourners.

Poor Constance and poor 16 children. Oh, but good old Moly!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Magnificent.

There's the outline of a novel here-