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Within a large timber yard on the lower side of the Seagate, and nearly opposite to the site of St Paul`s, there is a
huge stone, forming the lintel of the door of a shed, on which, in the following concise style, the decalogue is
inscribed in two compartments. There is a date, 1593, the first two figures of which there are at the one end of the
stone, and the two last at the other.
15. 1. THOV. SAL. HAIF. NO. UTHER. GODDIS. BOT. ME. 2. THOV. SAL. VORSHIP. NO. GRAVINE.
IMAGE. 3. THOV. SAL. NOT. SWEIR. 4. REMEMBER. TO. KEIP. HOLY. THE. SABBOITHE. DAY. 5.
HONUR. THY. FATHER. AND. MOTHER. 6. THOV. SAL. NOT. SLAYE. 7. THOV. SAL. NOT.
COMIT. ADVLTERE. 8. THOV. SAL. NOT. STEAL. 9. THOV. SAL. BEAR. NO. FALS. VITNES. 10.
THOV. SAL. COWIT. NO. THING. YT. IS. YAI. NIGHBOURIS. 93.
This inscription is in relief, and the space betwixt the divisions or compartments of the stone is occupied by the
figure of a clerical person, the left arm of which rests upon one of the compartments,the right being extended and
pointing to the beginning of the decalogue. The lower part of this figure is covered with an escutcheon, whereon a
cipher had been represented, of which an F and part of an M remain. Above the head of this figure, there is built
in the wall a richly sculptered stone, bearing the figure of an angel volant, in something of a dancing position,
sounding one trumpet and holding another, similiar to what is sometimes met with upon old monuments: indeed I
have been told that this stone was removed from the Houff for the purpose of being revised, but was put up here
when the shed was erected.
Part of these stones would seem to have been connected with the church of St Paul. The first burial-ground in the
town was attached to this church; and although the stone upon which the flying angel is engraved is said to have
been brought from the Houff, it is possible that it had been originally placed in this cemetery. The slab which bears
the decalogue has probably been the lintel of one of the chimneys which were common in religious establishments
of the sixteenth century.
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