Having found this I felt I should not let it get lost again. Romansleigh is a long way from Exeter but The Western Times published this on 27th May 1843. Perhaps it has been recorded elsewhere but, just in case it is not, I replicate it here. The scale of the infant mortality in this village of North Devon is heart-rending and the ingenuousness of the local scribe only makes it seem more so:
"CHURCH-YARD POETRY. - A Maryansleigh correspondent sends us the following touching communication respecting the mortality in that parish. He has paraphrased the awful fact with most awful poetry: -
"'MOARTALITY. - In Romansleigh within the Last three months we Have witness thirteen Furnals of Home 10 have been Childering out of this very small parish and one now lyeth a bear [a bier] wich make 14 six out of one House.
"We 11 childring gone to sleep/ We leave our parentes dear to weep/ Our parents dear weep not for we/ for we are gone our god to see.
"We 11 chlidring are gone you see/ preay take a pattern now by we/ for you must follow you plinly see/ Low in the Dust we Lied Be.
"Six from one House you plenly see/ What dretful thing must this be/ through the are gone from this/ We all must go and cant resist."
The Western Times helps its readers to read bier for bear but leaves them to work out that Home=whom (which) and through the=though they.
Childering/ childring is a form that might be of interest to lexicologists.
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