Alexander Pope in Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire

Pope's Tower is where Alexander Pope, who was a friend of Simon Harcourt, finished his translation of Homer's Iliad in 1718.

On the outside church wall is a plaque on which Pope detailed the unfortunate accident that befell two lovers from the parish who were fatally struck by lightning:

'NEAR THIS PLACE LIE THE BODIES
OF JOHN HEWET AND SARAH DREW
AN INDUSTRIOUS YOUNG MAN
AND VIRTUOUS YOUNG MAIDEN OF THIS PARISH
CONTRACTED IN MARRIAGE.
WHO BEING WITH MANY OTHERS AT HARVEST
WORK, WERE BOTH IN ONE INSTANT KILLED
BY LIGHTNING ON THE LAST DAY OF JULY
1718.

Think not by rigorous judgment seiz'd
A pair so faithful could expire;
Victims so pure Heav'n saw well pleaſd
And snatch'd them in cœlestial fire.

Live well & fear no sudden fate,
When God calls Virtue to the grave,
Alike 'tis juſtice soon or late,
Mercy alike to kill or save.

Virtue unmov'd can hear the call
And face the flaſh that melts the ball.'
 

Inside the church on the north wall is a memorial to Robert Huntington and his son (also Robert), on which is inscribed an epitaph by the playwright William Congreve:

'This peacefull Tomb does now contain
Father and Son together laid,
Whoſe liveing vertues shall remain,
When they and this are quite decay'd.

What man should be to ripeneſs grown.
And finiſh'd worth should do or shun
At full was in the Father shown
What Youth could promote in the Son.

But Death obdurate, both destroy'd
The perfect fruit and opening bud,
First seiz'd thoſe fruits we had enjoy'd
Then robb'd us of the comeing good.'

My earlier Pope posts are linked below:
 

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Anthony Beckles Willson: Mr Pope & Others at Cross Deep
Alexander Pope in St Marys Church, Twickenham
Alexander Pope's Grotto in Twickenham
Alexander Pope in Chiswick