AN EPITAPH

ON MY DEAR AND EVER-HONORED MOTHER,

MRS. DOROTHY DUDLEY,

WHO DECEASED DECEMB 27 1643, AND OF HER AGE 61.

Here lyes 
A worthy Matron of unspotted life, 
A loving Mother and obedient wife, 
A friendly Neighbor pitiful to poor, 
Whom oft she fed and clothed with her store, 
To Servants wisely aweful but yet kind, 
And as they did so they reward did find; 
A true Instructer of her Family, 
The which she ordered with dexterity. 
The publick meetings ever did frequent, 
And in her Closet constant hours she spent; 
Religious in all her words and wayes 
Preparing still for death till end of dayes; 
Of all her Children, Children lived to see, 
Then dying, left a blessed memory.”