Sterne, Richard

In Latin: Here lies, in hope of future glory, Richard Sterne, descended from a respectable family in Mansfield. Three colleges in Cambridge contended to do him honour, and boast of him as their own. Having been a scholar in Trinity College, he was elected fellow of Christ's, and afterwards enjoyed and adorned the mastership of Jesus'. He attended the martyr William of Canterbury, as his chaplain, on the fatal scaffold, with whom he had the courage even to have died, for he dared to be good amongst the worst of men. Afterwards, he was employed in the education of several gentlemen of rand and fortune, and in this character it was his study to instil into them those principles of piety and loyalty which might engage them in the true service of God, and, when the times allowed it, to the King. Upon the King's return he was earnestly entreated to accept, what was acknowledged to be unworthy of his acceptance, the see of Carlisle. But his merit was no more to be concealed than the light of day: in that humble province it appeared that he deserved even the highest station; and, that he might be seen in all his glory, he was promoted to the metropolitan see of York. In both, it was his study to promote the interests of religion rather than his own: several churches, which had been deprived of their revenues, he endowed, and some with even more than their original possessions. Had he lived in primitive times, he had not been inferior to the most ancient ornaments of the church: everything that becomes and adorns a prelate shone in his character; virtue, gravity, holiness, charity, universal knowledge and a firmness and constancy of soul equally superior to prosperous and adverse fortune, a  regime of justice and moderation. Even in his 86th year his person was still erect, his countenance full of dignity, his eye full of spirit, and all his senses unimpaired: his mind still enjoyed all its vigour and retained all its prudence: in extreme old age he tasted nothing of the dregs of life, and is an eminent example of the happy fruits of a temperate and sober conduct. He died June 18th 1683, aged 87. [Translation courtesy of York Minster, amended.]