EPITAPHS. ON HIMSELF. READER, approach my urn-thou needst not fear More than a Plato taught-the grand concern And know thy end! [explore; Though young, though gay, this scene of death Alas! the young, the gay is now no more! ON ROBERT CLAVERING, M. B. OH! come, who know the childless parent's sigh, ON COLONEL GARDINER: WHO WAS SLAIN IN THE BATTLE OF PRESTON PANS, 1745. WHILE fainter merit asks the powers of verse, Our faithful line shall Gardiner's worth rehearse. The bleeding hero and the martyr'd saint Transcends the poet's pen, the herald's paint. His the best path to fame that e'er was trod, And surely his-a glorious road to God. ON MR. SIBLEY, OF STUDHAM. HERE lies an honest man! without pretence These be his honours!' honours that disclaim The blazon'd scutcheon, and the herald's fame! Honours! which boast defiance to the grave, Where (spite of Anstis) rots the garter'd knave, ON A LADY, WHO HAD LABOURED UNDER A CANCER. STRANGER, these dear remains contain'd a mind No venal Muse this faithful picture draws; ON MR. THOMAS STRONG; WHO DIED ON THE 26TH of december, 1736. When ask'd to whom these lovely truths belong, Thy friends shall answer, weeping, 'Here lies Strong.' ON MISS GEE; WHO DIED OCTOBER 25, 1736; ÆTAT. 28. BEAUTEOUS, nor known to pride, to friends sincere, Mild to thy neighbour, to thyself severe; Reader, amidst these sacred crowds that sleep', View this once lovely form, nor grudge to weep.O death all terrible! how sure thy hour! How wide thy conquests! and how fell thy power! When youth, wit, virtue plead for longer reign; When youth, when wit, when virtue plead in vain : Stranger, then weep afresh-for know, this clay Was once the good, the wise, the beautiful, the gay. ON JOHN DUKE OF BRIDGEWATER; WHO DIED IN THE TWENTY-FIRST YEAR OF HIS AGE, 1747-8. INTENT to hear, and bounteous to bestow, 1 The author is supposed to be inscribing the character of the deceased upon her tomb, and therefore crowds that sleep' mean the dead. Those silent joys the' illustrious youth possess'd, ON THE REV. SAMUEL CLARK; WHO DIED DECEMBER THE 26TH, AGED 42. WHAT! though such various worth is seldom known, No adulation rears this sacred stone, No partial love this genuine picture draws, THE END. C. Whittingham, College House, Chiswick. |