EPITAPH IV.

ON MRS. TATTON,

IN THE CHURCH OF WITHENSHAW IN CHESHIRE.

Ir e'er on earth true happiness were found "Twas thine, blest Shade! that happiness to prove;

A father's fondest wish thy duty crown'd,

Thy softer virtues fix'd a husband's love.
Ah! when he led thee to the nuptial fane,
How smil'd the morning with auspicious rays!
How triumph'd Youth, and Beauty, in thy train,

And flatt'ring Health that promis'd length of days! Heav'n join'd your hearts. Three pledges of your joy Were giv❜n, in thrice the years revolving roundHere, Reader! pause; and own, with pitying eye, That" not on earth true happiness is found."

EPITAPH V..

ON MR. GRAY,

IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

No more the Grecian Muse unrivall'd reigns,
To Britain let the nations homage pay;
She felt a Homer's fire in Milton's strains,*
A Pindar's rapture from the lyre of GRAY.

NOTE.

* The cenotaph is placed immediately under that of Milton, and represents, in alto relievo, a female figure with a lyre, as emblematical of the higher kinds of poetry, pointing with one hand to the bust above, and supporting with the other a medallion, on which is a profile head inscribed," THOMAS GRAY.” On the plinth is the following date; "He died July 31, 1771.”

The sculpture was executed by that eminent artist Mr. Bacon, in Newman-street, at the joint expense of Dr. James Browne, Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge; Richard Stonhewer, Esq. Auditor of Excise; and the Author.

EPITAPH VI.

ON THOMAS FOUNTAYNE, ESQ.

ONLY SON OF THE DEAN OF YORK, IN THE CHURCH OF MELTON, YORKSHIRE.

O HERE, if ever, holy Patience bend

Thy duteous knee! the hand of Heav'n revere ! Here bid the father, mother, sister, friend

In mute submission drop the christian tear!

Nor blame, that in the vernal noon of youth
The buds of manly worth, whose opening bloom
Had glow'd with Honour, Fortitude, and Truth,
Sunk in th' eternal winter of the tomb:

That he, whose form with health, with beauty charm'd,
For whom fair Fortune's liberal feast was spread,
Whom Science nurtur'd, bright example warm'd,
Was torn by ling'ring torture to the dead.
"Hark!" cries a voice that awes the silenc'd air,

"The doom of man in my dread bosom lies; "Be your's awhile to pace this vale of care,

"Be his to soar with seraphs in the skies."

EPITAPH VII.*

ON LAUNCELOT BROWNE, ESQ.

IN THE CHURCH OF FEN-STANTON, HUNTINGDONSHIRE.

YE Sons of Elegance; who truly taste

The simple charms which genuine Art supplies,
Come from the sylvan scenes his Genius grac'd,
And offer here your tributary sighs:

But know, that more than Genius slumbers here;
Virtues were his, that Art's best powers transcend:
Come, ye superior train! who these revere,

And weep the Christian, Husband, Father, Friend!

NOTE.

* This and the foregoing Epitaph, with some others, come under that stricture, which Dr. JOHNSON has imposed on several of Mr. POPE's. The Author knows, but despises it. Personal appellatives in Greek appear gracefully in the Anthologia. In English poetry they almost constantly induce an air of vulgarity. That species of criticism, therefore, which either in the verse or prose of any language militates against what HORACE calls its jus et norma loquendi, he holds to be futile. Besides this, when, on a monumental tablet, a prose inscription precedes (as is ever the modern mode) the verses, why should these be loaded with any unnecessary repetition?

EPITAPH VIII.

ON MRS. ANN E. MORRITT,

IN THE CHURCH OF SELBY, DISTINGUISHED FOR COPYING, IN

NEEDLE-WORK, SEVERAL PICTURES OF SOME OF THE

FIRST ARTISTS.

BLEST

LEST Shade, whose Genius in thy earliest days Fir'd thee to emulate the Pencil's praise,

To seize the Painter's powers without the name,

And soar on female attributes to Fame!*

This verse records how to those powers were join'd

The strongest manliest energies of mind,

Records those years of pain thy frame sustain'd
With patience firm, with Love and Faith unfeign'd,
And Hope, that ever hov'ring o'er thy head,
The brilliant palm of bliss eternal spread.

NOTE.

* Her works, deservedly admired, are now in the possession

of J. B. S. Morritt, Esq. at Rokeby Park, Yorkshire.