the violence with which they are torn from the poem that first contained them. We may, however, obferve fome defects. There is a redundancy of words in the first couplet: it is fuperfluous to tell of him, who was fincere, true, and faithful, that he was in honour clear. There feems to be an oppofition intended in the fourth line, which is not very obvious: where is the wonder, that he who gained no title, fhould lofe no friend? It may be proper here to remark the abfurdity of joining, in the fame infcription, Latin and English, or verse and profe. If either language be preferable to the other, let that only be ufed; for no reason can be given why part of the information fhould be given in one tongue, and part in another, on a tomb, more than in any other place, on any other other occafion; and to tell all that can be conveniently told in verfe, and then to call in the help of profe, has always the appearance of a very artlefs expedient, or of an attempt unaccomplished. Such an epitaph resembles the converfation of a foreigner, who tells part of his meaning by words, and conveys part by figns. V. Intended for Mr. Rowe. In WeftminsterAbbey. Thy reliques, Rowe, to this fair urn we truft, And facred, place by Dryden's awful duft: Beneath a rude and nameless stone he lies, To which thy tomb fhall guide inquiring eyes. Peace to thy gentle fhade, and endless reft! Bleft in thy genius, in thy love too bieft! One grateful woman to thy fame fupplies What a whole thanklefs land to his denies. Of this infcription the chief fault is, that it belongs lefs to Rowe, for whom it was written, than to Dryden, who was buried near him; and indeed gives very little information concerning either.. To wish, Peace to thy fhade, is too mythological to be admitted into a chriftian temple: the ancient worship has infected almost all our other compofitions, and might therefore be contented to fpare our epitaphs. Let fiction, at least, ceafe with life, and let us be ferious over the grave. VI. On Mrs. CORBET, who died of a Cancer in her Breaft. Here' refts' a woman, good without pretence, Bleft with plain reafon, and with fober fense: No conquefts flue, but o'er herfelf defir'd; No arts effay'd, but not to be admir'd. Paffion Paffion and pride were to her foul unknown, I have always confidered this as the moft valuable of all Pope's epitaphs; the fubject of it is a character not difcriminated by any fhining or eminent peculiarities; yet that which really makes, though not the fplendor, the felicity of life, and that which every wife man will choofe for his final and lasting companion in the languor of age, in the quiet of privacy, when he departs weary and difgufted from the oftentatious, the volatile, and the vain. Of fuch a character, which the dull overlook, and the gay defpife, it was fit that the value fhould be made known, and the dignity efta Z2 eftablished. Domeftic virtue, as it is exerted without great occafions, or confpicuous confequences, in an even unnoted tenor, required the genius of Pope to display it in fuch a manner as might attract regard, and enforce reverence. Who can forbear to lament that this amiable woman has no name in the verfes ? If the particular lines of this infcrip. tion be examined, it will appear lefs faulty than the rest. There is fcarce one line taken from common places, unless it be that in which only Virtue is faid to be our own. I once heard a Lady of great beauty and elegance object to the fourth line, that it contained an unnatural and incredible panegyrick. Of this let the Ladies judge. |