II. On Sir WILLIAM TRUMBAL, one of the principal Secretaries of State to King WILLIAM III. who having resigned his place, died in his retirement at East-bamstead in Berkshire, 1716. A pleasing form, a firm, yet cautious mind, Sincere, though prudent; constant, yet resign'd; Fix'd to one side, but moderate to the rest: An honest courtier, yet a patriot too, A love to peace, and hate of tyranny: Such this man was; who now, from earth remov'd, At length enjoys that liberty he lov'd. In this epitaph, as in many others, there appears, at the first view, a fault which I think scarcely any beauty can compensate. The name is omitted. The end of an epitaph is to convey some account of the dead; and to what purpose is any thing told of him whose name is concealed? An epitaph, and a history of a nameless hero, are equally absurd, since the virtues and qualities so recounted in either are scattered at the mercy of fortune to be appropriated by guess. The name, it is true, may be read upon the stone; but what obligation has it to the poet, whose verses wander over the earth, and leave their subject behind them, and who is forced like an unskilful painter, to make his purpose known by adventitious help? This epitaph is wholly without elevation, and contains nothing striking or particular; but the poet is not to be blamed for the defects of his subject. He said perhaps the best that could be said. There are, however, some defects which were not made necessary by the character in which he was employed. There is no opposition between an honest courtier and a patriot; for an honest courtier cannot but be a patriot. It was unsuitable to the nicety required in short compositions, to close his verse with the word too; every rhyme should be a word of emphasis, nor can this rule be safely neglected, except where the length of the poem, makes slight inaccuracies excuseable, or allows room for beauties sufficient to overpower the effects of petty faults. At the beginning of the seventh line the word filled is weak and prosaic, having no particular adaptation to any of the words that follow it. The thought in the last line is impertinent, having no connection with the foregoing character, nor with the condition of the man described. Had the epitaph been written on the poor conspirator* who died lately in prison, after • Major Bernardi; who died in Newgate, Sept 20, 1736. See Gent Mag. vol. L. p. 125. N, after confinement of more than forty years, without any crime proved against him, the sentiment had been just and pathetical; but why should' Trumbal be congratulated upon his liberty, who had never known restraint? III. On the Hon. SIMON HARCOURT, only Son of the Lord Chancellor HAR- To this sad shrine, whoe'er thou art, draw near, This epitaph is principally remarkable for the artful introduction of the name, which is inserted with a peculiar felicity, to which chance must concur with genius, which no man can hope to attain twice, and which cannot be copied but with servile initation. I cannot but wish that, of this inscription, the two last lines had been omitted, as they take away from the energy what they do not add to the sense. IV. On JAMES CRAGGS, Efq; in Westminster-Abbey. JACOBUS CRAGGS, REGI MAGNE BRITANNIE A SECRETIS ET CONSILIIS SANCTIORIBVS PRINCIPIS PARITER AC POPULI AMOR ET DELICIA; ANNOS HEV PAVCOS, XXXV.. OB. FEB. XVI. MDCCXX. Statesman, yet friend to truth! of soul sincere, In action faithful, and in honour clear: Who broke no promise, serv'd no private end, Ennobled by himself, by all approv❜d. Prais'd, wept, and honour'd, by the Muse he lov❜d. The lines on Craggs were not originally intended for an epitaph; and therefore some faults are to be imputed to the violence with which they are torn from the poems that first contained them. We may however, observe. some defects. There is a redundancy of words in the first couplet: it is superfluous to tell of him, who was sincere, true, and faithful, that he was in honour clear. 4 E2 There There seems to be an opposition intended in the fourth line, which is not very obvious: where is the relation between the two positions, that he gained no title and lost no friend? It may be proper here to remark the absurdity of joining, in the same inscription, Latin and English, or verse and prose. If either language be preferable to the other, let that only be used; for no reason can be given why part of the information should be given in one tongue, and part in another, on a tomb, more than in any other place, on any other occasion; and to tell all that can be conveniently told in verse, and then to call in the help of prose, has always the appearance of a very artless expedient, or of an attempt unaccomplished. Such an epitaph resembles the conversation of a foreigner, who tells part of his meaning by words, and conveys part by signs V. Intended for Mr. RowE. In Westminster-Abbey. Thy reliques, Rowe, to this fair urn we trust, Of this inscription the chief fault is, that it belongs less 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 shade, is too mythological to be admitted into a Christian temple: the ancient worship has infected almost all our other compositions, and might therefore be contented to spare our epithets. Let fiction, at least, cease with life, and let us be serious over the grave. VI. On Mrs. CORBET, who died of a Cancer in her Breast.* Here rests a woman, good without pretence, Blest with plain reason, and with sober sense: No conquest she, but o'er herself desir'd; la the North aile of the parish church of St. Margaret, Westminster. H, I have always considered this as the most valuable of all Pope's epitaphs; the subject of it is a character not discriminated by any shining or eminent peculiarities; yet that which really makes, though not the splendor, the felicity of life, and that which every wise man will choose for his final and lasting companion in the languor of age, in the quiet of privacy, when he departs weary and disgusted from the ostentatious, the volatile, and the vain Of such a character, which the dull overlook, and the gay despise, it was fit that the value should be made known, and the dignity established. Domestick virtue, as it is exerted without great occasions, or conspicuous consequences in an even unnoted tenor, required the genius of Pope to display it in such a manner as might attract regard, and enforce reverence. Who can forbear to lament that this amiable woman has no name in the verses. If the particular lines of this inscription be examined, it will appear less faulty than the rest. There is scarce one line taken from common places, unless it be that in which only Virtue is said to be our own. I once heard a Lady of great beauty and excellence object to the fourth line, that it contained an unnatural and incredible panegyrick. Of this let the Ladies Judge. VII. On the Monument of the Hon. ROBERT DIGBY, and of his Sister MARY, erected by their Father the Lord DIGBY, in the Church of Sherborne in Dorsetshire, 1727. Go! fair example of untainted youth, Of modest wisdom, and pacific truth: Lover of peace, and friend of human kind: And thou, blest maid! attendant on his doom, Yet take these tears, Mortality's relief. 1 This epitaph contains of the brother only a general indiscriminate character, and of the sister tells nothing but that she died. The difficulty in writing epitaphs is to give a particular and appropriate praise. This, however, is not always to be performed, whatever be the diligence or ability of the writer; for the greater part of mankind have no character at all, have little that distinguishes them from others equally good or bad, and therefore nothing can be said of them which may not be applied with equal propriety to a thousand more. It is indeed no great panegyrick, that there is inclosed in this tomb one who was born in one year, and died in another; yet many useful and amiable lives have been spent, which yet leave little materials for any other memorial. These are however not the proper subjects of poetry; and whenever friendship; or any other motive, obliges a poet to write on such subjects, he must be forgiven if he sometimes wanders in generalities, and utters the same praises over different tombs. The scantiness of human praises can scarcely be made more apparent, than by remarking how often Pope has, in the few epitaphs which he composed, found it necessary, to borrow from himself. The fourteen epitaphs, which he has written, comprise about an hundred and forty lines, in which there are more repetitions than will easily be found in all the rest of his works. In the eight lines which make the character of Digby, there is scarce any thought, or word, which may not be found in the other epitaphs. The ninth line, which is far the strongest and most elegant, is borrowed from Dryden. The conclusion is the same with that on Harcourt, but is here morè elegant and better connected. VIII. On Sir GODFREY KNELLER. In Westminster-Abbey, 1723. Kneller, by heaven, and not a master taught, Living great Nature feared he might outyle Of this epitaph the first couplet is good, the second not bad, the third is deformed with a broken metaphor, the word crowned not being applicable to the honours or the lays, and the fourth is not only borrowed from the epitaph on Raphael, but of a very harsh construction. |