Page:Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922).djvu/268

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EPITAPH
EPITAPH
1

Praised, wept,
And honoured, by the muse he loved.

(See also Pope)


2

And when I lie in the green kirkyard,
With the mould upon my breast,
Say not that she did well—or ill,
"Only, She did her best."
Mrs. Craik (Miss Mulock). Given in her
obituary notice in the Athenaeum, Oct. 22, 1887.


3

O man! whosoever thou art, and whensoever thou comest, for come I know thou wilt, I am Cyrus, founder of the Persian empire. Envy me not the little earth that covers my body.

PlutarchLife of Alexander. Epitaph of Cyrus.


4

Pull many a life he saved
With his undaunted crew;
He put his trust in Providence,
And Cared Not How It Blew.
Epitaph in Deal Churchyard.


5

His form was of the manliest beauty,
His heart was kind and soft,
Faithful, below, he did his duty;
But now he's gone aloft.
Charles Dibdin—Tom Bowling. Written on
the death of his brother. Inscribed on
Charles Dibdin's gravestone, in the cemetery
of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, Camden Town.


6

For though his body's under hatches,
His soul has gone aloft.
Charles Dibdin—Tom Bowling. Written on
the death of his brother.


7

This comes of altering fundamental laws and
overpersuading by his landlord to take physic
(of which he died) for the benefit of the doctor—
Stavo bene (was written on his monument) ma
per star meglio, sto qui.
Dryden—Dedication of the JEneid. XIV. 149.
 | seealso = (See also Addison)
 | topic = Epitaph
 | page =
}}

{{Hoyt quote
 | num = 8
 | text = <poem>Here lies Du Vall; reader, if male thou art,
Look to thy purse; if female, to thy heart.
Claude Du Vall's Epitaph in Covent Garden
Church. Found in Francis Watt's Law's
Slumber Room. 2nd Series.


9

If e'er she knew an evil thought
She spoke no evil word:
Peace to the gentle! She hath sought
The bosom of her Lord.
Ebenezer Elliot—Hannah Ratcliff.


10

"Let there be no inscription upon my tomb.
Let no man write my epitaph. No man can
write my epitaph. I am hero ready to die. I am
not allowed to vindicate my character; and when
I am prevented from vindicating myself, let no
man dare calumniate me. Let my character and
motives repose in obscurity and peace, till other
times and other men can do them justice."
Robert Emmet—Speech on his Trial and Conviction for High Treason. September, 1803.


11

Corpus requiescat a malis.
May his body rest free from evil.
Ennius, quoted by Cicero—Tusc. I. 44.


12

Under this stone, reader, survey
Dead Sir John Vanbrugh's house of clay:
Lie heavy on him, earth! for he
Laid many heavy loads on thee.
Dr. Abel Evans—Epitaph on the architect
of Blenheim Palace. (Vanbrugh is buried in
St. Stephen's Church, Walbrook, England.}})
 | topic = Epitaph
 | page =
}}

{{Hoyt quote
 | num = 13
 | text = <poem>Lie light upon him, earth! tho' he
Laid many a heavy load on thee.
As quoted by Snuffling—Epitaphia; Architects. Box—Elegies and Epitaphs. Voltaibe—Letters. (1733) P. 187.
 | seealso = (See also Beaumont)
 | topic = Epitaph
 | page =
}}

{{Hoyt quote
 | num = 14
 | text = <poem>The body of Benjamin Franklin, Printer,
(Like the cover of an old book, its contents
torn out and stript of its lettering and gilding),
Lies here, food for worms; But the work shall
not be lost, for it will (as he believed) appear
once more in a new and more elegant edition,
revised and corrected by the author.
Benjamin Franklin—Epitaph on Himself.
Written in 1728. Revised by himself from
an earlier one. John Davis, in Travels of
Four Years and a Half in the United States
of America, gives similar epitaph in Latin,
said to have been written by "An Eton
scholaJ "
 | seealso = (See also Capen)
 


{{Hoyt quote
 | num = 15
 | text = Quand je serai la, je serai sans souci.
When I shall be there, I shall be without care.
Frederick the Great. His inscription written
at the foot, of the statue of Flora at Sans
Souci, where he wished to be buried. His
body lies in the church at Potsdam.


16

Here lies Fred,
Who was alive and is dead.
Had it been his father,
I had much rather.
Had it been his brother,
Still better than another.
Had it been his sister,
No one would have missed her.
Had it been the whole generation,
Still better for the nation.
But since 'tis only Fred,
Who was alive, and is dead,
There's no more to be said.
Epitaph to Frederick, Prince or Wales
(Father of George III), as given by Thackeray—Four Georges. Probably version of a
French epigram "Colas est morte de maladie," found in Les Epigrammes de Jean
Ogier Gombauld. (1658) Several early
versions of same. See Notes and Queries.
May 3, 1902. P. 346.


17

"Fuller's earth."

Thomas FullerEpitaph written by Himself.