grace, which the most poignant sense of guilt could not have excited. Thus, without having deviated from the path of moral rectitude, I am suffering torments like a" goblin damn'd." The lower half of me has been almost boiled, my tongue and mouth grilled, and I bear the mark of Cain upon my forehead; yet these are trifling considerations, to the everlasting shame which I must feel whenever this adventure shall be mentioned; perhaps, by your assistance, when my neighbours know how much I feel on the occasion, they will spare a bashful man, and (as I am just informed my poultice is ready) I trust you will excuse the haste in which I subscribe myself, VARIETY, No. 22. Yours, &c. MONGRELL MORELL. No. CXXXVI. Τυμβωνε ςηλήλε, το γαρ γέρας εςι θανονιῶν. HOMER. What honours mortals after death receive, POPE. THAT Fame is the universal passion, is by nothing more conspicuously discovered than by epitaphs. The generality of mankind are not content to sink ingloriously into the grave, but wish to be paid that tribute of panegyrick after their deaths, which, in many cases, may not be due to the virtues of their lives. If the vanity of the departed has not been provident of monumental honours, the partiality of friends is eager to supply them. Death may be said, with almost equal propriety, to confer as well as to level all distinctions. In consequence of that event, a kind of chemical operation takes place; for those characters which were mixed with the gross particles of vice, by being thrown into the alembic of flattery, are sublimated into the essence of virtue. He who, during the performance of his part upon the stage of the world, was weakly applauded, after the close of the drama, is pourtrayed as the favourite of "every virtue under heaven." To save the opulent from oblivion, the sculptor unites his labours with the scholar or the poet, whilst the rustic is indebted for his mite of posthumous renown to the carpenter, the painter, or the mason. The structures of fame are in both cases built with materials whose duration is short. It may check the sallies of pride to reflect on the mortality of man; but for its complete humiliation let it be remembered, that epitaphs and monuments decay. Had not Cicero been assisted by his memory, he could never have deciphered the mutilated verses on the tomb of Archimedes. The antiquarian searches in vain for the original inscriptions on Chaucer and Sidney. The observations of the illustrious Johnson on epitaphs are marked with acuteness as well as extent of judgment. In his criticisms, however, on those of Pope, he has shewn a petulance of temper and fastidiousness of taste, at the same time that he acknowledged the barrenness of Pope's topics, and the difficulty of distributing to numbers that praise which is particular and characteristic. He who is a critic should consider, that, according to the natural progress of human opinions, he may become the subject of criticism. If Johnson had ever conjectured 6 that he must one day be tried by his own laws, more lenity would probably have been shown to Pope. The doctor remarks, that an epitaph ought not to be longer than common beholders have leisure and patience to peruse. Of the few he has left behind him, that on Hanmer is surely objectionable for its prolixity. He reprobates with just severity any allusions to classical customs, and the situation of Roman tombs. The lines of Passeratius on Henry of France are quoted, to show the impropriety of addressing the reader as a traveller; yet the doctor forgot his strictures and his quotation when he concluded his character of Thrale with "Abi, viator." The preceding remarks are intended as an introduction to a plan which I take this opportunity of laying before the public. It is my design to publish a collection of the most remarkable epitaphs, with critical observations. Particular attention will be paid to their arrangement, of which it shall be the object of the remaining part of this paper to exhibit an exact specimen. Without spinning too many threads of classification, a few striking and general distinctions only shall be adopted. The learned-the sublime-the characteristic-the complimentary. The first class is intended to allure the scholars of our famous universities to subscribe liberally to the work. To let the reader into a secret, it was originally my design to have published this part in a folio by itself, with a pompous dedication. Happening to see a goose singed with the leaf of the Pietas Oxoniensis, I was frightened from the prosecution of my plan by so unlucky an omen. My intended work will notwithstanding comprise learning enough to satisfy the appetite of a reasonable linguist. There will be no room for complaint if I begin with Persian, and end with Latin. The first epitaph shall be that on Hadgi Shaugh sware, in Saint Botolph's, Bishopgate; and the last shall be the laconic Fui Caius, at Cambridge. Under this head many ingenious and novel opinions will be advanced relative to the language as well as the sentiments of these compositions. It will be proved to a demonstration, that the learned languages are absurdly used except for learned men. Some one has well observed, that, if the dead could hear their own sepulchral praise, they would be put to the blush. Some, without doubt, would with amiable diffidence adopt the elegant sentiments of Frontinus, Impensa monumenti supervacua est; memoria nostri durabit, si vitâ meruimus." Superfluous is the expense of the tomb, since ،، |