Cayenne; and was treated as an equal and companion, not by his master only, but by the 'companions of his exile.

There can be no doubt that the groundwork of the strong regard of these two domestics for their masters, was the kind conduct they had received from them : for who ever loved either a tyrant or thoughtless, domineering fool, whose only consideration was the gratification of the present moment, without entering into the feelings or sufferings of those who minister to his pleasures? The Spanish grandees give a fine example of that gratitude that is due for faithful services: they seldom discharge a servant that is grown old, or disabled from performing his usual business; and in Spain, it is not extraordinary to see nobles impoverished by the great number of aged servants, transmitted, like an hereditary estate, from father to son, whom they maintain in all the comforts their declining years require.

SELECT EPITAPHS.

It is a common observation, that the affection or vanity

of survivors, often flatter those who are no longer in a condition to receive gratification from fine compliments, by inscribing on their tombs a list of virtues, to which, when living, they had but a slender claim. In many instances this may be true, yet I am inclined to believe,

E

that the living may gain advantage from the incense offered to the dead, and that it is often desirable to pre( serve the remembrance of an excellent or extraordinary character in an epitaph, as an example to survivors.

The records of the dead are by no means an uninstructive lesson: they teach us the shortness of life, and the certainty of death; truths well known before we enter the church-yard, yet the revival of them is at least wholesome. Nor can we examine the rude tombs of the most obscure burying-ground, without being forcibly struck with the number of those, who are either sudden

ly snatched away, or cut off in the bloom of life.

Impressed with the instructive tendency of such testimonials to deceased virtue, I have selected a few from Mr. Lyson's account of the Environs of London, for the benefit of my readers, who will, I trust, forgive me for having chosen a subject of such a sombre hue.

The celebrated lord Bollingbroke spent the latter part of his life in elegant retirement, in the house of his ancestors at Battersea. His second wife was widow of the marquis de Vilette, and niece of the accomplished madam de Maintenon. She died a short time before her husband, and lies buried in the same vault with him in Battersea church; where, on the north wall, is a monument to their joint memory. The inscription on the lady I shall transcribe, as a model of female excellence :

In the same vaults are interred the remains of MARY CLARA DES CHAMPS DE MARCELLY, Marchioness of Villette, and Viscountess Bollingbroke, of a noble family,

bred in the court of Lewis Fourteenth.

She reflected a lustre on the former, by the superior accomplishments of her mind;

she was an ornament to the latter,

by the amiable dignity and grace of her behaviour.
She lived

the honour of her own sex,

the delight and admiration of ours:

she died

an object of imitation to both,

with all the firmness that reason, with all the resignation

that religion, can inspire, aged 74, the 18th of March, 1750.

Dr. Parr was chaplain to archbishop Usher: his monument is in Camberwell church-yard: the inscription upon it describes so much virtue in a concise manner, as to afford an instructive lesson to public teachers of every sect. After mentioning the death of his wife is added:

Here also lieth her husband,
RICHARD PARR, D. D.

Vicar of this place almost thirty-eight years,
Ob. November 2d, 1691.

He was in preaching, constant ;

in life, exemplary;

in piety and charity, most eminent;
a lover of peace and hospitality;
and, in fine,

a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

Lawyers may receive some instruction from the following honourable testimony to one of their profession, who lies at Cheam in Surry.

Sacred to the memory

of the honourable

SIR JOSEPH YATES, KNIGHT,

of Peel Hall, in Lancashire,

successively a judge of the courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas ;

whose merit advanced him to the seat of justice, which he filled with the most distinguished abilities, and invincible integrity.

He died the 7th day of June, 1770,

in the 48th year of his age,

leaving the world to lament the loss of an honest man, and able judge,

firm to assert,

and strenuous to support,

the laws and constitution

of his country.

Let the young and amiable drop a tear of sympathy on the tomb of John Ayton Thompson, a youth of

fifteen, whose virtues are commemorated by Murphy,

in these lines:

If in the morn of life each winning grace,
The converse sweet, the mind illumin'd face,
The lively wit that charm'd with early art,
And mild affections streaming from the heart:
If these, lov'd youth, could check the hand of fate,
Thy matchless worth had claim'd a longer date;
But thou art blest, while here we heave the sigh;
Thy death is virtue wafted to the sky.
Yet still thy image fond affection keeps,
The sire remembers, and the mother weeps ;
Still the friend grieves, who saw thy vernal bloom,
And here, sad task, inscribes it on thy tomb.

Filial piety is exemplified in the following lines, written by the daughter of Mrs. Anne Cooper, who is interred at Pancras :

Ah! shade rever'd, this frail memorial take,
'Tis all, alas! thy sorrowing child can make,
On this faint stone, to mark thy parent worth,
And claim thy spot that holds thy sainted earth.
This clay-cold shrine, the corpse enshrouded here,
This holy hillock bath'd with many a tear;
These kindred flow'rs that o'er thy bosom grow,
Fed by the precious dust that lies below :
E'en these rude branches that embrace thy head,
And the green sod that forms thy sacred bed;