pen was in those days never idle) to banter, I should rather think, the rage of the " rustic moralist" (as Gray calls him) for Epitaphs, wrote the following Impromptu, but only, I dare say, for the .amusement of the village punsters, and perhaps for the mere fireside of the Host, though it has found its way to a Church-yard: "Who many a sturdy Oak has laid along, Fell'd by Death's surer hatchet here lies Spong *. Old Saws he had, altho' no Antiquarian ; And Stiles corrected, yet was no Grammarian," &c. &c. Wray had such an aversion to the wit of Infidels or of Libertines on subjects of Religion, that a badinage like this could be only meant as a joke upon the posthumous fame, to which the vanity of these admired characters, in a world of a mile square, aspired; and he would himself have said it, where it is "non erat his locus." -These Puns upon the occupation or trade of the deceased, have tempted great Poets and good men to dabble in them. Such, for example, is Milton's laugh at the expence of Hobson the Carrier; yet a more devout spirit never glowed in a human breast; and the efforts to depreciate him as a man of piety, are as impotent as they are splenetic. Perhaps the most beautiful satire in the form of an Epitaph, that ever came from the pen of man, is that of Arbuthnot upon Colonel Chartres. There all the wit is moral, dignified, and sublime, under a mask of the most comic ingenuity." P. 168. The following very excellent memoriter verses, by Mr. Wray, have recently been communicated by another Friend: "WILL. I. William the Norman conquers England's State. WILL. II. In his own Forest Rufus meets his fate. HEN. I. Though elder Robert lives, Henry succeeds. STEPH. For Stephen's dubious title Albion bleeds. HEN. II. Victorious Henry bows to Becket s shade. RICH. I. And Richard Lion's-heart a prisoner's made. JOHN. Deserted John to Rome submits his throne. HEN.III. Now Slave, now Tyrant, see his long-liv'd Son. EDW. I. From Edward's hand, Scotland her King receives. EDW. II. His Heir his pow'r to wretched Minions gives. EDW.III. Two captive Monarchs grace third Edward's train. RICH.II. Richard scarce claims a tear, depos'd and slain. HEN. IV. Domestic Foes fourth Henry's Arms engage. HEN. V. France feels at Agincourt fifth Henry's rage. HEN. VI. The Sixth, France, England, Son, Life-all must quit. Mary her Rome with ten-fold rage restores. * A Carpenter in the Village. ELIZ. JAMES I. Eliza forms the Church, and humbles Spain. CHAS. I. CHAS. II. False Power, false Pleasures, Hatter Charles restor❜d. JAS. II. 'Gainst James Law, Conscience. Freedom, draw the Sword. WILL.III. The Sword consign'd to William's Patriot hand. MARY. And Mary's Virtues, save the sinking Land. ANN. GEO. I. GEO. II. In Peace inglorious Anna's Laurels fade See George the Brunswick Line majestic lead. Health, Glory, Peace, our Second George attend, In 1760, after the Accession of our present venerable Monarch King George the Third, the conclusion was altered thus: "GEO. II. From distant climes where'er Old Ocean flows, Fresh wreaths entwine our second George's brows. GEO.III. Health, Giory, Peace, his blooming Heir attend, Patron of Arts, his grateful People's Friend." P. 181. note, r. The Mitre Tavern, in Fleet-s'reet; where the Members of the Royal Society held their Dinner Club. P. 210. To the interesting Memoirs of Mr. Wollaston, I am enabled, by subsequent information, to add several particulars, which his own modest merit precluded him from noticing. In the latter end of the year 1684, Mr. Wollaston settled in London; where, to use his own words, " thirsting after repose and settlement," he paid his addresses to a very amiable young Jady; who caught the small-pox, and died, just before their nuptials were to have taken place. The circumstances of her character, and his grief, as strongly delineated in the following Epitaph, drawn up by her Lover, with the richest colourings of young affection, are singularly pathetic. On her monument at Stratford-le-Bow is a white marble bust, with this inscription: * אין שלטון ביום תפות "Infra siti sunt cineres ALICIA COBURNE, filiæ unicæ THOME COBURNE, generosi, Quæ (licet defunctâ inter pariendum matre, defuncto item decem post mensibus patre, tamen inauditâ novercæ PRISCA COBURNE† curâ liberaliter educata) "There is no deliverance from the grave;" seeming to have at that moment in his idea the words he uses, in a subsequent passage, to a different purpose, "Ea erat Vis formæ et virtutis." As though he had said, "If any thing could have redeemed her from the grave, such excellence must have prevailed." + Mrs. Prissa Coburne, the mother in-1 w of Miss Alicia, was daughter of Mr Foster, minister of Stratford Bow; a liberal benefactress to that parish, and also to that of Stepney; and was buried, 1701, in the nave of Bow church, with a monument to her memory. She left 201. per annum for ever to the minister of Stratford Bow, and 47. to the clerk. She cum attigisset annum decimum quintum, suorum denique deliciæ, tandem (ea erat vis formæ & virtutis) qui, veniendo videndo victus, magno cum inopinato variolarum morbo omnium cum luctu, amantis maximo, quasi mortali amplexui præponens ubi jam suavi obvoluta requie, eo primùm die visura terrena suo corpore corpora pulchriora, hoc qualecunque monumentum, She also gave a rent charge of 501. per annum to a schoolmaster and his wife, for instructing poor children, not to exceed 50 in number; and 201. per annum to poor inhabitants of Stratford Bow not receiving alms. Lysons's Environs of London, vol. III. p. 494. In November 1690, Mr. Wollaston was more fortunate; and married an excellent lady, by whom he had a numerous progeny. After his arrival in London, he may truly be said to have settled there, for he very seldom went out of it; and we are told, that. for above thirty years before his death, he had not been absent from his habitation in Charter-house square so much as one whole night In this his settlement in town he chose a private and retired life, although his carriage was ever free and open. He aimed at solid and real content rather than shew and grandeur; and manifested his dislike of power and dignity, by refusing, when it was offered to him, one of the highest preferments in the Church. He had now books and leisure, and resolved to make use of them. He was very well skilled in the learned languages, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, &c; to which he added as much as would be useful to him in philology, criticism, mathematics, philosophy, history, antiquities, and the like. He accustomed himself to much thinking, as well as to much reading: he was indeed of opinion, that a man might easily read too much; for, he considered the helluo librorum and the true scholar as two very different characters. The love of truth and reason made him love free thinking; and, as far as the world would bear it, free-speaking too. Having fixed his resolution to deserve honours, but not to wear them, it was not long before he published, "The Design of Part of the Book of Ecclesiastes, or the Unreasonableness of Mans restless Contentions for the personal Enjoyments; represented in an English Poem, 1690," 8vo. But, as he had never made Poetry his study, so he was very sensible of the defects of this attempt in that way of writing, and was afterwards very desirous to suppress it. In 1703 he composed a little Latin Grammar, which, though he printed it, was only for the use of his family *. In 1720, he lost his wife. They had lived extremely happy in each other, and he was much afflicted. He buried her in the same grave where he himself then intended to be, and was afterwards laid; and thus feelingly expressed himself, on a tablet in Great Finborough church, Suffolk: "Hic ad imum parietem, sita est Catharina, hujus manerii Finburiensis domini, &c., E quâ prolem ille numerosam & pulchram ipsâ olim pulcherrimâ. Ob. Julii 21, A. C. 1720, æt. 50; Conjugi secum commune futurum. Ut qui conjunctissimi vixerunt, Etiam mortui mistis cineribus uniantur.” * Who in 1710-11 were all enumerated in a congratulatory Greek Poem by Joshua Barnes. See the "History of Leicestershire," vol. IV. p. 528. Over against this he put the following for himself, at the same time leaving blank spaces for the dates : "Nov. 6, 1724. Juxta reliquias Catherinæ suæ ipsius Gulielmi Wollaston Fuit is (si quis aveat scire) suorum saluti & commodis prospiciens ; Cum vixisset ann. 65, di. 217, cursu quem Deus dederat peracto, ".אע ת ואן א fato cessit Notwithstanding Mr. Wollaston declined to accept of any public employment, yet his studies were designed to be of public use, and his solitude was far from being employed in vain and trifling amusements, terminating in himself alone. But, neither in this last view could his excessive retirement be without inconveniences. His intimates were dropping off, and their places remained unsupplied; his own infirmities were increasing; the frequent remission of study growing more and more necessary : and his solitudes at the same time becoming less and less pleasant and agreeable. But what decays soever he felt in his bodily strength, it is certain, nevertheless, that the clearness and perspicuity of his thoughts continued in full vigour. Not long hefore his death, he published "The Religion of Nature delineated; a work for which so great a demand was made, that more than 10,000 were sold in a very few years. He had scarcely completed the publication of it, when he unfortunately broke an arm; and this, adding strength to distempers that had been growing upon him for some time, accelerated his death, which happened Oct. 29, 1724. Perceiving his designs frustrated by the daily attacks of nature, and that it would be impossible to finish and complete the several works which he had planned in the manner he wished, it seems probable he intended to destroy the greatest part of them; and that the few MSS. which were found after his death, were indebted to the treachery of his memory for their preservation: for he had, within the last two or three years of his life, actually burnt several treatises, in the composition whereof he had bestowed no small quantity of time and pains. He was a tender, humane, and in all respects worthy, man; but is represented to have had something of the irascible in his constitution. Charlton |