deners and botanists at Lambeth. In 1657 Mr. Tradescant, junr., presented to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, a remarkable cabinet of curiosities: Know, stranger, ere thou pass, beneath this stone Lye JOHN TRADESCANT, grandsire, father, son; Liv'd till they had travell'd art and nature through ; Of what is rare, in land, in sea, in air; A world of wonders in one closet shut; Transplanted now themselves, sleep here; and when And fire shall purge the world, then hence shall rise, We have here an epitaph on a grocer, culled from the Rev. C. W. Bardsley's "Memorials of St. Anne's Church," Manchester. In a note about the name of Howard, the author says: "Poor John Howard's friends gave him an unfortunate epitaphone, too, that reflected unkindly upon his wife. It may still be seen in the churchyard.-Here lyeth the body of John Howard, who died Jan. 2, 1800, aged 84 years; fifty years a respectable grocer, and an honest man. As it is further stated that his wife died in 1749, fifty years before, it would seem that her husband's honesty dated from the day of her decease. Mrs. Malaprop herself, in her happiest moments, could not have beaten this inscription." Typographical Epitaphs. HE trade of printer is rich in technical terms available for the writer of epitaphs, as will be seen from the following examples. Our first inscription is from St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, placed in remembrance of England's benefactor, the first English printer To the memory of WILLIAM CAXTON, who first introduced into Great Britain And who, A.D. 1477 or earlier, exercised that art in the This Tablet, In remembrance of one to whom the literature of this country is so largely indebted, was raised, anno Domini MDCCCXX., by the Roxburghe Club, Earl Spencer, K.G., President. In St. Giles' Cathedral Church, Edinburgh, is the Chepman aisle, founded by the man who introduced printing into North Britain. Dr. William Chambers, by whose munificence this stately church was restored, had placed in the aisle, bearing Chepman's name, a brass tablet having the following inscription :— This tablet is gratefully inscribed by The next is in memory of one Edward Jones, ob. 1705, at. 53. He was the "Gazette" Printer of the Savoy, and the following epitaph was appended to an elegy, entitled, "The Mercury Hawkers in Mourning," and published on the occasion of his death : Here lies a Printer, famous in his time, Whose life by lingering sickness did decline. And so became, by National consent, The only Printer of the Parliament. Thus, by degrees, so prosp'rous was his fate, He left his heirs a very good estate. It has been truthfully said that the life of Benjamin Franklin is stranger than fiction. He was a self-made man, gaining distinction as a printer, journalist, author, electrician, natural philosopher, statesman, and diplomatist. The "Autobiography and Letters of Benjamin Franklin" has been extensively circulated, and must ever remain a popular book; young men and women cannot fail to peruse its pages without pleasure and profit. In collections of epitaphs and books devoted to literary curiosities, a quaint epitaph said to have been written by Franklin frequently finds a place. He was not, however, the original composer of the epitaph, but imitated it for himself. Jacob Tonson, a famous bookseller, died in 1735, and a Latin epitaph was written on him by an Eton scholar. It is printed in the Gentleman's Magazine, February, 1736, with a diffuse paraphrase in English verse. The following is at all events a conciser version: The volume of his life being finished here is the end of JACOB TONSON. Weep authors and break your pens; |