And tho' faithful to his masters,

And with reason esteemed,

He was kind to his fellow-servants,

And was therefore beloved.

His family and neighbours lamented his death,
As he was a careful husband, a tender father,

and an honest man.

This character of him is given to posterity by his last master, willingly because deservedly, as a lasting testimony of his great regard for so good a servant.

He died March 30th, 1760. Aged 66 years.

For public service grateful nations raise

Proud structures, which excite to deeds of praise;
While private services, in corners thrown,
Howe'er deserving, never gain a stone.

But are not lilies, which the valleys hide,
Perfect as cedars, tho' the valley's pride?
Let, then, the violets their fragrance breathe,
And pines their ever-verdant branches wreathe
Around his grave, who from their tender birth
Upreared both dwarf and giant sons of earth,
And tho' himself exotic, lived to see

Trees of his raising droop as well as he.

Those were his care, while his own bending age,

His master propp'd and screened from winter's rage,

Till down he gently fell, then with a tear

He bade his sorrowing sons transport him here.

But tho' in weakness planted, as his fruit

Always bespoke the goodness of his root,
The spirit quickening, he in power shall rise

With leaf unfading under happier skies.

The next is on the Tradescants, famous gar

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;

The last died in his spring; the other two

Liv'd till they had travell'd art and nature through ;
As by their choice collections may appear,

Of what is rare, in land, in sea, in air;
Whilst they (as Homer's Iliad in a nut)

A world of wonders in one closet shut ;
These famous antiquarians, that had been
Both gard'ners to the ROSE AND LILY QUEEN,

Transplanted now themselves, sleep here; and when
Angels shall with trumpets waken men,

And fire shall purge the world, then hence shall rise,
And change this garden for a paradise.

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 epitaph -one, 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

TH

is as will

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
the Art of Printing;

And who, A.D. 1477 or earlier, exercised that art in the
Abbey of Westminster.
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 :—

To the Memory of

WALTER CHEPMAN,

This tablet is gratefully inscribed by
WILLIAM CHAMBERS, LL.D.

The next is in memory of one Edward Jones, ob. 1705, æt. 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.
He lived in credit, and in peace he died,
And often had the chance of Fortune tried.
Whose smiles by various methods did promote
Him to the favour of the Senate's vote;
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.