Churchyard Literature. HIC JACET SACRUM MEMORIE. EARTH'S highest station ends in HERE HE LIES! And DUST TO DUST concludes her noblest song. EMIGRAVIT is the inscription on the tombstone where he lies: A hieroglyph formed by the two first letters of the Greek word Christos, intersecting the Chi longitudinally by the Rho,-a palm-leaf, or a wreath of palm-leaves, indicating victory,-a crown, which speaks of the reward of the saints, an immortelle, or a vessel supporting a column of flame, indicating continued life, an anchor, which indicates hope,-a ship under sail, which says, "Heavenward bound,"-the letters Alpha and Omega, the Apocalyptic title of Christ,-the dove, the emblem of innocence and holiness,-the winged insect escaping from the chrysalis, typical of the resurrection,-the cross, the Christian's true and only glory in life and death, by which he is crucified to the world, and the world to him,-these are the emblems that speak to the Christian's heart of faith, and hope, and love, and humility. EPITAPHS OF EMINENT MEN. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS died at Valladolid, May 20, 1506, æt. 70. In 1513 his body was taken to Seville, on the Guadalquivir, and there deposited in the family vault of the Dukes of Alcala, in the Cathedral. Upon a tablet was inscribed, in Castilian, this meagre couplet, which is still legible :— A Castilla y Arragon Otro mondo dio Colon.* [To Castile and Aragon Columbus gave another world.] In 1536, the remains of the great navigator were conveyed to St. Domingo and deposited in the Cathedral, where they continued until a recent period, when they were finally disinterred, and removed to Havana. The inscription on the tablet in the Cathedral of St. Domingo, now obliterated, was as follows: : Irving gives the inscription thus: Por Castilla y por Leon Nuevo mundo hallo Colon. Hic locus abscondit præclari membra COLUMBI Non satis unus erat sibi mundus notus, at orbem Regibus et nostris prospera regna dedit.* WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE died April 23, 1616, æt. 52, and was buried in the chancel of the church of Stratford. The monument erected to his memory represents the poet with a thoughtful countenance, resting on a cushion and in the act of writing. Immediately below the cushion is the following distich: Judicio Pylium; genio Socratem; arte Maronem: On a tablet underneath are inscribed these lines: Stay, passenger: why dost thou go so fast? Read, if thou canst, whom envious death hath placed and on the flat stone covering the grave is inscribed, in very irregular characters, the following quaint supplication, blessing, and menace :— This spot conceals the body of the renowned Columbus, whose name towers to the stars. Not satisfied with the known globe, he added to all the old an unknown world. Throughout all countries he distributed untold wealth, and gave to heaven unnumbered souls. He found an extended field for gospel missions, and conferred prosperity upon the reign of our monarchs. † A Nestor in discrimination, a Socrates in talent, a Virgil in poetic art. the earth covers him, the people mourn for him, Heaven possesses him. SIR ISAAC NEWTON, OB. 1727, Æт. 85. Here lies interred Isaac Newton, knight, who, with an energy of mind al most divine, guided by the light of mathematics purely his own, first demon strated the motions and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, and the causes of the tides; who discovered, what before his time no one had ever suspected, that the rays of light are differently refrangible, and that this is the cause of colors; and who was a diligent, penetrating, and faithful interpreter of nature, antiquity, and the sacred writings. In his philosophy, he maintained the majesty of the Supreme Being; in his manners, he expressed the simplicity of the Gospel. Let mortals congratulate themselves that the world has seen so great and excellent a man, the glory of human nature. Pope's inscription is as follows: Isaacus Newtonus: Quem Immortalem Testantur Tempus, Natura, Cœlum: Hoc marmor fatetur. Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night: JOHNSON'S EPITAPH ON GOLDSMITH.* Thou seest the tomb of Oliver; retire, Unholy feet, nor o'er his ashes tread. COWPER'S EPITAPH ON DR. JOHNSON. Here Johnson lies,-a sage by all allowed, Whom to have bred may well make England proud; The graceful vehicle of virtuous thought; Whose verse may claim-grave, masculine and strong Superior praise to the mere poet's song; Who many a noble gift from heaven possessed, And faith at last, alone worth all the rest. O man immortal by a double prize, *The original is in Greek, as follows: Τον ταφον εισοραας τον Ολιβαρίσιο, κοντην GEORGE WASHINGTON, OB. DEC. 14, 1799, ÆT. 67. When, in 1838, the remains of Washington were removed from the old vault into the new, at Mount Vernon, the coffin was placed in a beautiful sarcophagus of white marble, from a quarry in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and prepared in Phi ladelphia by the gentleman who presented it. The lid is wrought with the arms of the country and the inscription here appended. Independently of other considerations, it is desirable, for the honor of the nation so largely indebted to Washington, that his grave should be something more than an advertising medium for a marble-mason. But the faithful chronicler must take things as he finds them, not always as they should be: WASHINGTON. By the permission of The surviving executor of was presented by John Struthers, of Philadelphia, Marble Mason, A.D. 1837. The stone and the inscription over the grave of Franklin and his wife, at the corner of Fifth and Arch Streets, Philadelphia, and recently opened to public view by substituting for the old brick wall a neat iron railing, are according to his own direction in his will. The exceeding plainness of both are strikingly characteristic of the man. The stone is a simple marble slab, six feet by four, lying horizontally, and raised about a foot above the ground. It bears the following: DEBORAH 1790. The following is a copy of the epitaph written by Franklin upon himself, at the age of twenty-three, while a journeyman priater: The Body of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Printer, And stript of its lettering and gilding,) Yet the work itself shall not be lost, And more beautiful edition, Corrected and amended by That this well-known typographical inscription was plagia. rized from Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana, is evident from Franklin's own admission of his familiarity with the works of "the great Cotton." To the perusal in early life of Mather's excellent volume, Essays to do Good, published in 1710, Franklin ascribed all his "usefulness in the world." The lines alluded to in the famous Ecclesiastical History are by Benjamin Woodbridge, a member of the first graduating class of Harvard University, 1642 :— A living, breathing Bible; tables where Both Covenants at large engraven were. Gospel and law, in 's heart, had each its column; His head an index to the sacred volume; His very name a title-page; and, next, His life a commentary on the text. O what a monument of glorious worth, Old Joseph Capen, minister of Topsfield, had also, in 1681, given John Foster, who set up the first printing-press in Boston, the benefit of the idea, in memoriam: Thy body, which no activeness did lack, "Twill have at length a far more active state. |