LITERARY ANECDOTES OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY; COMPRIZING Biographical Memoirs OF WILLIAM BOWYER, PRINTER, F. S. A. AND MANY OF HIS LEARNED FRIENDS; PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY NICHOLS, SON, AND BENTLEY, AT CICERO'S HEAD, 1813. In vol. II. p. 285, 1. 22, the Rev. Stephen White, rector of Holton, Suffolk, is said to have "died Bid them in Duty's sphere as meekly move; And if so fair, from vanity as free, As firm in friendship, and as fond in love. Tell them, though 'tis an awful thing to die, · ('Twas ev'n to thee); yet, the dread path once trod, Heav'n lifts its everlasting portals high, And bids "the pure in heart behold their God!" The Author of a late "Account of all the Watering Places," mentioning Southampton and Romsey, speaks of "Lord. Palmerston's monumental inscription on his Lady at the latter as too long to transcribe;" but, "holding it right to do justice to his Lordship, as the original Author of some Lines of Poetry on her death, which have been ascribed to others," subjoins those printed in Vol. II. p. 240, with the addition of the following lines: "Ordain'd to lose the partner of my breast, Whose virtue warm'd me, and whose beauty blest; But yet Appoints the just to slumber, not to die; The starting tear I check'd—I kiss'd the rod, And not to earth resign'd her—but to God." These lines, originally published under the title of "Inscriptive Verses, written by a Gentleman whose Lady died at Bristol Wells" (see Gent. Mag. vol. XLVII.p.240), have occasioned several strange mistakes; and certainly were not Lord Palmerston's, whose Epitaph on his Lady, wholly in prose, is in these words: "In the vault beneath are deposited the remains of FRANCES Viscountess PALMERSTON, daughter of Sir Francis Poole, Bart. She was married to Henry Viscount Palmerston, October 6, 1767; and died in childbed June 1, 1769.—With the nobler virtues that elevate our nature, she possessed the softer talents that adorn it: pious, humble, benevolent, candid, and sincere, she followed the duties of humanity; and her heart was warm with all its best affections. Her sense was strong, her judgment accurate, her wit engaging, and her taste refined; while the elegance of her form, the graces of her manners, and the natural propriety that ever accompanied her words and actions, made her virtues doubly attractive, and taught her equally to command respect and love. Such she lived, and such she died; calm and resigned to the dispensations of Heaven, leaving her disconsolate friends to deplore her loss, and cherish the dear remembrance of that worth they honoured living and lament in death. the memory of the best of wives, the best of friends, he, for whom she joined those tender names, dedicates this marble." The verses in p. 240, it now turns out, were written by Dr. Hawkesworth (not on the death of his own wife, who long survived Το Oct. 24, 1755, aged 71." This observation belongs to the Rev. John White, rector of Nayland*. A very strange blunder occurs in volume III. p. 183; where (by an accidental transposition of some lines in the final correction of a proof-sheet) an unfavourable account is given of the latter days of Sir Joseph Ayloffe's grandfather; which account, in fact, belongs to a licentious cousin of Lord Lyttelton †. Having had occasion (in vol. III. p. 545.) to mention that Caxton was a Mercer, and not a Stationer; I hastily added, that "Caxton opened a shop, in 1464, at the Sun in Fleet Street." But the earliest book that is known to have been printed by Caxton is the Recueil des Histoires de Troye, which was not completed till 1471, during his abode on the Continent. His residence when he returned to this country was in Westminster; where Wynkin de Worde succeeded him in business, and removed afterwards to the Sun in Fleet Street. survived him, but) on the death of Mrs. Jordan, wife of Thomas Jordan esq. of Pheasant Lodge, Chislehurst, Kent, and mother of Mrs. Udney, late Sub-governess to Princess Charlotte of Wales. Gent. Mag. vol. LXXXIII. pp. 14. 219. * The following inscription is from a monument at Holton: "To the memory of the Rev. STEPHEN WHITE, M. A. Rector of this Church; departed from a life dedicated to the service of God. of Faith, Orthodoxy, and Devotion; On April 12th, 1773, being Easter Monday, he was suddenly called away from and expired in that School which his piety had raised. + From "who during," 1.34, to "death," 1.38, should have been introduced after "blush to read," p. 182; and the word "years" should be "year," as it was only during the greater part of the year of his life that Captain Ayscough resided at Kirk Ireton. last One |