Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1857-03-11
calm that reigna around. have i natur.

calm that reigns around, have our natures
been moved, aud our meditations disturbed,
by reading an Inscription on some departed
soul, either disfgufed by a vain attempt at
Righteousness, or some quaint collocation of
words, or perhaps, as is more often the
case, by the most lavish and %unmeanlng
praise. One of the great faults of most
epitapbs is the excessive length. Some Of
them are almost as prolix as the code of
Justiniau, and serve but to remind us that
all that
Beauty or worth ere gave,
Await alike the inevitable hour,
The paths of glory lead but to the grave"
= Instead Of these l~ong-drawn eulegistic
performances, how much mere eloquent
and beautiful are those short and simple
epitaphs which memorialize the great that
have gone before These ~artless and pa
thetic inscriptions are much more moving
and spontaneous than those antithetical,
biographical, mandatory illusions which on
" tend to make sspathos expire under the
labor of the chisel, aud to become chilled
among the cold ~conceits of sculptured
marble"
One of the most affecting epitaphs ex-
tant is that over the remains Of John Keats,
an English poet of singular power aud
sweetness-"a ball of beautiful foam Gu
off from the water and not adopted by thu
air" This melancholy and tuneful bein!
expired in his 25th year, and was buried
at Rome, at once ''the grave, the city AM
the wilderness His quiet resting place
is said by travellers, to be in one of tn
most lovely and retired spots in the world
and is surrounded by sweet wild flower
and pleasant scenery. Upon his tomb
inscribed .Here lies one, whose name WI
writ in water" This dark sad sentenc
was wrung from his own kind and too sci
/, sitive heart by the ''mallcious powers
his enemies" How terrible must hay
been the anguish that racked his who
, frame to have prompted such a sentences
how much Of poison must his t'deaf al
viperous murderersD have mingled in Il
cup which he slipped IN his early life,
it to have become so soon a draught Of we
Another epitaph, no less sad and II
pressise is that which is written upon t
urn which holdst the heart of Percy Byssc
Shelley, one of the greatest modern poe
AS is well known, this wonderful gent
! was drowned ia the Gulf of Lerici, a
his body was afterwards burnt by
friends, the heart being almost unscath
blythe fire. It was placed in an urn, q
upon it inscribed "Cor Cordium"-he
ir- Of hearts-a brief, but eloquent memor
SO There Is one species of epitaphs t
IRE ought to be heartily despised. Ialludt
I'd. the facetious. There have been m;
ne specimens of this kind preserved, but t
nt- are all alike contemplate. The .bes
me remember to have read, is the one Fl
Byron's pen in memory of John Adam
the carrier Of Southwell, who was a motor
q drunkard.
~ "John Adams lies here, of the parisl
SoutlYell,
A carrier HhaFcarried the can to his mo
age well;
life, He carried 50 much, and he carried 50
9 is He could carry no more-so was carrie
!, For the liquor be drank being too muc
one,
He could not carry off, SO he's carri-or
= Many of the Irish epitaphs are extr
" ludicrous. Their prochyity for ma
n OF sIrish Bulls seems to have beset
was of them when engaged in the most Sc
the and sacred duty. The following is
1t from an old ckurch-yard at Biltt
uiar, Ireland, and may serve as a sample /:
a i "Here lies John Higley, whose fathe
mother were
alnss drowned ia their passage from Americ
wetn Had they both liUed, they could har
at he buried here
.a;th Garrick, Pope, DIR. johnson and
other distinguished scholars and
have left fine specimens of epitaph wri
ee'eI Those by Garriek are especially exc
sa.n His epitaphs on Quin and Hogart
r. = perhaps the most admirablein our Ian,
81 1t is a striking fact that with one
exceptions, there are no memorials {
nt great authors who lie buried in tha,
. PEI nifcent shrine, Westminster Able,
WV yond the simple record of their name
~ severe but judicious taste doubtless
49, these meagrs Inscriptions. The sp
~ creations Of their genius, which the,
! Pc left for the guidance and instruction
admiring posterity, constitute their
sct OF -ants Ssn1 w,u foravor narna+,.t
wor- man,olas NJ raeao,;ons ~ ,ofor,
loved Ia ~ ~ ~ oon.lns;on No. -,
days, baan,;f,I ana ;mnress;vs an;tanh
those which, sacred to the memory
distinguished or unknown dead, are
with simplicity and sententiousness.
= ~ that no inscription is in good taste
ts is written in inflated or ~attenuated
. which records a eulogy instead Of a
at fate oxfa,a N n
lall in
. stone For the Spirit of tn.
sleeps The Slsnderer.
Of Al, the. nnneleapp THINGS that
nave move-that walk, creep or crawl u
ag the face Of the green earth, and breathe