The Epitaph, which is inscribed on an elegant Sarcophagus, in the Cathedral Church of Lichfield, will still further display the worth and utility of her character. J. G. died Oct. 30, 1791, Sacred to the memory of Jane, Daughter of Sir Thomas Aston, of Aston, Baronet, And Widow of the reverend Francis Gastrell, Clerk, Who, to the last moment of her life, Was constantly employed in acts of secret and extensive charity, And on her death bequeathed By her five Nephews and three Nieces, Let not thine alms, the holy Jesus cried, So shall the Lord, whose eye pervades the breast, For thee unfold the mansions of the bless'd. O'er Her, whose life this precept held in view, A friend to Want when each false friend withdrew, May these chaste lines, to genuine worth as sign'd, Pour the full tribute of a grateful mind. Sweet as, at noontide's sultry beam, the show'r That steals refreshing o'er the wither'd flower, Her silent aid, by soothing pity giv'n, Sank thro' the heart-the dew of gracious heav'n. Deeds such as these, pure Shade, shall ever bloom, Shall live thro' time, and glow beyond the tomb. Thro' thee, the Orphan owns parental care, Bends the glad knee, and breathes the fre quent prayer; ་ Thro' thee, the Debtor, from despondence fled, Clasps his fond babes, and hails his native shed; Thro' thee, the Slave, unbound his massive chain, Shouts with new joy, and lives a man again; Thro' thee, the Savage, on a distant shore, His Saviour, hears, and droops with doubt no more. O thou! who ling'ring here shalt heave the sigh, The warm tear trembling on thy pensive eye, Go, and the couch of hopeless sorrow tend, The poor man's guardian, and the widow's friend, Go, and the path, which Aston lately trod, Shall guide thy footsteps to the throne of God, NUMBER XLII. Thou shalt not all die. HERRICK upon himself, page 165. IT is only within a short period, that due attention has been paid to the minor poets of the seventeenth century; round the names of Shakspeare, Jonson, Cowley, Milton, Waller, Denham and Dryden, a lustre so brilliant had been diffused, that the reputation of numerous poets of the same age was nearly lost in their splendour. In the course of the last thirty years, however, a spirit of literary research, and a warm partiality for the whole body of our elder poetry, have been strongly awakened; the works of Davies and of Hall, of Phineas and Giles Fletcher, of Browne and Carew, of Suckling and Marvel, have been republished; various and well-selected extracts, from a multitude of authors contemporary with these, have likewise made Ι their appearance in the Collections of Percy, of Headley, and of Ellis; and Anderson, in his edition of the British Poets, has, with great propriety, introduced many a neglected though highly poetic writer of this period. Notwithstanding these exertions, however, there still remain involved in partial obscurity some votaries of the Muse, who deserve a better fate. I would particularly mention, as entitled to rank foremost in the list, the names of George Wither, James Shirley, and ROBERT HERRICK. Of the two former, some beautiful portions have been given to the world, by Percy, Gilchrist and Ellis, yet much is left highly worthy of preservation. Wither was a most versatile and voluminous writer, extremely unequal, and, for the most part, very coarse and colloquial in his language, yet are there dispersed, through his bulky tomes, and especially through his Juvenilia, many passages admi * Vide Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxx. page 1149. Juvenilia, a collection of those poems which were heretofore imprinted and written by George Wither. London, printed for Robert Allott, in Paul's Churchyard, at the signe of the Grey-hound, 1626. |