Pastorals Epistles Odes (1748)/The following Epitaph on the Monument of my Kinswoman was written at the Request of her Husband

by Ambrose Philips

 

The following Epitaph on the Monument of my Kinswoman was written at the Request of her Husband.

WITHIN the Burial-Vault near this Marble, lieth the Body of PENELOPE, youngest Daughter (and Coheir with her Sister ELIZABETH) to ROBERT PHILIPS of Newton-Regis, in the County of Warwick, Esquire. She died in her Six and Thirtieth Year, on the 25th Day of January,

MDCCXXVI.

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Let this Inscription
(Appealing yet to testimonies manifold)
Recall to every surviving witness,
And, for ensample, record to posterity, 4
Her endowments,
 Whether owing to the indulgency of nature,
  Or to the assiduous lessons of education,
Or to the silent admonitions of reflection, 8
To her parents, husband, children,
In no care, no duty, no affection,
Was she wanting,
Receiving, deserving, winning, 12
From them respectively,
Equal endearments.
Of countenance and of disposition,
Open, chearful, modest; 16
Of behaviour, humble, courteous, easy;
Of speech, affable, free, discreet;
In civilities, punctual, sincere, and elegant;
Prone to offices of kindness and good will; 20
To enmity a stranger;
Forward, earnest, impatient,
To succour the distress'd,
To comfort the afflicted; 24
Solicitous for the poor,
And rich in store of alms:
Whereby she became
The delight, the love, the blessing, of all. 28

In her houshold flourished
Chearfulness, due order, thrift, and plenty.
In the closet retired,
In the temple publick, 32
Morning and evening did she worship;
By instruction, by example,
Sedulous to nurture her children in godliness:
So prevalent her love to them 36
Visited with that sore disease,
Which too often kills or blites
The mother's fondest hopes,
That (regardless of self-preservation) 40
In piously watching over their lives
She, catching the infection, lost her own,
Triumphing, through resignation,
Over sickness, pain, anguish, agony, 44
And (encompassed with tears and lamentations)
Expiring in the fervour of prayer.

TO the Memory, ever dear and precious, of his most affectionate, most beloved, and most deserving, Wife, is this Monument raised by HENRY VERNON of Hilton, in the County of Stafford, Esquire: to him she bore five Sons and two daughters, all surviving, save Elizabeth; who dying, in her second Year, of the Small Pox, some few Days before, resteth by her Mother.

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