The Poetry Corner

Epitaph At Welwyn, Hertfordshire.

By Edward Young

If fond of what is rare, attend! Here lies an honest man, Of perfect piety, Of lamblike patience, My friend, James Barker; To whom I pay this mean memorial, For what deserves the greatest. An example Which shone through all the clouds of fortune, Industrious in low estate, The lesson and reproach of those above him. To lay this little stone Is my ambition; While others rear The polish'd marbles of the great! Vain pomp; A turf o'er virtue charms us more. E. Y. 1749.