STONE-MASON'S CRITICISM
Mr. Bowles, the vicar of Bremhill, Wilts, is accustomed occasionally to write epitaphs for the young and aged dead among his own parishioners. An epitaph of his, on an aged father and mother, written in the character of a most exemplary son—the father living to eighty-seven years—ran thus:—
"My father—my poor mother—both are gone,
And o'er your cold remains I place this stone,
In memory of your virtues. May it tell
How long one parent lived, and both how well,"
&c.
When this was shown to the stone-mason critic, (and Mr. Bowles acknowledges he has heard worse public critics in his time,) he observed, that the lines might do with a little alteration—thus:—
"My father, and my mother too, are dead,
And here I put this grave-stone at their head;
My father lived to eighty-seven, my mother
No quite so long—and one died after t'other."