And stript of its lettering and gilding)
Lies here, food for worms.
But the work shall not be lost;
For it will (as he believed) appear once more
In a new and more elegant edition
Revised and corrected
by
The Author
Franklin’s grandson, William Temple Franklin, who claimed to have the original Ms, said the date upon it was 1728. This disposes of the theory that Franklin took the idea from the Latin epitaph of an Eton school-boy, published in the Gentleman’s Magazine for February, 1736. But, as writing comic epitaphs was a fashion in those days, there is no reason why both should not have been original.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 6. No. 7. SERIAL No. 155
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.