So ends the Diary of Lydia Grenfell, the eight last years of her life afflicted by cancerous disease, and one year by a clouded mind.[100] To the manuscript ‘E. H,’—that is, her sister, Emma Hitchins—added these words: ‘This prayer was answered September 21, 1829;
And now they range the heavenly plains,
And sing in sweet, heart-melting strains.’
The motto on her memorial stone in the churchyard of Breage, where she lies near another holy woman, Margaret Godolphin, first wife of Queen Anne’s prime minister, is ‘For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.’
FOOTNOTES:
[88] We must not forget the boyish ‘Epitaph on Henry Martyn,’ written by Thomas Babington Macaulay in his thirteenth year (Life, by his nephew, vol. i. p. 38):
‘Here Martyn lies. In manhood’s early bloom
The Christian hero finds a Pagan tomb.
Religion sorrowing o’er her favourite son
Points to the glorious trophies that he won,
Eternal trophies! not with carnage red;
Not stained with tears by hapless captives shed,
But trophies of the Cross. For that dear Name,
Through every form of danger, death, and shame,
Onward he journeyed to a happier shore,
Where danger, death, and shame assault no more.’
These lines reflect the impression made on Charles Grant and the other Clapham friends by Henry Martyn’s death at a time when they used his career as an argument for Great Britain doing its duty to India during the discussions in Parliament on the East India Company’s Charter of 1813.
[89] Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, and an Account of a Visit to Sherauz and Persepolis, by the late Claudius James Rich, Esq., edited (with memoir) by his widow, two vols., London, 1836.
[90] See p. [528] for the earlier, and p. [530] for the later inscription.
[91] Missionary Researches in Armenia, London, 1834.