"Ever,
"Henry Fuseli."
"Somerset House, September 12, 1817.
To John Knowles, Esq."
I accepted of his kind offer, and in my letter doing this, gave him a transcript of an epitaph in Latin, inscribed on a brass plate which is affixed to a pillar in the north aisle of Scarborough Church, and which is not only admired there for the expression of feeling which it contains, but for its Latinity. This epitaph is as follows:—
"Dum te, chara Uxor, gelido sub marmore pono, Illustret vigili lampade funus amor; Heu! periit pietas dulcissima, casta cupido, Teque omnis virtus quæ negat esse meam.— Oh! quàm felicem nuperrima Sponsa beâsti! Nunc pariter miserum reddis amata Virum. Iste dolor levis est charos ubi casus amicos, Mors ubi disjungit, sola tremenda venit."
"In piam Memoriam Annæ charissimæ Uxoris, hæc dedicavit mæstissimus Maritus J. North: Obiit die Xmo 4to Augusti, Anno Dom. 1695, Ætatis suæ 22."
In answer to this letter, he wrote to me as follows:—
"Putney-hill, September 20, 1817.
"my dear sir,
"You have given me the greatest pleasure in accepting the offer which I took the freedom of making to you; and my wife, the moment she hears of it, will as much be flattered by your kindness as myself,—for, before she went off, she earnestly desired me to make the request.