I was as grass that did grow up,
And wither’d before it grew,
As Snails do waste within their Shells,
So the number of my days were few.
RODMELL.
Elizabeth Ellis (1757).
If love and virtue doth conduce to grace the fair,
These was once possessed by her who lieth here;
But alas! by fate the object of her love was drowned.
By death surprized in trying to save a hound.
Which such effect had on her tender mind
It brought her into a deep decline.
With him her transitory bliss is fled,
And she a cold companion of the dead.
Since this catastrophe cannot fail to show
How uncertain all earthly joys are here below.
BRIGHTON.
His fate was hard, but God’s decree
Was, drown’d he should lie—in the sea.
Warwickshire.
BIRMINGHAM.
By a Lady on her Husband.
Oh! cruel death, how could you be so unkind,
To take him before, and leave me behind.
You should have taken both of us—if either,
Which would have been more pleasant to the survivor.