Etesi's [for Estesi's] Epitaph.

Stop, Christian Visitor! Stop, Child of God,
Here lies a Poet: or what once was He!
[O] Pause, Traveller, pause and pray for S. T. C.
[[1089]] That He who many a year with toil of Breath
Found Death in Life, may here find Life in Death. 5

And read with gentle heart! Beneath this sod
There lies a Poet, etc.

'Inscription on the Tomb-stone of one not unknown; yet more commonly known by the Initials of his Name than by the Name itself.'

ESTEESE'S αυτοεπιταφιον[1089:1]

(From a copy of the Todten-Tanz which belonged to Thomas Poole.)

Here lies a Poet; or what once was he:
Pray, gentle Reader, pray for S. T. C.
That he who threescore years, with toilsome breath,
Found Death in Life, may now find Life in Death.

FOOTNOTES:

[1088:1] First published in The Athenaeum, April 7, 1888: included in the Notes to 1893 (p. 645).