Pope apparently had in mind the friendly admonition of Horace to Torquatus (Carm. iv. 7):
“Nos ubi decidimus
Quo pater Æneas, quo dives Tullus et Ancus,
Pulvis et umbra sumus.”
Over the grave of Dean Alford in the church-yard of St. Martin’s, Canterbury, is the following inscription, prepared by his own hand: “The inn of a traveller, on his way to the New Jerusalem.”
Daniel Webster’s epitaph, written by himself, at Marshfield, is as follows:
Lord,
I believe,
Help Thou
mine unbelief.