More like her murderer than friend, I crept
With soft suspended step, and muffled deep
In midnight darkness, whisper'd my last sigh."
Night Thoughts; Narcissa.
In the notes to an edition of the Night Thoughts, printed in 1798, by C. Whittingham, for T. Heptinstall—
"It appears," it is stated, "by the extract of a letter just printed, that in order to obtain a grave, the Doctor bribed the under gardener, who dug the grave, and let him in by a private door, bearing his beloved daughter, wrapped up in a sheet, upon his shoulder. When he had laid her in this hole he sat down, and, as the man expressed it, 'rained tears.' It appears also, that some time previous to this event, expecting the catastrophe, he had been seen walking solitarily backward in this garden, as if to find the most solitary spot for his purpose."—See Evang. Mag., Nov. 1797.
I do not know what authority this letter quoted from the Evang. Mag. may possess.
J. M.
Oxford, May 20.
Minor Notes.
Curious Epitaph.—The following lines are on a stone in Killyleagh churchyard. I have a faint recollection of seeing a similarly constructed epitaph in Harris's History of the County of Down, which was perhaps composed by the same person. Is any of your readers acquainted with any English inscription in the same style?