Elegies and Epitaphs: a comprehensive review of the origin, design, and character of monumental inscriptions and of other necrological literature, etc

Front matter

t ELEGIES AND EPITAPHS: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF the origin, design, and character of MO^UMEJ^THIa INSCRIPTIONS AND OF OTHER NECROLOGICAL LITERATURE, Whether in the form of elegiac verse or less ambitious prose ; TO WHICH ARE APPENDED FULLY 300 EPITAPHS OR MOTTOES, Classified to suit the exigencies of different times of life ; ALSO, Dissertations upon Ancient and Modern Cemeteries and Disused Burial-Grounds, &c. ELEGIES AND EPITAPHS ON CELEBRATED PERSONS, LATIN AND MUSICAL EPITAPHS, &c, By CHARLES BOX, Author of " The English Game of Cricket," " Church Music in the Metropolis," " Musings for Athletes," &>c, &>c. GLOUCESTER : PUBLISHED BY H. OSBORNE, ST. MARY'S SQUARE. 1892.

Preface

. [" F perchance this volume should be opened with the expectation of its affording the reader " a fund of amusement," disappointment will most assuredly ensue. Any subject suggestive of serious thought and meditation demands a corresponding treatment. Unfortunately, the subject herein proposed to be dealt with has too long and too often met with undeserved patronage on the part of the public generally, but especially of persons possessed by a morbid hankering after curiosities, to be retailed, as occasion may offer, to excite mirth. Now, surely, on such a momentous matter as the destiny of all mankind, the continual reminders of the same ought to be in accordance with its gravity and calculated to awaken sober reflection, rather than to provoke that laughter among fools which the wise man compares to the " crackling of thorns under a pot."

Sad, indeed, is it that the dead should supply a tempting theme for the jester, and the valley of dry bones an enclosure for the growth of unholy weeds. A great moralist of the last century complained that the memorials of bygone generations had been so indifferently attended to. He, however, was one of the comparatively few lights in an age when but little learning was diffused among what is now denominated " the million." To this general ignorance may in a great measure be attributed not merely " the uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture" spoken of by Gray, but compositions which, if not absolutely wicked, might be and ought to be classed as stupid, senseless, immoral — -in fact, Pagan. With the so-called enlightenment of the present day, tombstone literature has by no means kept pace. Foreigners refer to it as a reproach ; and justly so.

To .them it is obvious that epitaphs are composed from the impulse of very different sentiments in different people. Hence, the calm and softened solemnity of quiet, which would be shed over the sanctuaries of the dead by suitable and well-harmonized epitaphs, is destroyed by the varied inscriptions, entirely out of keeping with one another. The yew-shaded churchyard of the village, the crowded cemeteries that surround the city, the proud aisle with its tombs and monuments, and the solitary mausoleum of nobility, all owe their origin and sanctity to one common cause. If this were borne in mind, the inscriptions, thoughdiffering in style, would all exhibit a similar propriety and tenderness, an equal fitness and seriousness of sentiment, whether graven on the tomb of a monarch or on the simple stone of a peasant's resting-place. The humble tributes of affection placed on the tablets of the dead present a moral to the contemplative

PREFACE.

. IV mind more eloquent than all which philosophy has ever written. In any and in every case, the writer of an inscription should be unaffected in his style and free from conceits ; the design and moral to be inculcated ought also to be of sufficient importance to merit the reader's attention and ensure his regard. It is a severe misfortune to meet with flippancy where solemnity was looked for, and meretricious elegance where the occasion should have suggested the unadorned majesty of truth. Now, it may be said that it is an easy thing to find fault with what exists without substituting something better. Very frequently this is unavoidable, but in the present case it is far from being so. Here, no difficulty stands in the way of improving churchyard literature, which has been of little ornament in any age, but is a positive disgrace to this.

Firstly, the commonplace book of the village statuary or carpenter must — if not " burned before all men" — be despoiled of its enchantment, and these worthies must give way to the clergy, or to pious, cultivated laymen, able and willing to supply the exigencies of different characters and circumstances. Doubtless, there are hundreds of passages in that grand old Book, the Bible, as yet but inadequately applied to " sermons in stones." These can be made stable foundations on which to construct rhymes and mottoes suitable to any case or condition to which mortality is liable. The laconic style of the epitaph is to some extent difficult, because a great deal is expected from it. People grow weary at a long inscription, and are apt to forget, not only particulars, but much of the pith also. Hence, half its usefulness is lost.

Anyhow, it should be short enough for everybody to read, simple enough for everybody to understand, and pungent enough for everybody to remember. It has been said, " It is a nice thing to address the mind in the workings of a generous enthusiasm ; and, when in this mood, the puerile conceits of an epigrammist or the tedious prolixity of the herald have a tendency, if not to provoke disgust, certainly to war against reverence." This remark is well worthy of consideration. Then comes the question, Does not the rectification of these errors or faults devolve upon the clergy ? Not exclusively. The immense stretch of freedom exercised by the laity in matters of sepulture, for ages, coupled with the ignorance of the times, is perceptible enough at the present day ; it is therefore part of the duty of laymen to counteract as much as possible the evils of the past by the substitution of some thing better.

Moreover, the objection to lay assistance falls to the ground when no points of doctrine are involved beyond those entertained by every sect of Christians, viz., the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Now, in treating upon a subject so vast, and one involving such momentous issues, it is obvious that the task of compression into a small volume is beset

PREFACE.

. V with difficulties. By some readers, one part may be considered needlessly prosaic, which to another may not be sufficiently clear. This idea was con tinually present to the writer, and much care was exercised in keeping this " incident" or that " event" within bounds. A division of the book into fourteen chapters, each in a great measure complete in itself and prefaced, when necessary, with an epitome of contents, will serve to direct the reader to the more immediate object of his search, and thereby save time. In tracking the origin both of the elegy and epitaph, many curious and ridiculous specimens, serving as links in the chain of historical facts, enforce quotation. These, however, have been applied as sparsely as possible, owing in a great degree to the flippancy of language in its application to the subject.

After getting a little clear of the " mists of fabling time," when a more liberal use is made of the lapidary's chisel, the productions, though more varied, are scarcely less startling ; and though the Reformation effected a wonderful change in matters of religion, it seemed to permit a freedom of style in writing epitaphs altogether out of keeping with the true character of religious teaching. A few examples of this kind will be found given as illustrations of the age in which they first appeared. To whatever cause the slow growth of reformation in our places of sepulture may be traced, it is hoped that the examples for epitaphs here given will to some extent supply a remedy. In nearly every case, they are based on passages from Scripture, and the mottoes are gathered from books and contributors, and personal visits to the various cemeteries within the metropolitan area.

If these do not afford sufficient choice, there is a chapter of poems — many of them ancient — capable of suggesting ideas that may be turned to account for almost any kind of inscriptive requirement. Thus much by way of outline to the work here presented, which was begun under an impression that something of the kind was needed, and continued with the idea that the labour expended might be productive of good results, especially if countenanced by persons of ability and influence. " Blessed are they that sow beside all waters." Camberwell, February 10th, 1890. NOTICE. f^HE Author having died, leaving his work still in manuscript, his Executors, in accordance with a direction in his will, have arranged for its publication. They have caused the sheets to be carefully revised and edited, and in the course of the revision not a few errors have been discovered and corrected.

The necessity for such revision, in combination with other causes, has delayed the publication of the book till more than two years after the date of the preface. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. The Elegy

The Human Mind — Diversity of Pursuits — Its Cravings for Posthumous Fame — Effects produced by Elegies on Naval and Military Commanders — Heroes and Heroism — Origin of Elegiac Poetry — Greek Elegies — Hebrew Elegies — Elegies in the early ages of the Church — The Troubadours, &c. — Definition of the word "Elegy" — Cultivation of the Elegiac Muse in Europe during the Middle Ages — Portuguese, Spanish, and French Elegiac Poets — Feebleness of English Poets in Elegy — Milton's Lycidas — Sir Philip Sidney : numerous Elegies concerning him — Lord Lyttelton's Monody — Young's Night Thoughts — Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard — Conclusion p. i

Chapter II. The Epitaph

Definition of " Epitaph " — Inscriptions in Latin — Edward the Black Prince, in French — Engravings on Scrolls and Labels in the 15th century — Early Inscriptions in the Vulgar tongue — Dr. Taylor's Martyrdom — Epitaphs scrutinized — Ridiculous English Epitaphs and faulty Latin ones — Bishop Aylmer — Bombastic Epitaphs — Destruction of old Monuments and Writings at the Reformation — Sir Thomas More's Epitaph by himself — Disputes concerning his remains — Weever's doubtful Records — Archbishop Parker's Exhumation by the Puritans — Epitaph on Queen Elizabeth p. 11

Chapter III. The Epitaph

(continued). The Learning and Ignorance of the Age contrasted — King James as an Author and Elegiac Poet — Death of Prince Henry : his Epitaph — Death of Queen Anne : Elegy thereon — Death of James, aud Elegies on the character of this King — Laudatory Epitaphs — Anagrams — Punning Epitaphs — Interweaving Scripture names — A Contrast — Writers of their own Epitaphs — Extension of the privilege to use them at all — Definition of the word "Epitaph" by Weever, Puttenham, Fuller, &c. — How it ought to be applied — Ornamental and long Inscriptions — The Similitude of Life to an Inn — Preposterous Epitaph on a Tailor's Child — Apostrophe ad Mortem — Recriminatory, Wicked, and Mischievous Compositions — Epitaph written by Milton : Questions as to its Authenticity — The Doctrine of the Palingenesis — Process of Resuscitation described — Milton's Poem P CONTENTS.

Chapter IV. Elegies And Epitaphs On Celebrated Persons

[A to K] Addison — Bacon (John) — Balfe — Beaconsfield (Earl of) — Beauclerk — Beaumont — Blake — Bolingbroke — Buckingham (Duke of) — Bunyan — Burns — Burton — Butler —Canning (George) — Canning (Earl of) — Canning (Stratford) — Campbell — Caxton — Chatterton — Coleridge — Collins — Cook — Cooke — Cooper — Cotton — Coverdale — Cowper — Crabbe — De Foe — Digby — Donne — Drake — Evelyn — Franklin (Benjamin) — Franklin (Sir John) — Garrick — Goldsmith — Gray — Gresham — Guy — Hampden — Hanmer — Hearne — Heber — Hemans — Herschel — Highmore — Hogarth — Hood — Horrocks — Howard — Jerrold — Johnson — Jonson — Keats p. 36

Chapter V. Elegies And Epitaphs On Celebrated Persons

(continued). [L to W] Lamb — Lardner — Lawrence (Lord) — Lawrence (Sir John) — Leicester (Earl of) — Livingstone — Lyell — Lyttelton (Lord) — Macaulay (Lord) — Mansfield (Earl of) — "Martyrs of the Covenant " — Miller — Milton — More (Hannah) — Nelson — Newton (Sir Isaac) — Newton (John) — Parnell — Pope — Purcell — Raleigh — Rennie — Reynolds — Rowe — Sandys — Shakespeare— Shenstone— Sidney— Spenser— Tait — Tallis — Telford — Thomson — Tusser — Vanbrugh — Vandyck — Vertue — Waller — Walsingham — Watt — Watts — Wesley (John and Charles) — Wesley (Susannah)— White — Whitgift —Wolfe — Woollett — Worledge — Wren — Wykeham (William of) p. 64

Chapter VI. Mortuary Monuments And Inscriptions

Form and Origin of Monuments considered — Early Attempts at Inscription — Sir Gardner Wilkinson's Notice of Egyptian Records — Modes of Expression — Westminster Abbey : Its vast store of Ancient and Modern Sculpture : Its Crowded Dead — St. Paul's Cathedral — Colossal Sculpture — The Crypt, and its mighty Dead — Interment of a Lord Mayor — Duke of Wellington's Monument — Large Memorial Brass Tablet — The Temple Church — St. Saviour's, Southwark — Gower's Tomb — The Tower — Monuments and Inscriptions in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula — City Churches : Their Monuments and Burial Places p. 90

Chapter VII. Past Condition Of Metropolitan Places Of Sepulture

Crowded Condition of Metropolitan Burying Places in the Middle of this Century — Discontinuance of Intramural Interments — The Plague of 1348, as it affected London- Necessity for Large and Special Burying Grounds — Ceremonies connected with the Pestilence — Fearful Decimation — Difficulty in eradicating it until the Great Fire CONTENTS. IX of 1666 — Destruction of City Churches — Part of Bunhill Fields converted into a Burying Ground — The Campo Santo of Dissenters : Its Crowded Condition, Decay, and Final Closure: Its present Changed and Agreeable Look — The word "Hearse" examined : Its original and present Meaning explained — Introduction of Cemeteries — Tombs and Gravestones in Kensal Green — Churchyards in the Rural Districts — Inappropriate Inscriptions : How to be Remedied — Efforts among the Poorer Classes to perpetuate the Memory of Lost Friends — Trees, Shrubs, and Flowers in various places of Sepulture — Cemeteries Abroad : Their Sacred Character guarded — Deconse cration of City Churches — Laying out Graveyards as Recreation Grounds — Newington Ground — Sickly aspect of many, &c p. 106

Chapter VIII. The Cemetery

Reproduction of old Ideas — Distant view of Cemeteries — Early use of them — Church and Churchyard Interments — Early abuses — Restrictions — Discovery of a Cemetery at Hartlepool — Repeal of Laws against Interments in Churchyards — Cemeteries again resorted to — Definition of " Cemeteries " a hundred years ago — Reflections on Entering a Cemetery — Monumental Varieties, and the Lessons they teach — " Mausoleum " and "Sarcophagus" explained — Discovery of an Ancient Coffin, empty — Efforts of the Poor to preserve the Graves of their Friends — Unreasonable and Singular Monuments — Catacombs and their Antiquity — Savage Nations and their Burying Places — Flowers — Decaying Tombs — Expensive Monuments — Flowering Shrubs — Notable Yew Tree in Abney Park — Evil attending the introduction of Large Trees — Foreign Cemeteries publicly visited on set occasions — Follies of Foreigners and Thoughts of Shortcomings at Home — "The Graves' Voices" p. 120

Chapter IX. Scriptural Texts And Mottoes

Section 1: Texts and Mottoes suitable to Infancy and Childhood p. 134 Section 2: Texts and Mottoes suitable to Manhood (or, General) p. 155 Section 3 : Texts and Mottoes suitable to Womanhood p. 183 Section 4: Texts and Mottoes suitable to Old Age p. 202

Chapter XIV. Poems On

"LIFE," "DEATH," &c. (from various sources.) Address to a Mummy — A Widow's Lament — An Epitaph— A Funeral Hymn — Against the fear of Death — " Come home at last !" (on Earl Canning)— Death the Passage to Life Death of the Old Year — Elegy — Eternity — Funeral Dirge from Cymbeline— Four Graves Life a Cheat — Life — Meditation on Death — Virtue (" Sweet day, so cool ") Napoleon Moribundus — On Time— On the death of a Wesleyan Minister — Reasons for the Soul's Immortality— The Common Lot — The Eloquent Pastor dead — The Dead — The dyin<* Boy— The dying Girl— The dying Husband— To the Memory of G. C. Canning— The dying Seaman— The Death of the Philanthropist — Time passes — "Time rolls his ceaseless course " — The pious Maiden — " Underneath this sable hearse " — The Passing- Bell — The Ride of Death— Of Mans Mortalitie — From the Elegy on Dr. Whitaker The aged Minstrel — " No more thy soul deceive" — On Lady Morton — "Cowards die many times" — Under the Violets — Death's final Conquest p 2rg INDEX TO MOTTOES IN

CHAPTER IX

Chapter I. The Elegy

The Human Mind — Diversity of Pursuits — Its Cravings for Posthumous Fame — Effects produced by elegies on naval and military commanders — heroes and heroism — Origin of Elegiac Poetry — Greek Elegies — Hebrew Elegies— Elegies in the early ages of the Church — The Troubadours, &c. — Definition of the word " Elegy " — Cultivation of the Elegiac Muse in Europe during the Middle Ages — Portuguese, Spanish, and French Elegiac Poets — Feebleness of English Poets in Elegy — Milton's Lycidas — Sir Philip Sidney : numerous Elegies concerning him — Lord Lyttelton's Monody — Young's Night Thoughts — Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard — Conclusion. POETS, Philosophers, and Divines have, times out of number, expended no inconsiderable portion of a life-time in propounding their theories respecting the functions, capacities, and characteristics of the Human Mind, yet one and all fail to fathom its abysses or unweave the mysterious web of its operation.

Notwithstanding the perplexities attending the subject, and the obscurities of the mind's operations, there are, however, ruling passions which cannot always be hidden from observation : they will reveal themselves. What a craving, for instance, there is naturally for "advancement in life"! It is seen budding in the strife of school-boy studies, and unfolding itself in the youth with his expansion of thought amid the bustle and activities of life, and B so unresistingly pursued that in the man the desire to " get on " becomes a part of his inner self, and the ver)' cohesions to his unresting chariot wheels, instead of impeding its force, operate the other way. In short, a mind bent on a fixed resolve presses the whole man into service. Few aspirants to literary fame or world-wide renown are unfamiliar with the apophthegm, " Greatness followeth no man."

Hence their self-imposed task is frequently one of long duration, and not at all suited to the dull and dilatory. Perchance some limping straggler up the steep ascent may be clutched by a beneficent and fortunate hand, but usually the man who gains a name worth preserving has to buffet the wave and flood of boisterous circumstance not altogether genial, but oftener opposed to success. In the mind of such an one there commonly remains the yearning for a name having in it some character of immortality. Indeed, the desire for posthumous remembrance is innate in the human race. It evinced itself soon after men began to multiply upon the earth a second time. Hence the inhabitants of Shinar made the resolve, " Go to now, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."

The thirst for laudation by posterity is as quenchless now as it was 4,000 years ago. The whole island of Britain is sown with monumental records of men and events to which generations unborn will refer and lay claim, regarding many of them as trophies redounding to the honour and glory of a great nation with a deservedly great name. The memory of her great soldiers, especially, Britain is ever ready to perpetuate. On the funeral of an eminent military or naval commander, even though he has not fallen in battle but has yielded to the power of time or disease, a profuse display of martial honour is made ; some grand ecclesiastical edifice or family mausoleum is selected for the place of his burial ; then comes a solemn chant, a requiem, and subsequently a memorial in sculptured stone, or the tribute of an elegiac verse.

Nor is such a procedure at all to be discountenanced. The bulk of a nation has but a dim idea of the value of the man who in times of extreme peril and dire necessity is able by foresight, indomitable courage, and surrender of every personal comfort to bring his combats to a successful issue. The elegies on Marlborough, Wolfe, Moore, Abercrombie, Nelson, Wellington, and others have proved of immense benefit to the nation at large, as encouraging " deeds of high emprise." Nor these alone, for there are hundreds of valiant heroes of a later date whose memory, it may be affirmed, "posterity will not willingly let die." Although the words " hero," " heroism," and their affinities tend to impress the mind with the tented field and the din of war, these are not entitled to the monopoly of them. The men who regardless of danger direct their course upon the enchanted waters of the ocean, map out unexplored regions of the earth's surface, sow the wilderness with cities, and cause solitudes to resound with " the busy hum of men," are heroes of a more beneficial type than the successful warrior.

Nor is there any lack of heroism in the groups of men who penetrate through inhospitable climes, where day and night never mingle, and where the Almighty lays up the deep as in a storehouse — where the dancing heart's blood is in danger every moment of freezing to marble — where grim Desolation reigns, and where Death thins out the adventurous heroes till few, if any, are left to tell of their daring and decay. Here indeed is heroism immolated upon the altar of a seemingly scientific, yet all but a fruitless, experiment ; but which, if successful, bears no comparison in value with the sacrifice of every thing congenial to human existence. A still more lofty type of heroism — in fact, the loftiest that can well be conceived — is that of the missionary who abandons all the endearments of home, the pleasures of kinship and the enjoyments of his native land, to mix with humanity in its most degrading and repulsive forms, in order to plant the standard of the Cross, and bring barbarism within the sphere of civilization.

He lays out his life for usefulness, whether within the torrid or frozen zone ; his great object is the salvation of the souls of men ; he accepts with cheerfulness the heaviest toil in the discharge of his sacred duty ; he dies, with but little notice from the outside world, it may be with no one to compose his elegy, but — " his name is written in Heaven." It would scarcely be within the scope and design of this work to enter upon a lengthy disquisition respecting the origin of elegiac poetry, which unquestion ably is involved in the obscurity of an early age. It is quite reasonable to admit the theory that the first attempts at elegy are employed in composing inscriptions for the monuments of the dead, from a natural desire felt by people of all nations to pay the tribute of praise and regret to such as were endeared to them by nature or friendship, or to those whose talents had excited the admiration of fellow citizens, or whose blood had been shed in defence of their country.

This was the nature of the elegy in ancient Greece ; and the germs of its antiquity still appear in the dirges which the Greeks of the present day utter over the couch of the parent, relation, or friend whom they deplore. Even mothers themselves, says the learned interpreter of the popular songs of modern Greece, repeat their dirges over their children who die at an early age, and frequently in these artless little essays display considerable pathos and elegance. In them, the innocent victim is deplored under the emblem of a flower, a tender plant, a little bird, or any other natural object that can interest the imagination of a mother or please her by the supposed similitude. These mournful effusions are composed and sung by the women. In like manner, modern Greece has elegiac songs for its warriors ; but these compositions breathe an energetic grief that stimulates the courage of survivors and supplies them with the most ardent motives to heroism, while at the same time expressing the tenderest feelings of the heart.

The misfortunes of a family or an individual are not the only themes of the ancient elegy : it frequently deplores the calamities of an entire nation, and it then rises to a loftiness of sentiment and expression that borders on the enthusiasm of the lyric muse. Thus, in the ancient days of Greece, Tyrtæus composed heroic elegies to revive the energy of the Spartans ; Callinus, to deplore the wars that desolated Ephesus and Ionia. Many of the songs of the Greek elegiac muse have reached posterity in a merely fragmentary shape, a fact well known and as much deplored. The scholar well versed in classic history can easily furnish himself with any needed information on the subject, while the less erudite would hardly care to tread " the long extent of backward time" in search of historical incidents, which, if obtained, would not be considered equivalent to the labour expended.

It is to be remembered that from elegies being mostly written in one particular metre (the hexameter alternating with the pentameter), the name of elegiac verse became applied to all poems written in that metre, quite irrespectively of the subject or the manner of treating it, so that a love song or chant of triumph may find its place among a collection of so-called elegiac poems. Passing from the classic regions of Greece to the sacred land of Judæa, the elegy assumes a new and different character. Among the Hebrews its plaintive tone was severe and awful, and, surrounded with all the emblems of mortality, it bewailed the misfortunes which overspread that unhappy land. Occasionally, however, it assumes a softer tone, and clothes its sentiments with imagery in which tender and affecting compassion prevails ; but when it enlarges on the ills of life with the piercing accents of wild and overpowering grief — when, coming from a soul delivered over as a prey to the devouring pangs of conscience, it bursts into expressions of despair and wrath — it would be in vain to search the books of other nations to find terms more bold and energetic, or more suited to impress the feelings of man.

Where can be found an elegy more noble, tender and affecting, than the lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan, a com position which seems to proceed from a mother's heart ? The greater part of the Psalms are, in fact, elegies admirable for their feeling and simplicity. That which represents the Israelites as exiles, beside the waters of Babylon— insulted by their oppressors, who solicit songs of triumph and merriment while they are sinking under the burden of slavery— is the most sublime of all the songs that the love of country ever inspired. There is not one idle expression in its composition : everything is brief, rapid and severe ; and hardly is the dart discharged when it pierces the heart. The harps that in the Holy City had sounded the praises and the power of the Most High were sorrow fully suspended on the branches of the willows that grew on the banks of the Euphrates.

This circumstance alone, so simple and so affecting, must powerfully attest the miseries into which the wretched Israelites were plunged. The psalm concludes with a burst of rage against Babylon, and affords another symptom of the genius of those tribes which detested other nationalities, and were an object of abhorrence to them. Among the inspired tribe, Jeremiah undoubtedly takes the lead. He is the prince of the Hebrew elegiac poets, and powerful enough at times to render his expressions equal in their effect on the mind to the calamities themselves. The province of elegiac composition has been cultivated with care and assiduity by the moderns as well as by the writers of antiquity. During the early ages of the Church, St. Ambrose and [perhaps] Lactantius composed elegies on the passion of Christ.

About the same period — the fourth century — Prudentius, a Christian Latin poet, celebrated in strains of pity the heroes who shed their blood for the faith. In more modern times, the artless compositions of the troubadours betray a character of natural and plaintive melody quite in accordance with the elegiac spirit. Afterwards, when the modern tongues of Europe were divested of the rust of the Middle Ages, when the dawn of learning began to reappear from a night of seemingly interminable length, the imaginations of some poets were deeply impressed with a tinge of pathos and melancholy in their compositions, which justly assigns them to the elegiac class. Although the word "elegy" has not escaped the ordeal of discussion, there can be no doubt as to its being derived from the Greek elegeia (tktytid), and more remotely from elegos, perhaps itself formed from e, e, lego, to say " alas !" and thus meaning a lament, a poem on a mournful subject, or one written in a plaintive style without points or turns, as opposed to an epigram.