The following epitaph was written by a Dr. Godfrey, who died in Dublin
in 1755:
Here lieth, to _digest macerate_, and _amalgamate_ into clay,
_In Batneo Arenæ_,
_Stratum super Stratum_
The _Residuum, Terra damnata_ and _Caput Mortuum_,
Of BOYLE GODFREY, Chymist and M.D.
A man who in this Earthly Laboratory pursued various
_Processes_ to obtain _Arcanum Vitæ_,
Or the Secret to Live;
Also _Aurum Vitæ_,
or the art of getting rather than making gold.
_Alchymist_-like, all his Labour and _Projection_,
as _Mercury_ in the Fire, _Evaporated_ in _Fume_ when he
_Dissolved_ to his first principles.
He _departed_ as poor
as the last drops of an _Alembic_; for Riches are not
poured on the _Adepts_ of this world.
Though fond of News, he carefully avoided the
_Fermentation, Effervescence_, and _Decrepitation_ of this
life. Full seventy years his _Exalted Essence_
was _hermetically_ sealed in its _Terrene Matrass_; but the
Radical Moisture being _exhausted_, the _Elixir Vitæ_ spent,
And _exsiccate_ to a _Cuticle_, he could not _suspend_
longer in his _Vehicle_, but _precipitated Gradatim, per_
_Campanam_, to his original dust.
May that light, brighter than _Bolognian Phosphorus_,
Preserve him from the _Athanor, Empyreuma_, and _Reverberatory
Furnace_ of the other world,
Depurate him from the _Fæces_ and _Scoria_ of this,
Highly _Rectify_ and _Volatilize_, his _æthereal_ spirit,
Bring it over the _Helm_ of the _Retort_ of this Globe, place
in a proper _Recipient_ or _Crystalline_ orb,
Among the elect of the _Flowers of Benjamin_; never to
be _saturated_ till the General _Resuscitation, Deflagration,
Calcination,_ and _Sublimation_ of all things.
* * * * *