For ornaments: at top, an hour-glass, winged. At bottom, an urn.
Under the hour-glass, on another plate, this inscription:
HERE the wicked cease from troubling: and HERE the
weary be at rest. Job. iii. 17.
Over the urn, near the bottom:
Turn again unto thy rest, O my soul! for the Lord hath
rewarded thee: And why? Thou hast delivered my
soul from death; mine eyes from tears; and my feet
from falling. Ps. cxvi. 7, 8.
Over this is the head of a white lily snapt short off, and just falling
from the stalk; and this inscription over that, between the principal
plate and the lily:
The days of man are but as grass. For he flourisheth as a
flower of the field: for, as soon as the wind goeth over
it, it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no
more. Ps. ciii. 15, 16.
She excused herself to the women, on the score of her youth, and being
used to draw for her needleworks, for having shown more fancy than would
perhaps be thought suitable on so solemn an occasion.
The date, April 10, she accounted for, as not being able to tell what her
closing-day would be; and as that was the fatal day of her leaving her
father's house.
She discharged the undertaker's bill after I went away, with as much
cheerfulness as she could ever have paid for the clothes she sold to
purchase this her palace: for such she called it; reflecting upon herself
for the expensiveness of it, saying, that they might observe in her, that
pride left not poor mortals to the last: but indeed she did not know but
her father would permit it, when furnished, to be carried down to be
deposited with her ancestors; and, in that case, she ought not to
discredit those ancestors in her appearance amongst them.
It is covered with fine black cloth, and lined with white satin; soon,
she said, to be tarnished with viler earth than any it could be covered
by.
The burial-dress was brought home with it. The women had curiosity
enough, I suppose, to see her open that, if she did open it.--And,
perhaps, thou wouldst have been glad to have been present to have admired
it too!--
Mrs. Lovick said, she took the liberty to blame her; and wished the
removal of such an object--from her bed-chamber, at least: and was so
affected with the noble answer she made upon it, that she entered it down
the moment she left her.
'To persons in health, said she, this sight may be shocking; and the
preparation, and my unconcernedness in it, may appear affected: but to
me, who have had so gradual a weaning-time from the world, and so much
reason not to love it, I must say, I dwell on, I indulge, (and, strictly
speaking, I enjoy,) the thoughts of death. For, believe me,' [looking
stedfastly at the awful receptacle,] 'believe what at this instant I feel
to be most true, That there is such a vast superiority of weight and
importance in the thought of death, and its hoped-for happy consequences,
that it in a manner annihilates all other considerations and concerns.
Believe me, my good friends, it does what nothing else can do: it teaches
me, by strengthening in me the force of the divinest example, to forgive
the injuries I have received; and shuts out the remembrance of past evils
from my soul.'
And now let me ask thee, Lovelace, Dost thou think that, when the time
shall come that thou shalt be obliged to launch into the boundless ocean
of eternity, thou wilt be able (any more than poor Belton) to act thy
part with such true heroism, as this sweet and tender blossom of a woman
has manifested, and continues to manifest!
Oh! no! it cannot be!--And why can't it be?--The reason is evident: she
has no wilful errors to look back upon with self-reproach--and her mind
is strengthened by the consolations which flow from that religious
rectitude which has been the guide of all her actions; and which has
taught her rather to choose to be a sufferer than an aggressor!
This was the support of the divine Socrates, as thou hast read. When led
to execution, his wife lamenting that he should suffer being innocent,
Thou fool, said he, wouldst thou wish me to be guilty!