Book 2 — EPITAPH: BEING PART OF AN INSCRIPTION DESIGNED FOR A MONUMENT ERECTED BY A GENTLEMAN TO THE MEMORY OF HIS LADY.

Farewell! my best-belov'd; whose heavenly mind Genius with virtue, strength with softness join'd; Devotion, undebas'd by pride or art, With meek simplicity, and joy of heart; Though sprightly, gentle: though polite, sincere; And only of thyself a judge severe; Unblam'd, unequall'd in each sphere of life, The tenderest daughter, sister, parent, wife. In thee their patroness th' afflicted lost; Thy friends, their pattern, ornament, and boast; And I—but ah, can words my loss declare, Or paint th' extremes of transport and despair! O thou, beyond what verse or speech can tell, My guide, my friend, my best beloved, farewell!