22 Bight Hon. Sir M. E. Grant Duff [Jan. 27, 



Excellent is the epitaph on Trivulzio, General of Francis I., and, 

 for that matter, of many other lords : — 



Johannes Trivulzius, qui nunquam quievit, hie quiescit. Tace. 

 Johannes Trivulzius, who never rested, rests here. Be silent. 



Hardly less good is the epitaph on Mercy : — 



Sta viator heroem calcas. 



Stop, traveller, thou treadest on a hero. 



The modern Florentines missed their mark, by altogether over- 

 shooting it, when they put on the tomb of Machiavelli, 



Tanto nomini nullum par elogium. 



No eulogium is sufficient for so great a name. 



But the epitaph, if better deserved, would have been a grand one. 



Admirable is the epitaph on Sheffield, Duke of the County of 

 Buckingham, written by himself, and to be found in Westminster Abbey. 

 The stone originally bore two additional words " Christum adveneror," 

 but the foolish bigotry of Atterbury suppressed them. 



Dubius sed non improbus vixi ; 

 Incertus morior, non perturbatus. 

 Humanum est nescire et errare. 



Deo confido 

 Omnipotenti benevolentissimo : 

 Ens entium, miserere mei. 



I lived a doubtful but not an evil life ; 



I die uncertain, but not dismayed. 



It is the lot of man to be ignorant and to err. 



I trust in God the Omnipotent, the most Benevolent. 



Being of Beings, have mercy upon me. 



The magnificent epitaph on Colin Maclaurin, Professor of Mathe- 

 matics in Edinburgh, can be read at length in Boswell's ' Johnson.' 

 It was placed on the tomb by his son, not, as he says, to provide for his 

 father's fame, for it wants no such assistance, but in order that in this 

 unhappy field where fear and sorrow reign, mortals should not be left 

 absolutely without consolation, for turn over his writings and be sure 

 that a mind capable of such things must outlast the perishable 

 body : — 



Non ut nomini paterno consulat, 

 Nam tali auxilio nil eget ; 

 Sed ut in hoc infelici campo, 

 Ubi luctus regnant et pavor, 

 Mortalibus prorsus non absit solatium. 



Hujus enini scripta evolve, 

 Mentemque tantarum rerum capacem, 

 Corpori caduco superstitem credo. 



