1806.] 



Jlccoxint of Ladjj Dacrc. 



187 



knowledge ^■ni the priiftice of virtue ; but a 

 fupfisrter of the aCiJeniy at Hoxton, and a 

 jnt-.Tiijer of the Ibciety in London for the dif- 

 tiibution of books written upon what u ufu- 

 ajly, but falfcly, called the crthodox plan 

 Mr P. took a lively intoreit in the two laft 

 elcitions for tiie county of Middlefex, and 

 wus among the moft zealous, and fteady 

 /liends of Sir Francis Burdett, whom he con- 

 iilcred as having ftrong claims on the country 

 i\ir his patriotic exertions in behiilf ofthe del- 

 titiite and opf relied. In the Ipving of the 

 year I&iM., after a happy union of /o.-ty fix 

 y-^ars Mr. Pearfon loll his wife, an event 

 which he felt moft feverely, and t'rom the ef- 

 tcfts of which he never wholly recovered. 

 His ov.n death he met with that firmnefs and 

 cliriftian religrulion which a life well and ufe- 

 tuUy fpent naturally infpircs. He has Ictc 

 behind him two children, a daughter married 

 to John Fellows, efq. of Nottingham, and a Ion 

 an eminent coal merchant, in Tharaes-ftrect. 

 At B'-ckJngham, Kent, the Dowager Laiiy 

 Djcre, relirt of the late Lord Uacre. Tliii 

 lady, the daughter of Sir Thomas Fludyer, 

 was married in the year ITT^ to Trevor 

 Charles Roper naron Dacre, with whom ihe 

 lived in uninterrupted happinefs till iiis death 

 in the year 17 9i. His remains were interr^'d 

 ill a vault in Lee church yard, ovr-r which is 

 eretled a fimple, yet elegant monument to his 

 memory, under the immediute dn-eftion of 

 his difconfokne l.vdy. The infcription e"- 

 Sfaven on this tonjb afFordi fuch a rtriking il- 

 luilration of the charafter Oi her ladylliip tliJt 

 it niay with juopriety be introduced here. It 

 is as roUows ; 



Sac.-ed tn the Meniorj' of the Eight Honourable 



Trevor Clwrles Ruper Baron O.icre, 



So-n the JSth June .74s, manieu the id ot'M-.rch, 1771, 



Mjry Jijic, daurhtir ot bir rhrinias fluilyer, Knt 



Ana died at Ins Pal in this panfti, tUe ,d of July, 17)4, 



Accd 4g, ur.ivci laily anj delcr/eilly lame.itta. 



He v.'i a m..it iJcvrur. anJ yiovis chri ian, (Irirtly attentive 



to the nerforma c: nj- ..very duty x*i God and Man. 

 fi luyal and faithful i>tbji;Lt, a zealons ftipporter ot' Ins King 



Their diftin;;uithcd. uncimjned uiituii for upwards of 



.■Twenty.o"e years, f.c uneximpled happinefs, the 



unbuunded t. n^deiice in wh:ch thty ii.ed, 



>\nd a lincerc token of her real gratitude fof his uiiiforni 



"ng altetliO'i and pj'ticu'ar Benerolity, 



" In the fpiiit of this attachment, (fays Mr. 

 P,att) (he has a£tcd ever fincc tlie era of her 

 )ufs to the prcfeiit hour, and will probably 

 continue fo to deport herfclf to the lateft of 

 htf ^ue, at Ic.iil v.hilc the power is given her 



to walk, or to be conveyed to the fac'rcd fpot 

 where /he has enlhrined her heart. Lady 

 Dacre tias been in the praftice of vifiting the 

 grave of iier hufband ever fince the time of 

 his burial, in tiuth, almoft daily. As flie 

 chiefly refides at her villa in this parirti, the 

 prccinds of the tomb are kept facrcd from 

 every profanity, b.ith of acciilent or malicious 

 defign — indeed front the elements of heaven» 

 which Ihe will lituially not fuffer to vifit the 

 grave too roughly. While I was makin,{ 

 thefc remarks with my pencil, I obferved the 

 lady who had cilk-d them forth, coming to- 

 wards tiie cliurch-yard with halty and anxious 

 fteps, which, on perceiving I was feated on 

 the ilile ihe dircfteil to a fmall gate, and found 

 it locked, and Icemed much difappoiuted. 

 Unwilling to interrupt her pious purpofe, I 

 quitted the itile ; when, bending in acknow- 

 ledgment, IhepaHcd into the church yard but 

 w3j again diverted from her purpule. A party 

 of people, it being .Sunday, \vcre hading to 

 the tomb, in order to read, as I had done, the 

 inlcription. Tlie throng increafing, by the 

 entrance of fome add tional company, her 

 lady/hip went back into the road, where fhe 

 remained walking backwards and forwards, in 

 view of the church. yard, till the intruders liad 

 Ictt it, when, returning to the fpot from 

 which Ihe harl been fo long withheld, iTie 

 redoubled her afentlon, and I faw her, while 

 I it-od aloof, (myfelf unfeen) kneel in rever- 

 ence .It the foot of the grave. After remain- 

 ing fome time, I prefume in prayer, ihe went 

 back to the villa, where in his life time Ihe 

 had lo long been blcll'cd in the fociety of him 

 whofe lofs ihe now benuils. Such are the 

 matin and vefper, if not likewife the mid- 

 night homages of her affianced heart. Yet 

 certain fingularities of drefs and of manner, 

 with the yet greater fingularity of an attach- 

 ment fo long faithful to the aihes of its ob- 

 jeft, and perhaps a b.ubed regret in her bofom 

 that makes her inattentive to, if it does not 

 even abforh all thought or care of the world's 

 ufages have brought on her, I underftand, 

 much ot that wild conjecture, malign inter- 

 pretation and iinfeemly ridicule which are 

 always attendant upon every one who deviates 

 from the ordinary ceremonies of life. Hal- 

 lowed be the tender and generous fortitude, 

 and facred be the pious griefs that are fupe- 

 rior to, and that relift all the ribald jefts and 

 inlvjlts that a reverence for natural impreflion 

 induces ! Andaii to the mourner \\lio gaveocca- 

 lioii to thefe remarks, if tiiere be any perfun dif- . 

 pofed to fcoti'atorto dilbelicve 'the faithful 

 Icntiment that has long conduaed tier to the 

 place where moll things are forgotten — to the . 

 manlions oftne dead — let them condefcend to 

 imitate her bounty to the living ; let their 

 charadltis emulate'heis; and if by the kinder 

 allotment of providence (if we dare call it 

 kinder) they liave no relative or friend in the 

 grave to lament, i; they have none of her mi- 

 fery, let them be anim.ited by the fpirit of her 

 l^tsnevolence. Iq this there can be uo niocJc- 

 ti. 1X2 erg 



