15 



Who, that should see erected in shades, like these, 

 even a cenotaph to the memory of a man, like Buck- 

 minster, that prodigy of early genius, would not feel, 

 that there is an excellence over which death hath no 

 power, but which lives on through all time, still fresh- 

 ening with the lapse of ages. 



But passing from those, who by their talents and 

 virtues have shed lustre on the annals of mankind, to 

 cases of mere private bereavement, who, that should 

 deposit in shades, like these, the remains of a beloved 

 friend, would not feel a secret pleasure in the thought, 

 that the simple inscription to his worth would receive 

 the passing tribute of a sigh from thousands of kin- 

 dred hearts ? That the stranger and the traveller 

 would linger on the spot w ith a feeling of reverence ? 

 That they, the very mourners themselves, when they 

 should revisit it, would find there the verdant sod, 

 and the fragrant flower, and the breezy shade ? That 

 they might there, unseen, except of God, ojfifer up 

 their prayers, or indulge the luxury of grief? That 

 they might there realize, in its full force, the affect- 

 ing beatitude of the scriptures ; " Blessed are they 

 that mourn, for they shall be comforted ?" 



Surely, surely, we have not done all our duty, if 

 there yet remains a single incentive to human virtue, 

 without its due play in the action of life, or a single 

 stream of happiness, which has not been made to 

 flow in upon the waters of affliction. 



Considerations, like those, which have teen sug- 

 gested, have for a long time turned the thoughts of 

 many distinguished citizens to the importance of some 



