Poem by James Beattie

An Epitaph

LIKE thee I once have stemm'd the sea of life,
    Like thee have languish'd after empty joys, 
Like thee have labour'd in the stormy strife,
    Been grieved for trifles, and amused with toys.

Forget my frailties; thou art also frail:
    Forgive my lapses; for thyself may'st fall: 
Nor read unmoved my artless tender tale --
    I was a friend, O man, to thee, to all. 

1. An Eclogue. In the Manner of Mr. Gay
2. Elegy (Tir'D with the Busy Crouds)
3. On reading the Declaration of War in 1756
4. Verses occasioned by the Death of the Revd. Mr. Charles Churchill
5. Law

Matthew Prior An Epitaph ("Interr'd beneath this marble stone")

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