13 SEPTEMBER 1884, Page 17

RARE EPITAPHS.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]

Sm,—Among the communications which you have printed on this subject, I have not observed any reference to the well- known one in Massachnsets.

A sorrowing and pious parent had inscribed the following two lines to the memory of his dead child :—

"We cannot have all things to please us, Poor little Tommy's gone to Jesus."

A sympathetic reader, mistaking the point of the lament, added the lines :— " Cheer up, dear friend,—all may yet be well,

Perhaps poor little Tommy's gone to Hell."

I am, Sir, cItc.,

Sevenoaks, September 9th, 1884. WILLIAM TRUMAN.