AN INSCRIPTION.
[To TUE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—If you are not weary of inscriptions, you may like to see one in the true English expansive manner, copied from a.
monument in Ludford Church, to "Dorothy, wife of Job Charlton, of Ludford House, heiress of Wm. Blunden, of Bishop's Castle" :—
"She was in her sphere a great example and encourager of Vertue and Piety ; much conversant in ye Holy. Scriptures, but webout affectation to show it. She had a Christian Valour and Constancy of Mind wo' no Wind of Doctrine nor Discontinence of the Times could shake, yet with Pleasantness and much Meekness of Spirit, a deep and serious Love to all her relations, yet w"out Fondness. Her private Devotions, pious Nurture of her Children, and offices of Charity (in all w" she was eminet) tooke up y' most of her time. But she was most delighted in ye times of Publicke Worship. Thus having finish'd her course in ye short time of 29 yeeres & 8 months she fulfilled a long time & ye Lord tooke her from - the evils to come on ye 21 Feb' 1658."
It is not often that "the glorious R,estauration" is described so candidly. I think attention has been called by yourself or your correspondents to that important branch of inscrip- tions, the dedication of books. Our literature is rich -in examples both ancient and modern. My friend, Mr. W. W. Fowler, will perhaps forgive me for saying that one of the
best in modern Latin seems to me his dedication of "A Year
with the Birds"
" Patri meo
Qui cum aucupis winkle
Avium Amorem Fibo Tradidit."
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