which are habitually referred the nearest concerns of both.

As, then, both in cities and villages, the dead are deposited in close
connection with our places of worship, with us the composition of an
epitaph naturally turns, still more than among the nations of antiquity,
upon the most serious and solemn affections of the human mind; upon
departed worth--upon personal or social sorrow and admiration--upon
religion, individual and social--upon time, and upon eternity.
Accordingly, it suffices, in ordinary cases, to secure a composition of
this kind from censure, that it contain nothing that shall shock or be
inconsistent with this spirit. But, to entitle an epitaph to praise,
more than this is necessary. It ought to contain some thought or feeling
belonging to the mortal or immortal part of our nature touchingly
expressed; and if that be done, however general or even trite the
sentiment may be, every man of pure mind will read the words with
pleasure and gratitude. A husband bewails a wife; a parent breathes a
sigh of disappointed hope over a lost child; a son utters a sentiment of
filial reverence for a departed father or mother; a friend perhaps
inscribes an encomium recording the companionable qualities, or the
solid virtues, of the tenant of the grave, whose departure has left a
sadness upon his memory. This and a pious admonition to the living, and
a humble expression of Christian confidence in immortality, is the
language of a thousand church-yards; and it does not often happen that
anything, in a greater degree discriminate or appropriate to the dead or
to the living, is to be found in them. This want of discrimination has
been ascribed by Dr. Johnson, in his Essay upon the epitaphs of Pope, to
two causes; first, the scantiness of the objects of human praise; and,
secondly, the want of variety in the characters of men; or, to use his
own words, 'to the fact, that the greater part of mankind have no
character at all.' Such language may be holden without blame among the
generalities of common conversation; but does not become a critic and a
moralist speaking seriously upon a serious subject. The objects of
admiration in human nature are not scanty, but abundant: and every man
has a character of his own, to the eye that has skill to perceive it.
The real cause of the acknowledged want of discrimination in sepulchral
memorials is this: That to analyse the characters of others, especially
of those whom we love, is not