into one harmony by the general sympathy.
The two powers should temper, restrain, and exalt each other. The reader
ought to know who and what the man was whom he is called upon to think
of with interest. A distinct conception should be given (implicitly
where it can, rather than explicitly) of the individual lamented.--But
the writer of an epitaph is not an anatomist, who dissects the internal
frame of the mind; he is not even a painter, who executes a portrait at
leisure and in entire tranquillity; his delineation, we must remember,
is performed by the side of the grave; and, what is more, the grave of
one whom he loves and admires. What purity and brightness is that virtue
clothed in, the image of which must no longer bless our living eyes! The
character of a deceased friend or beloved kinsman is not seen, no--nor
ought to be seen, otherwise than as a tree through a tender haze or a
luminous mist, that spiritualises and beautifies it; that takes away,
indeed, but only to the end that the parts which are not abstracted may
appear more dignified and lovely; may impress and affect the more. Shall
we say, then, that this is not truth, not a faithful image; and that,
accordingly, the purposes of commemoration cannot be answered?--It _is_
truth, and of the highest order; for, though doubtless things are not
apparent which did exist; yet, the object being looked at through this
medium, parts and proportions are brought into distinct view which
before had been only imperfectly or unconsciously seen: it is truth
hallowed by love--the joint offspring of the worth of the dead and the
affections of the living! This may easily be brought to the test. Let
one, whose eyes have been sharpened by personal hostility to discover
what was amiss in the character of a good man, hear the tidings of his
death, and what a change is wrought in a moment! Enmity melts away; and,
as it disappears, unsightliness, disproportion, and deformity, vanish;
and, through the influence of commiseration, a harmony of love and
beauty succeeds. Bring such a man to the tomb-stone on which shall be
inscribed an epitaph on his adversary, composed in the spirit which we
have recommended. Would he turn from it as from an idle tale? No;--the
thoughtful look, the sigh, and perhaps the involuntary tear, would
testify that it had a sane, a generous, and good meaning; and that on
the writer's mind had remained an impression which was a true abstract
of the character of