The miscellaneous works and novels of R. C. Dallas ::

'Tis but a frame of earth that moulders here;
B---, immortal, fills her native sphere:
Bursting the shell that kept her from the skies,
With early virtue crown'd she early flies.
Yet dear the frame to those who knew her worth,
Who saw her animate that fragile earth,
Saw the light form that thro' its smile benign
Spoke the quick transit of its charge divine;

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Saw grace, and youth, and sprightliness, and sense,
The charms of friendship and of taste dispense:
'Tis theirs to mourn, 'tis theirs the loss to prove,
And pay the tribute of terrestrial love:
But weep not, thou, whom leisure leads to glean
A sacred moral from this mortal scene;
Rather to thine own bosom turn, enquire
If vice imbrute thee, or if virtue fire;
If impious pride the saving God deny,
Or hope and peace the Christian lore supply;
With pious awe these sacred mansions tread,
And learn to live for ever of the dead.

University of Virginia Library

EPITAPH ON GEORGIANA B---.