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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  192. On Elizabeth L. H. Epitaphs: i

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Ben Jonson. 1573–1637

192. On Elizabeth L. H. Epitaphs: i

WOULDST thou hear what Man can say 
In a little? Reader, stay. 
Underneath this stone doth lie 
As much Beauty as could die: 
Which in life did harbour give         5
To more Virtue than doth live. 
If at all she had a fault, 
Leave it buried in this vault. 
One name was Elizabeth, 
The other, let it sleep with death:  10
Fitter, where it died, to tell 
Than that it lived at all. Farewell.