Oh! sweet associations Lord

Connected with these names;

The Shepherd, Vine, the cov'ring Wing
The Bright and Morning Star!

The bread and wine, and water too,
The Way, the Door, the Light,
The Rock! nor can I now omit
The Cross and seamless Coat!

Let holy thoughts arise from these
Of Thee in whom I trust;
Purify my strong affections,
Thou centre of my love.

G. T. T.

LINES WRITTEN MANY YEARS AGO, BUT VERY APPROPRIATE JUST NOW.

The gloomiest day hath gleams of light;

The darkest wave hath bright foam near it;
And twinkles through the cloudiest night
Some solitary star to cheer it:

The gloomiest soul is not all gloom;

The saddest heart is not all sadness;

And sweetly o'er the darkest doom

There shines some lingering beam of gladness:

Despair is never quite despair;

Nor life, nor death, the future closes;
And round the shadowy brow of care
Will Hope and Fancy twine their roses.

F. H.

SONNET.

May joy be thine!—the joy that springs
So fair in young untainted bosoms,
When Hope begins to plume her wings,
And pleasure spreads her first sweet blossoms.

May joy be thine !---the holy bliss,
Which to maturer hearts is given,
When, weary of a world like this,

They meekly turn their thoughts to Heaven.

May joy be thine !---the calm content
Of those, whose lengthen'd years afford
The memory of a life well spent---
The foretaste of its sure reward!

It cannot but be a subject of regret to every honest-minded person that there exist in so many of our churches such a number of profane, and, in many cases, ridiculous epitaphs; and that in some places, even in the present day, ugly tombstones, bearing the most absurd inscriptions, are permited to be erected within the consecrated enclosures, set apart for the burial of the dead. Some are simply ludicrous and vulgar; some are doggrel, in consequence of their having been composed by unlettered and ignorant persons; some are fraught with supposed wit, or playful allusions to the name of the deceased; some are positively profane and blasphemous; some contain long and often very false praises of persons of question

able lives. Alas! how few are Christian! And in order to show that these are not groundless assertions, and that they are not unqualified statements incapable of being proved, I shall give examples of each of the classes I have named, chiefly taken from the Counties of Devon and Cornwall. They are not given to be laughed at, but as warnings; as examples of what has been, is being, and may again be perpetrated.

I. Those that are ludicrous and vulgar, and doggrel on account of the ignorance of their composers:

1. IN BIDEFORD CHURCH-YARD, DEVONSHIRE.
"The wedding day appointed was,
And wedding clothes provided;
But, ere that day could come, alas !
He sicken'd and he die did."

2. IN S. CLEMENT'S CHURCH-YARD, CORNWALL.

"Father and mother and I

Chose to be buried as under,
Father and mother lies buried here,
But I lies buried yonder."

3. AT S. MAWGAN, IN KIRRIER, CORNWALL.

"Hannibal Basset here interred doth lie
who dying lives to all eternity!

He departed this life January 17th 1708, in the
twenty-second year of his age.

A lover of learning!
Shall we all dye?
We shall dye all!
All dye shall we?
Dye all! we shall!"

4. ON A TABLET IN MEMORY OF REV T. FLAVELL, IN MULLION CHURCH, CORNWALL :—

"Earth, take thy Earth; my sin let Satan havet ;
The World my goods; my Soul to God who gavet;
For from these four-Earth, Satan, World, and GoD,
My flesh, my sins, my goods, my all I had."

5. AT SOUTH PETHERWIN, CORNWALL:-
"Beneath this stone, Humphrey and Joan,
Together rest in peace;

Living indeed they disagreed,
But here all quarrels cease.'

6. AT S. TEATH, CORNWALL :

"To Doctors far and near, too oft I made my moan, They robb'd me of my money, but ease could give me none."

7. AT S. ERME, CORNWALL :—

"All you young people that this do see,

As you are now, so once was we;

As we are now, so you must be,
Therefore prepare and follow we."

II. Containing playful allusions to the name of the deceased: :

1. AT S. SAMPSON'S, SOUTH-HILL, CORNWALL

(Memorial to Michael Hill.) A. D. 1510.

Strange that this stone should tell

Of Saint turned angel Michael.

Stranger that so high a Hill

Should sink so low a vault to fill.
Strangest, when next we fleet,
If two and all we Hills do meet."

III. Profane and Blasphemous.

1. Memorial of Edward Courtney, Earl of Devonshire, in TIVERTON CHURCH, DEVON :—

His heart was established and did not shrink
Until he saw His desire upon His Enemies;
He hath dispersed abroad and given to
The Poor and His Righteousness remaineth for
Ever; His Horn shall be exalted with honour.
He hath given One hundred Pounds towards the
Repairing and beautifying this Church;
And six Hundred Pounds for building a house
For six Poor Men and six poor women, [tenance."
Born in this Parish, to live in, and towards their main-

(To be continued.)