...buried in Westminster Abbey, where a monument, bearing the following inscription, is erected : — " Life is a jest, and all things show it ; I thought so once ; but now I know it. GAY, Of manners gentle, of affections mild ; In wit a man ; simplicity a child : With native humour...

...clumsy compliment, there an irreverent sneer, and on one—Gay's monument—an irreligious scoff:— " Life is a jest, and all things show it; I thought so once, but now I know it." We have before us a thick folio volume by Tolderoy,—a collecVOL. VI.—NO. I. 11 tion of such epitaphs...

...versification, and a style of expression easy and apposite. The epitaph he proposed for himself, " Life's a jest, and all things show it ; I thought so once, but now I know it ' — is the flippant tribute of folly to irreligion. His friends, "Charles and Catherine, Duke and...

...Faerie Queene," and not far off is one to the memory of John Gray ; the epitaph written by himself : "Life is a jest, and all things show it, — I thought so once, and now I know it." TOMBS OF GAT, THOMSON, AND OTHERS. 15 I passed on to the tomb of Thomson, author...

...Pope de faire graver sur son tombeau pour épitaphe les deux vers suivants : " Life is a jest, and ail things show it ; I thought so once, but now I know it." " La vie est une farce, et tout le fait biea voir, Je le pensais jadis, et je le sais ce soir ! " ,...

...Shakspeare ; and I road the irreverent epitaph of Gay, fhe author of the "Beggar's Opera," * • " Life is a jest, and all things show it, I thought so once, but now I know it." i Near by, also, I saw the monument to David Garrick, which Charles Lamb justly censures for its frivolous...

...unwholesome dew ; So fades the blossom on its early bed, When storms and tempests sear its tender head. 657. Life is a jest, and all things show it, I thought so once, but now I know it. JOHN GAY. 658. My life ! my love I my precious babe I How dear thou wast to me, That Mother only knows...

...to come—until arrived at years of discretion, when I suppose I shall exclaim,— " Life's a farce, and all things show it, I thought so once, but now I know it." Well, thank goodness, the castle party are on the wing, and I wish them joy of their drive home, with...

...attempted unimproved. John Gay's monument is on the left of this, with those foolish lines as an epitaph: "Life is a jest, and all things show it; I thought so once, but now I know it." It seems unjust to let this worthless couplet remain as an indication of the poet's character, whose...

...any painful emotions of remorse, which only serve to feed melancholy, and nurse despondence. ' Life's a jest, and all things show it ; I thought so once, but now I know it.' Too much care cankers the soul, and incessant labour undermines the stoutest constitution. So, too...