WITHIN THESE WALLS ARE DEPOSITED THE REMAINS OF THE REV. EDWARD BOLTON, AND CHAPLAIN IN ORDINARY TO HIS MAJESTY. THROUGH A LONG AND VIRTUOUS LIFE HE MAINTAINED WITH FIRMNESS BUT WITH MILDNESS THE PURE CHARACTER OF A CHRISTIAN MINISTER; WITH UNBOUNDED TENDERNESS THE TIES OF CONJUGAL AND PARENTAL AFFECTION; WITH IMPARTIAL JUSTICE THE DIGNITY OF A MAGISTRATE; AND WITH UNSHAKEN CONSTANCY THE WARMTH OF SINCERE FRIENDSHIP. RICHARD INGRAM, ESQ., A NATIVE OF ST. PAUL'S PARISH, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON, AND FOR MORE THAN FORTY YEARS AN INHABITANT OF WHITE LADIES, NEAR WORCESTER, AGED 63, AND WAS INTERRED IN THE BURYING-GROUND OF THIS CHAPEL. INDEPENDENT IN SPIRIT AS WELL AS FORTUNE, AND UNAMBITIOUS ALIKE OF STATION AND OF FAME, THE PURE AND CALM PLEASURES OF A STUDIOUS LIFE, HE HAD BEEN CALLED TO THE BAR IN 1771. HE WAS A PROFOUND SCHOLAR WITHOUT PEDANTRY, AN ACUTE CRITIC WITHOUT ACRIMONY, UNWEARIED IN HIS RESEARCHES UPON THE MOST INTERESTING SUBJECTS OF THEOLOGY AND ETHICS, UNSHAKEN IN HIS ATTACHMENT TO THE NOBLEST PRINCIPLES OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, EXEMPLARY IN UNITING THE DUTIES OF JUSTICE WITH THE DELICACIES OF HONOUR, AND ALL THE AMIABLE GRACES OF NATIVE BENEVOLENCE. IN THE BELIEF OF A REDEEMER, ON THE TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY OF AUGUST, A. D. 1812, DIED AT BRADENHAM, NEAR HIGH-WYCOMBE, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, IN THE 85th YEAR OF HER AGE, ELIZABETH DEALTRY, ELDEST DAUGHTER OF RICHARD LANGLEY, ESQ. OF WYKEHAM ABBEY IN YORKSHIRE, AND RELICT OF JOHN DEALTRY, ONCE THE HIGHLY-FAVOURED PUPIL OF THE CELEBRATED DR. BOERHAAVE, AND AFTERWARDS AN EMINENT PHYSICIAN IN THE CITY OF YORK. THE MEMORY OF THIS EXCELLENT WOMAN WAS RETENTIVE, HER JUDGMENT WAS EXACT, AND THE KNOWLEDGE WHICH SHE HAD ACQUIRED FROM BOOKS WAS BOTH ORNAMENTAL AND USEFUL, DIFFUSING ITSELF WITHOUT OSTENTATION OVER THE GAYEST AND MOST SERIOUS SUBJECTS, AND ADAPTING ITSELF WITHOUT EFFORT TO THE LIGHTER AND MORE IMPORTANT CONCERNS OF SOCIAL LIFE. HER PENETRATION INTO THE CHARACTERS OF THOSE WITH WHOM SHE CONVERSED WAS ACUTE, NOT PRECIPITATE : HER REMARKS UPON ALL THEIR PROMINENT AND ALL THEIR LATENT VARIETIES WERE LUMINOUS FROM GOOD SENSE, NOT DAZZLING FROM REFINEMENT: IN THE DISTINCTIONS WHICH SHE MADE BETWEEN MERIT AND DEMERIT, HER UNDERSTANDING WAS NEITHER MISLED BY PREJUDICE NOR WARPED BY ENVY : HER PRAISE WAS APPROPRIATE WITHOUT EXAGGERATION, AND HER CENSURE WAS SIGNIFICANT WITHOUT ASPERITY. FORMED BY THAT PLAN OF FEMALE EDUCATION WHICH PREVAILED IN THE REIGN OF GEORGE II., SHE UNITED THE MOST UNRUFFLED TEMPER WITH THE MOST DELICATE SENSIBILITY. BY PROMOTING IN HER FAMILY AND HER NEIGHBOURHOOD WHICH ARE SUITED TO THE VIVACITY OF YOUTH, SHE THREW AROUND OLD AGE AN ASPECT AT ONCE AMIABLE AND VENERABLE. OF JUDICIOUS INQUIRY AND FREQUENT MEDITATION, THEY WERE EXEMPT ALIKE FOM THE WEAKNESS OF SUPERSTITION AND THE REVERIES OF FANATICISM : THEY SOFTENED THE HEART, WHILE THEY ENLIGHTENED THE HEAD: THEY REGULATED HER ACTIONS IN THIS WORLD, AND THEY ELEVATED HER HOPES TO A FUTURE AND BETTER STATE. FOR MORE THAN THE SPACE OF 20 YEARS SHE WAS AFFLICTED WITH BLINDNESS, AND FOR 3 YEARS WITH PALSY. BUT THESE EVILS, WHICH, AMONG THE GENERALITY OF MANKIND, MIGHT HAVE CLOUDED THE BRIGHTNESS OF EVERY JOY, AND DEEPENED THE GLOOM OF EVERY SORROW, SHE PRESERVED THE UNIMPAIRED AND READY USE OF HER INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES, AND WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF HER CHILDREN, AS READERS TO HER, SHE OBTAINED FOR HER CURIOSITY THE CHOICEST GRATIFICATIONS WHICH BOOKS COULD SUPPLY: SHE WAS RESCUED FROM THE ALTERNATE VICISSITUDES OF MELANCHOLY AND INQUIETUDE, WHICH OFTEN ACCOMPANY THE LOSS OF SIGHT AND DEBILITY OF LIMBS; AND TO HER HABITS OF OBSERVATION UPON THE EVENTS OF EARLIER AND HAPPIER TIMES, FOR CALM AND SOLID REFLECTION. SURROUNDED BY THE RESPECT OF HER ACQUAINTANCE, BY THE GRATITUDE OF HER DOMESTICS, BY THE CONFIDENCE OF HER FRIENDS, AND BY THE MOST TENDER AFFECTION, AND DUTIFUL ATTENTIONS OF AN ELDEST SON, (THE ONLY SURVIVOR OF TWO INFANT BROTHERS) AND ALSO OF TWO DAUGHTERS, ALL OF WHOM HAD RESIDED WITH HER FROM THEIR YOUTH, AND WHO FELT THEIR OWN HAPPINESS INSEPARABLY CONNECTED WITH THE COMFORTS AND ENJOYMENTS OF A MOST DESERVING PARENT, SHE SUNK WITHOUT A STRUGGLE UNDER THE INSTANTANEOUS AND SILENT STROKE OF THAT DEATH, THE APPROACH OF WHICH SHE HAD LONG CONTEMPLATED WITH UNFEIGNED AND UNSHAKEN RESIGNATION TO THE WILL OF HER CREATOR. |