Epitaph On Elizabeth, L. H.
by Ben Jonson
Would'st 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
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:
Fitter, where it died, to tell,
Than that it lived at all. Farewell!
Source:
Plays And Poems, 2nd EditionCopyright 1886
George Routledge And Son, Broadway, Ludgate Hill, New York: 9 Lafayette Place