Calcutta: Past and Present — Chapter 8

Here was deposited the mortal part of a manWho feared God, but not death,And maintained independence,But sought not riches; who thoughtNone below him but the base and unjust,None above him but the wise and virtuous;Who lovedHis parents, kindred, friends, and country,With an ardourWhich was the chief source ofAll his pleasures and all his pains :And who, having devotedHis life to their service, and toThe improvement of his mind, resigned it calmly,Giving Glory to his Creator,Wishing peace on earthAnd with good will to all creatures.On the twenty-seventh day of April,In the year of our blessed Redeemer,One thousand seven hundred and ninety-four.

What was her fate? Long, long before her hour,Death called her tender soul, by break of bliss.From the first blossoms, to the buds of joy:Those few our noxious fate unblasted leavesIn this inclement clime of human life.

"Ah! what avails the sceptred race?Ah ! what the form divine?What every virtue, every grace?Rose Aylmer, all were thine.Rose Aylmer, whom these wakeful eyesMay weep but never see,A night of memories and of sighsI consecrate to thee."

To the memory ofLlEUT.-COLONEL JAMES ACHILLES KlRKPATRICK,Of the Honourable East India Company's Military Establishmentof Fort St. George,Who, after filling the distinguished station as Residentat the Court of Hyderabad upwards of nine years,And successfully conducting during that period variousimportant negociations,Died at Calcutta, 15th October, 1805, aged 41 years,This Monument is erected by his afflicted father and brothers.

Transcendent art! whose magic skill alone,Can sofien rock, and animate a stone,By symbol mark the heart, reflect the head,And raise a living image from the dead!Cease from these toils, and lend the chisel's graceTo filial virtues courting your embrace.

These relate his pride, his transport, and relief;A father's tears commemorate with grief IStill while their genial lustre cheers his breastEmits a ray that points to blissful rest :Hope built on Faith, affection's balm and cure,Divinely whispers, "Their reward is sure." (J. K.)

To the Memory ofRichmond Thackeray, Esqre.,late on the Bengal Establishment of theHonourable East India Company,who expired on the 13th September, 181 5,at the premature age of 32 years,10 months, and 23 days.To the best endowments of the understanding,and to the purest principles in public life,he united all the social and tender affections : underthe influence of these moral and intellectualqualities he ever maintained the character of apublic officer with the highest degree ofcredit to himself, and discharged in a manner

not less exemplary the duties which devolved uponhim in the several relations of private life.To transmit to prosperity a memorial ofthese virtues the present monument has beenerected by those who had the best meansof contemplating the habitual exercise of themin the varied character of a son, a brother,a husband, a father, and a friend.

To the Memory ofThomas Fitzmaurice Chambers,Son of Sir Robert and Lady Chambers,Born on the 28th October, MDCCLXXVI.Who was shipwrecked in the Grosvenor andPerished on the Coast of Africa, in August, 1782.