Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/592

 484 THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON. The following epitaph was inscribed to Mr. Thomas Wil- lett by his son-in-law, John Saffin, Esq., of Bristol : " An Epitaph on the Worshipful Thomas Willett, Esq^, WHO Deceased on the 4TH of August, 1674. Here lies Grave Willett. whose good name, Did mount upon the wings of fame, Who into place did not intrude; A star of the first magnitude. But Prudence, Piety, and Zeal, For God in Church and Commonweal. His real worth and Generous spirit. Which constantly he did inherit. Made room for him that all did see He had attained to the first three. But now he's gone to his long home, And taken from the ill to come. Lived here Desired, lamented Dyed, Is with his Savior glorified." Mr, Saffin also exercised his talent for elegiac verse, on the death of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Mary Willett. It is worthy of presentation as illustrating the stilted and pomp- ous style of that day, and the somewhat anti-traditional tes- timony to the character of a mother-in-law. An Epitaph. " On that Eminent and truly pious Matron, Mrs. Mary Willett, wife to the Worshipful Thomas Willett, Esq., who Departed this Life on the Eighth day of January, 1669. Here lyes the Peerless Paragon of fame, Mary (the vertuous) Willett is her Name. whose true Deserts to Shew Requires a Straine proceeding from a Helliconian Braine, both grace and Beauty in her face did shine Enthroned in Majesty allmost Divine. Which mixt with mildness did the more Advance The lovely splendor of her Countenance, had she lived in the days of yore when such, who ne'er Excelled in vertue half so much, She would have been above them set on hie, And been Adored as A Deitie. Yea, Venus, Pallas, Diana, and the Graces, Compared with her should all have lost their places And all those Temples for them richly stated -Should to her Honour have been dedicated. But now she's Paradised Triumphantly, Where she shall live unto Eternity."