Page:Six Essays on Johnson.djvu/113

Rh goe downe my throat,’ says Aubrey, ‘but for those that can ’tis a most incomparable engine.’ And there is nothing that he takes more delight in than a funeral or an obituary monument. His descriptions of tombstones almost make you feel that it is worth the pains of dying to get so admirable a thing contrived in your honour. Of Selden he says:

This is merely one instance of Aubrey’s loving care for grave-stones and monuments. He recognized them perhaps as being among the best friends of the antiquary, and desired that they should receive all care and honour. Of Ben Jonson he says: He lies buryed in the north aisle of Westminster Abbey, in the path of square stone (the rest is lozenge) opposite to the scutcheon of Robertus de Ros, with this inscription only on him, in a pavement square, of blew marble, about 14 inches square,

which was donne at the chardge of Jack Young (