Thomas
Gray
Archive

"[Parody on an Epitaph]"

"[Parody on an Epitaph]"


1 Now clean, now hideous, mellow now, now gruff,
2 She swept, she hissed, she ripened and grew rough,
3 At Broom, Pendragon, Appleby and Brough.

Expanding the poem lines shows notes and queries taken from various critical editions of Gray's works, as well as those contributed by users of the Archive. There are 0 textual and 2 explanatory notes/queries.

All notes and queries are shown by default.

0 "[Parody on an Epitaph]" 1 Explanatory

Title/Paratext] "The epitaph (which has never [...]" J. Bradshaw, 1891.

"The epitaph (which has never before been given along with the parody) is as follows:

"Who Faith, Love, Mercy, noble Constancy
To God, to Virtue, to Distress, to Right
Observed, expressed, showed, held religiously
Hath here this monument thou seest in sight,
The cover of her earthly part, but passenger
Know Heaven and Fame contains the best of her."
    It is on an altar tomb, with recumbent figure, in the chancel of Appleby Church; the monument was erected in 1617, to Margaret (Russell), widow of George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, by her only daughter, Anne, successively Countess of Dorset and of Pembroke and Montgomery; her own tomb, for which she also wrote the inscription, stands opposite."

The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray: English and Latin. Edited with an introduction, life, notes and a bibliography by John Bradshaw. The Aldine edition of the British poets series. London: George Bell and sons, 1891, p. 274-275.

Contribute a note or query


1 Now clean, now hideous, mellow now, now gruff,
2 She swept, she hissed, she ripened and grew rough,
3 At Broom, Pendragon, Appleby and Brough. 1 Explanatory

3.2-6 Broom, ... Brough.] "These were four castles of [...]" J. Bradshaw, 1891.

"These were four castles of the Barony of Westmoreland, which the Countess inherited, all of which she rebuilt."

The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray: English and Latin. Edited with an introduction, life, notes and a bibliography by John Bradshaw. The Aldine edition of the British poets series. London: George Bell and sons, 1891, p. 275.

Contribute a note or query

Works cited

  • The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray: English and Latin. Edited with an introduction, life, notes and a bibliography by John Bradshaw. The Aldine edition of the British poets series. London: George Bell and sons, 1891.

You can use this form to contribute an annotation to or a query about the selected passage. Your contribution will be sent to the editor for review, and will subsequently appear together with your contact details as part of the existing commentary. All contributions are covered under the Open Publication License v1.0. Please note that the form will only be submitted to the editor if all required fields are filled in. Thank you for your contribution!

Contribute a note or query

  line(s)     to  



Your details





Spelling has been modernized throughout, except in case of conscious archaisms. Contractions, italics and initial capitalization have been largely eliminated, except where of real import. Obvious errors have been silently corrected, punctuation has been supplied. The editor would like to express his gratitude to the library staff of the Göttingen State and University Library (SUB Göttingen) for their invaluable assistance.