Summary: Written not long before 31 January 1758 presumably at the request of John Clerke to commemorate his wife Jane who died 27 April 1757 aged 31. Inscribed on a mural tablet in St George's parish church, Beckenham, Kent, 1758. First published, as "An Epitaph copied from a Tomb-stone in a Country Church Yard", in The Gentleman's Magazine, October 1759.
References: Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. I, 527, item L511 (no author attribution); Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=73561> (no author attribution)
Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, headed "& Where is this Epitaph", in a volume entitled Memorials of Richard Gough, volume II, section I. "Poems preserved by Richard Gough Esq.". The volume, which is 14 5/8 x 9 3/4 in. in size and contains 320 leaves, is one of two Volumes of Poems and other interesting Memorials of Richard Gough, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A.., collected by J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols (Summary Catalogue, 32551).
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.