"[Epitaph on Mrs Clerke]"

• Archive Work ID: poems.epmc
• Uniform Title: "[Epitaph on Mrs Clerke]" [e-text]
• First Line: Lo! where this silent marble weeps,
• Language: English
• First Published: 1758 (pr. 1759)
• References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 52; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 207-209
• 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.

4 Manuscripts:

• • Archive MS ID: mss.0053 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: [untitled]
  • Date: 31 January 1758
  • Physical Description: [1?] page; autograph
  • Language: English
  • Location: HM 21912, Department of Manuscripts, The Huntington, San Marino, CA, USA <https://www.huntington.org/library-collections>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 41, 83; Toynbee/Whibley (eds.), Correspondence (1971), letter no. 266, vol. ii, 559-561 (subscription required)
  • Contents: Autograph of an 18-line version, here untitled and beginning "Lo! where this little Marble weeps" in a letter to Edward Bedingfield, 31 January 1758.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0054 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: [untitled]
  • Date: [1759?]
  • Physical Description: [1?] page; transcript possibly in the hand of Richard Hurd
  • Language: English, Latin
  • Location: Hurd Library, Hartlebury Castle, Hartlebury, UK <https://www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk/museums/county-museum-hartlebury/>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 42, 83; Pearce, E. H. and Leonard Whibley (eds.), The Correspondence of Richard Hurd and William Mason (Cambridge, 1932), 168
  • Contents: Transcript, possibly in the hand of Richard Hurd, here untitled and headed "By Mr. Gray", together with a Latin version, in the papers of Richard Hurd.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0228 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: "Epitaph on M^rs. Clarke"
  • Date: 1780[?]
  • Physical Description: 4 pages, 180 mm x 110 mm; transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand on Whatman paper
  • Language: English
  • Location: MS Add. 439, "Poems" section, 109-112, The Archives, York Minster Library & Archives, York, UK <https://yorkminster.org/treasures-and-collections.html>
  • Contents: Transcript in an unidentified neat and legible hand, entitled "Epitaph on M^rs. Clarke" (p. 109) ("Epitaph. I." [p. 111]). The poem, which is annotated "This Lady, the Wife of D^r. Clarke, Physician at Epsom, died April, 27, 1757; and is buried in the Church of Beckenham, Kent" on the title page, is part of a section called "Poems", which is separately paginated and has its own table of contents (p. 129), in a volume entitled Gray's Poems. The book carries the bookplate of Gray's friend and biographer William Mason.
  
  
• • Archive MS ID: mss.0245 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: [untitled]
  • Date: 1769[?]
  • Physical Description: 1 page, 220 mm x 162 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand
  • Language: English
  • Location: BOD MS Eng.poet.c.6, f. 93, Special Collections, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, Oxford, UK <http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston/finding-resources/locations>
  • 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.