The Susan Burney Letters Project

An Epitaph for Susan Burney

Learn, pensive reader, who may pass this way,
That underneath this stone remains the clay
That held a soul as pure, inform'd, refin'd,
As e'er to erring mortal was assign'd.
Closed are those eyes whose radiance, mild, yet bright,
Beamed all that gives to feeling souls delight!
Quench'd are those rays of spirit, taste, and sense,
Pure emanations of benevolence,
That could alike instruct, appease, control,
And speak the genuine dictates of the soul.

Charles Burney

(Susan Burney portrait by Edward Burney 1760-1848)