Upon my going into the church，I entertained myself with the digging of a grave；and saw in every shovelful of it that was thrown up，the fragment of a bone or skull intermixt with a kind of fresh mouldering earth，that some time or other had a place in the composition of a human body．Upon this I began to consider with myself what innumerable multitudes of people lay confused together under the pavement of that ancient cathedral；how men and women，friends and enemies，priests and soldiers，monks and prebendaries，were crumbled amongst one another，and blended together in the same common mass；how beauty，strength，youth，with old age，weakness，and deformity，lay undistinguished in the same promiscuous heap of matter．
After having thus surveyed this great magazine of mortality，as itwere，in the lump；I examined it more particularly by the accounts whichI found on several of the monuments which are raised in every quarterof that ancient fabric．Some of them were cow~red with such extravagantepitaphs，that，if it were possible for the dead person to be acquaintedwith them．he would blush at the praises which his friends have bestowedupon him．There are others SO excessively modest，that they deliver thecharacter of the person departed in Greek or Hebrew，and bV that meansare not understood once in a twelvemonth．In the poetical quarterI foundthere were poets who had no monuments，and monuments which had nopoets．I observed，indeed，that the present war has filled the church withmany of these uninhabited monuments，whicih had been erected to thememory of persons whose bodies were perhaps buried in the plains ofBlenheim，or in the bosom of the ocean． I could not but be very much delighted with several modem epitaphs，which are written with great elegance of expression and justness ofthought，and therefore do honour to the living as well as to the dead．Asa foreigner is very apt to conceive an idea of the ignorance of politenessof a nation，from the turn of their public monuments and inscriptions，they should be submitted to the perusal of men of learning and genius，before they are put in execution．Sir Cloudesly Shovel’S monument hasvery often given me great offence：instead of the brave rough EnglishAdmiral，which was the distinguishing character of that plain gallantman，he is represented on his tomb by the figure of a beau，dressed in along periwig，and reposing himself upon velvet cushions under a canopyof state．The inscription iS answerable to the monument；for instead ofcelebrating the many remarkable actions he had performed in the serviceof his country，it acquaints US only with the mariner of his death，in whichit was impossible for him to reap any honour．The Dutch．whom we areapt to despise for deficient of genius，show an infinitely greater taste of antiquity and politeness in their buildings and works of this nature，than what we meet with in those of our own country．The monuments of their admirals，which have been erected at the public expense，represent them like themselves；and are adorned with rostral crowns and naval ornaments，with beautiful festoons of seaweed，shells，and coral．