Scan 511
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
22 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 415. See the scan on archive.org.
1DR. JOHNSON'S EPITAPH ON PHILLIPS, THE WELSH VIOLINIST.
3Johnson and Garrick were sitting together, when among other things Garrick repeated an epitaph upon Phillips, by a Dr. Wilkes, which was very commonplace, and Johnson said to Garrick, "I think, Davy, I can make a better." Then, stirring about his tea for a little while in a state of meditation, he, almost extempore, produced the following verses :—*
5"Phillips, whose touch harmonious could remove
6The pangs of guilty power or hapless love;
7Rest here, distress'd by poverty no more;
8Here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before;
9Sleep undisturbed within this peaceful shrine,
10Till angels wake thee with a note like thine!"
12Boswell remarks, "This epitaph is so exquisitely beautiful that I remember even Lord Kames, strangely prejudiced as he was against Dr. Johnson, was compelled to allow it very high praise. It has
14* Boswell says, "Mr. Garrick appears not to have recited the verses correctly, the original being as follows. One of the various readings is remarkable, and it is the germ of Johnson's concluding line :—
16"Exalted soul, thy various sounds could please
17The love-sick virgin, and the gouty ease;
18Could jarring crowds, like old Amphion, move
19To beauteous order and harmonious love;
20Rest here in peace, till angels bid thee rise,
21And meet thy Saviour's concert in the skies."
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