outline of tombstone which includes emblems of Death and surrounds text  
AN ELEGY On the Death of the Right Honourable HENEAGE LORD FINCH, Baron of Daventry, High Chancellor of England, Earl of Nottingham; And One of the Lords of the most Honourable Privy-Council; Who Departed this Life, Decemb. 18. 1682.  
20. Dec. 1682.  

GReat FINCH is Dead, Oh! tell it not aloud,  
Lest cruel Death insult and grow too proud,  

Fraught with so rich a Spoil, whose Worth alone  
Was more than Thousand common Victims own,  
And by our Loss, alas! too dearly known.   
Let Sorrow stalk in silence, and become  
The greatness of our Grief by being Dumb:  
Let all our Eyes release their flowing springs,  
While some sad Bird his Mournful Ditty sings;  
Justice herself in sables will appear,  
As for a Son, the Darling of her Care;  
She Weeps and Mourns, and sighing sorely, stands  
Unmoved, dejected, and with folded Hands:  
Where shall be found a Man so good, so great,  
So Noble, and so every way complete;  
When young, untainted with the vice of Youth,  
A Soul made up of Innocence and Truth.  
Vice he abhorred, but Virtue was his Life,  
By which he evermore maintained the strife  
With wickedness and sin; nor would submit  
To be ungodly to be thought a Wit;  
But solid Wisdom was his only Rule,  
(All else is but pretence to gild a Fool)  
Sage Care and prudence in his Face were seen,  
Sweet, though Majestic, was his port and mien;  
His Tongue dropped Manna, sweetly did he speak,  
Nor was his Copious Fancy long to seek;  
Judgement and Eloquence together join,  
And with a perfect Harmony combine,  
To make his sense and Language both Divine,  
As in some great and Regular Design.  
But never must we hope to reach thy praise,  
He that dares highest will deserve the Bays.  

Nothing thy Merit ever can express,  
We hope but pardon, since we do confess  
Our Faults, acknowledgement will make them less.   
Thou liv'st above the power of Time and Death,  
Which though it has deprived thee of thy Breath,  
Thy Lasting Name to ages shall endure,  
Than Rocks of Adamant more firm and sure;  
Thy Universal Goodness shall be told  
Throughout the World, thy Glories be enroled  
In the great Book of Fame, where thou shalt stand  
An Instance high of Virtue's large command:  

To God thy Duty thou didst early pay,  
Presenting him the first Fruits of the Day,  
And over all thy great Concerns didst pray:   
The Pillar of the Church as well as State,  
Thou boughtst thy Honours at no easy Rate;  

But still waste caring for the Nations Peace,  
That Arts might grow, and Piety increase,  
Thy Country's Glory was thy latest wish.   
Most Loyal to thy Pr●nce, whom thou didst know  
Was placed as God's Vicegerent here below;  
And therefore didst oppose all lawless Rage,  
That threatened so to over flow the Age;  
But thou, the Chancellor, with prudent Law  
Didst keep the Factious Multitude in awe;  
Thou every part of Life didst act with skill,  
And each Relation prudently fulfil:  
And when thy Work was finished quite and done,  
The alwise God thought fit to call thee Home.    

The Epitaph.  

HEre lies the sacred Dust  
Of FINCH, as Great as Just;  
The Glory of His age,  
Who having left the Stage  
Of Mortal Life, by Death  
Has gained a better Breath.   
FINIS.   

Printed for J. Deacon, at the Rainbow, near St. Andrews-Church, in Holbourn, 1682.