Epitaph To A Dog


Near this spot Are deposited the Remains
Of one Who Possessed Beauty
Without Vanity, Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferocity,
And all the Virtues of Man
Without his Vices.

This Praise, which would be unmeaning flattery
If inscribed over Human Ashes,
Is but a just tribute to the Memory of "Boatswain," a Dog
Who was born at Newfoundland, May, 1803,
And died at Newstead Abbey Nov. 18, 1808.

Lord Byron