Definition and Examples of Epitaphs

Definition and Examples of Epitaphs Definition (1) An epitaph is a short inscription in prose or verse on a tombstone or monument. The best epitaphs, wrote F. Lawrence in 1852, are generally the shortest and the plainest. In no description of composition is elaborate and highly ornate phraseology so much out of place (Sharpes  London  Magazine).   (2) The term epitaph may also refer to a statement or speech commemorating someone who has died: a funeral oration. Adjective: epitaphic or epitaphial. Essays on Epitaphs On Epitaphs, by E.V. LucasOn Graveyards, by Louise Imogen GuineyOn Inscriptions and the Lapidary Style, by Vicesimus KnoxOn the Selection of Epitaphs, by Archibald MacMechan Examples of Epitaphs Here lies Frank Pixley, as usual.(Composed by Ambrose Bierce for Frank M. Pixley, an American journalist and politician)Here lies my wife: here let her lie!Now shes at rest, and so am I.(John Dryden, epitaph intended for his wife)Here lies the body of Jonathan Near,Whose mouth is stretched from ear to ear;Tread softly, stranger, oer this wonder,For if he yawns, youre gone, by thunder.(Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton, Funny Epitaphs. The Mutual Book Company, 1902)ThorpesCorpse(Quoted in Gleanings from the Harvest-Fields of Literature by C. C. Bombaugh, 1860)Under the sodUnder these treesLies the body of Jonathan PeaseHe is not hereBut only his podHe has shelled out his peasAnd gone to God.(Epitaph in Old North Cemetery, Nantucket, Massachusetts, quoted in Famous Last Words, by Laura Ward. Sterling Publishing Company, 2004)Here lies a great and mighty kingWhose promise none relies on;He never said a foolish thingNor ever did a wise one.(John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, on King Charles I I) The epitaph flourished in the 17th century when writers struggled over the cultural function of the dead. . . . From the mid 18th to the early 19th century, the most important poetic epitaphs seek new ways of validating the importance of the dead.(Joshua Scodel, The English Poetic Epitaph. Cornell Univ. Press, 1991)The principle intention of epitaphs is to perpetuate the examples of virtue, that the tomb of a good man may supply the want of his presence, and veneration for his memory produce the same effect as the observation of his life.(Samuel Johnson, An Essay on Epitaphs, 1740)O Rare Ben Jonson,neither eulogy nor concision can be carried further than in those simple words, and no Latin could give the sincere and generous effect of the English...The general failure to produce a perfect inscription is the more remarkable, because the writer of epitaphs is not concerned to paint a true and accurate portrait. The purpose of an epitaph is rather to praise than to portray, since, accor ding to [Samuel] Johnsons excellent phrase, in lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath. The substance, indeed, may be commonplace, if only the style be adequate.(The Lapidary Style. The Spectator, April 29, 1899) Dorothy Parkers Epitaph for HerselfThat would be a good thing for them to carve on my tombstone: Wherever she went, including here, it was against her better judgment.(Dorothy Parker, who also said that Excuse my dust and This is on me would make suitable epitaphs) Benjamin Franklins Epitaph for HimselfThe body ofBENJAMIN FRANKLINPrinter,Like the cover of an old Book,Its contents torn out,And stript of its Lettering and GildingLies here, Food for Worms;Yet the work itself shall not be lost,For it will (as he believed) appear once moreIn a new and more beautiful editionCorrected and amended, byThe Author.(Benjamin Franklin on himself, composed many years before his death) Rebecca Wests Epitaph for the Human RaceIf the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: It seemed a good idea at the time.(Rebecca West, quoted by Mardy Grothe in Ifferisms, 2009) Further Reading Commonly Confused Words:  Epigram, Epigraph, and  EpitaphObituary

Block Right Click Access to Context Menus on Web Pages

Block Right Click Access to Context Menus on Web Pages Web novices often believe that by blocking their visitors use of the mouse right-click context menu that they can prevent the theft of their web page content. Nothing could be further from the truth. Disabling right clicks is easily sidestepped by more savvy users, and the ability to access much of a web pages code itself is a basic feature of web browsers that doesnt require a right click at all. Drawbacks There are many ways to bypass the no right click script, and in reality the only effect that such a script has is to annoy those of your visitors who legitimately use the the right-click context menu (as that menu is properly called) in their web navigation. Additionally, all of the scripts that I have seen to do this only block access to the context menu from the right mouse button. They dont consider the fact that the menu is also accessible from the keyboard. All anyone needs to do to access the menu using a 104 key keyboard is to select the object on the screen for which they want to access the context menu (for example by left clicking on it) and then press the context menu key on their keyboard- its the one immediately to the left of the right CTRL key on PC keyboards. On a 101 key keyboard, you can execute a right-click command by holding down the shift key and pressing F10. JavaScript If you would like to disable right-clicks on your web page anyway, heres a really simple JavaScript that you can use to block all access to the context menu (not just from the right mouse button but from the keyboard as well)- and really annoy your visitors. This script is even simpler than most of the ones that only block the mouse button, and it works in about as many browsers as those scripts do. Heres the entire script for you: body oncontextmenureturn false; Adding just that small piece of code to the body tag of your web page is more effective at blocking your visitors access to the context menu than the many no-right-click scripts that you can find elsewhere on the web because it blocks access from both the mouse button and from keyboard options described above. Limitations Of course, the script doesnt work in all web browsers (e.g., Opera ignores it- but then Opera ignores all of the other no-right-click scripts as well). This script also does nothing to prevent your visitors from accessing the page source using the View Source option from their browser menu, or from saving the web page and viewing the source of the saved copy in their favorite editor. And finally, though you may disable access to the context menu, that access can be easily re-enabled by users simply by typingjavascript:void oncontextmenu(null) into the address bar of the browser.