The Virginian

MONUMENT TO ELBRIDGE GERRY

Congress, at their last session, passed an act, directing the superintendent of the public buildings to have erected, in the burial ground of this city, a monument, with a suitable inscription, over the tomb of Elbridge Gerry, late Vice President of the U. States ; and appropriated $1,000 to defray the expense. This work is now completed, and we have been favored with the following description of it :

The monument is chiefly in the antique style. The pedestal is pyramidal, after the manner of the Egyptian tombs ; a style comprising both strength and beauty, and particularly appropriate to sepulchres. On each of the corners is a fillet or strip of linen, tied at equal distances, forming a row of puffs, which lie in a scotia cut out of the angle. A rich and massy leaf covers each extremity of the fillet ; and a second leaf falls off at the bottom, spreading itself over the angle of the base mouldings. The ornaments of the frieze under the cornice are made up of foliage, and were all modelled up from nature. They differ on each side. The first is an assemblage of parsley leaves, the second of tulips and their leaves, the third the amaranthus, and the fourth the curled or yellow dock. Upon the parapet stands eight balusters enriched with foliage, supporting the soffit and blocks. The urn resembles in form, the Grecian vases, which have always been admired for their boldness and elegance of outline ; it is enriched with various kinds of leaves, among which the acanthus and white oak are most prominent. A towering and animated flame covers the whole. The monument is of pure white marble, from Massachusetts—the native state of the distinguished patriot whose ashes it protects. It was designed and executed by Messrs. W. & J. Frazer, native artists, of New York.

The inscription is as follows :*

The Tomb of ELBRIDGE GERRY.
Vice President of the United States, who died suddenly, in this city, November 23d, 1814, on his way to the Capitol, as President of the Senate, aged 70. Thus fulfilling his own memorable injunction—"It is the duty of every citizen, though he may have but one day to live, to devote that day to the good of his country."

And on the reverse—
Erected by order of the Congress of the United States, 1823.
[Nat. Int.]

*It was furnished by the friends of the deceased.