The Candle of Death

Alexander Smith, "On the Writing of Essays," Dreamthorp (London: Andrew Melrose, 1906), p. 20:

Take the candle of death in your hand, and walk through the stately galleries of the world, and their splendid furniture and array are as the tinsel armour and pasteboard goblets of a penny theatre; fame is but an inscription on a grave, and glory the melancholy blazon on a coffin lid.