The Memory of ſome Men is like the Roſe and other odiferous Flowers, which caſt a ſweeter and ſtronger Smell after they are plucked: the Memory of others may be ſaid to be like the Poppy, and ſuch Vegetables, that make a gay and ſpecious Shew, while they ſtand upon the Stalk, but being cut and gathered, they have but an ill-favoured Scent. The worthy Perſsons examplified in theſe Records, may be compared to the firſt Sort, as well for the ſweet Odor of a good Name they had while they ſtood, as alſo after they were cut down by the common Stroke of Mortality.
Stephen Wren, from the preface to Parentalia or Memoirs of the family of the Wrens, a family history that concentrated on his illustrious architect grandfather, Sir Christopher Wren.