and naval ensigns; and in an oval niche, on a pyramid of dove-coloured
marble, is a beautiful bust of this young nobleman. On the pedestal is
this historical inscription:--"The Lord Aubrey Beauclerk was the youngest
son of Charles, Duke of St. Albans, by Diana, daughter of Aubrey de Vere,
Earl of Oxford. He went early to sea, and was made a commander in 1731. In
1740 he was sent upon that memorable expedition to Carthagena, under the
command of Admiral Vernon, in his Majesty's ship the Prince Frederick,
which, with three others, was ordered to cannonade the Castle Bocachica.
One of these being obliged to quit her station, the Prince Frederick was
exposed not only to the fire from the Castle, but to that of Fort St.
Joseph, and to two ships that guarded the mouth of the harbour, which he
sustained for many hours that day, and part of the next, with uncommon
intrepidity. As he was giving his command upon deck both his legs were
shot off; but such was his magnanimity, that he would not suffer his
wounds to be dressed till he had communicated his orders to his First
Lieutenant, which were--_To fight his ship to the last extremity_. Soon
after this he gave some directions about his private affairs, and then
resigned his soul, with the dignity of a hero and a Christian. Thus was he
taken off in the thirty-first year of his age; an illustrious commander of
superior fortitude and clemency, amiable in his person, steady in his
affection, and equalled by few in the social and domestic virtues of
politeness, modesty, candour, and benevolence. He married the widow of
Colonel F. Alexander, a daughter of Sir H. Newton, Knt.,
Envoy-Extraordinary to the Court of Florence and the Republic of Genoa,
and Judge to the High Court of Admiralty." His epitaph over the
inscription:--
"While Britain boasts her empire o'er the deep,
This marble shall compel the brave to weep:
As men, as Britons, and as soldiers mourn--
'Tis dauntless, loyal, virtuous Beauclerk's urn.
Sweet were his manners as his soul was great,
And ripe his worth, though immature his fate;
Each tender grace that joy and love inspire,
Living, he mingled with his martial fire;
Dying, he bid Britannia's thunder roar,
And Spain still felt him when he breathed no more."
--_Scheemakers, sculptor._
The stained window above commemorates the foundering of H.M.S. _Captain_,
on September 7th, 1870, when Capt. Hugh Burgoyne, V.C., Capt. Cowper
Coles, C.B., with 49 officers, and 402 men and boys, perished off Cape
Finisterre, in the service of their country. The names are inscribed on
brasses in St. Paul's Cathedral. The subjects of the window are--The Sea
giving up her Dead; The Passage through the Red Sea; The Fleet of
Solomon; Building the Ships of Tyre; Jonah delivered from the Whale;
Christ Stilling the Tempest; Christ Walking on the Sea; Christ Teaching
from the Ship; The Miraculous Draught; and the Shipwreck of St. Paul.
PERCY KIRK, Esq.--On each side of a fine bust of this gentleman is a
winged seraph; one having a dagger in his right hand inverted, and in his
left a helmet; the other resting on a ball, and holding in his left hand a
torch reversed. The inscription says, he was Lieutenant-General of his
Majesty's armies; that he died January 1, 1741, aged fifty-seven; and that
he was son of Percy Kirk, Esq., a Lieutenant-General in the reign of James
II., by the Lady Mary, daughter of George Howard, Earl of Suffolk. Diana
Dormer, his niece and sole heiress, died February 22, 1743, aged
thirty-two.--_Scheemakers, sculptor._
RICHARD KANE.--On this tomb is a curious bust of this gentleman, of white
marble, upon a handsome pedestal, whereon are inscribed the most striking
passages of his life. He was born at Down, in Ireland, Dec. 20, 1666. In
1689, he first appeared in a military capacity at the memorable siege of
Derry; and after the reduction of Ireland followed William III. into
Flanders, where he distinguished himself, particularly by his intrepid
behaviour at the siege of Namurre, where he was severely wounded. In 1702,
he bore a commission in the service of Queen Anne, and assisted in the
expedition to Canada; from whence he again returned to Flanders, and
fought under the Duke of Argyle, and afterwards under Lord Carpenter. In
1712 he was made Sub-Governor of Minorca, through which island he caused a
road to be made, before thought impracticable. In 1720 he was ordered by
George I. to the defence of Gibraltar, where he sustained an eight months'
siege against the Spaniards, when all hope of relief was extinguished; for
which gallant service he was, by George II. rewarded with the government
of Minorca, where he died, Dec. 19, 1736, and was buried in the Castle of
St. Philip.--_Rysbrack, sculp._
Bishop BRADFORD.--The inscription is in Latin, surrounded with the arms
and proper ensigns of his several dignities. He was some time Rector of
St. Mary-le-Bow, from thence advanced to the See of Carlisle and
afterwards translated to that of Rochester, with the Deanery of this
Church, and that of the Hon. Order of the Bath annexed. He died May 17,
1731, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.--_Cheere, sculptor._
Dr. BOULTER, Archbishop of Armagh.--The bust of the Archbishop is very
natural; his long flowing hair and solemn gracefulness excite a kind of
reverential respect in an attentive beholder. The ensigns of his dignity,
with which his monument is ornamented, are most exquisitely finished. The
inscription is enclosed in a beautiful border, and is as follows:--"Dr.
Hugh Boulter, late Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of all Ireland, a Prelate
so eminent for the accomplishment of his mind, the purity of his heart,
and the excellency of his life, that it may be thought superfluous to
specify his titles, recount his virtues, or even to erect a monument to
his fame. His titles he not only deserved, but adorned; his virtues are
manifest in his good works, which had never dazzled the public eye, if
they had not been too bright to be concealed; and as to his fame,
whosoever has any sense of merit, any reverence for piety, and passion for
his country, or any charity for mankind, will assist in preserving it fair
and spotless, and when brass and marble shall mix with the dust they
cover, every succeeding age may have the benefit of his illustrious
example. He was born January 4, 1671; was consecrated Bishop of Bristol,
1718; translated to the Archbishopric of Armagh, 1723; and from thence to
heaven, Sept. 27, 1742."--_S. H. Cheere, sculptor._
North Aisle.
Looking back on your left is a new monument to the memory of Sir THOMAS
FOWELL BUXTON, Bart., born April 1, 1786; died Feb. 19, 1845. Endowed with
a vigorous mind, of dauntless courage and untiring energy, he was early
led by the love of God to devote his powers to the good of man. In
Parliament he laboured for the improvement of prison discipline; for the
amendment of the criminal code, for the suppression of Suttees in India,
for the liberation of the Hottentots in Southern Africa; and, above all,
for the emancipation of eight hundred thousand slaves in the British
dominions. In this last righteous enterprise, after ten years of arduous
conflict, a final victory was given to him and his coadjutors "by the
grace of our God," on the memorable 1st of August, 1834. The energies of
his mind were afterwards concentrated on a great attempt to extinguish the
slave trade in Africa, by the substitution of agriculture and commerce,
and by the civilizing influence of the Gospel. Exhausted in mind and body,
"he fell asleep," reposing in faith on his Redeemer, in the fifty-ninth
year of his age. This monument is erected by his friends and
fellow-labourers at home and abroad, assisted by the grateful
contributions of many thousands of the African race.--_Thrupp, sculptor._
Next against the screen of the choir is a fine old monument, whereon lies
the effigy of a gentleman at full length in a tufted gown; and underneath,
upon the base, was a lady kneeling. By the inscription, these appear to
represent Sir THOMAS HESKETH, Attorney of the Court of Wards of Liveries
in Queen Elizabeth's time; and JULIAN, his wife, who caused this monument
to be erected. He died October 15, 1605.
Dame MARY JAMES.--A very neat monument, being an urn, wreathed, and
crowned with a Viscount's coronet, on a handsome pedestal. By the
inscription, it appears that this lady was the wife of Sir John James, of
the ancient family of the Lords of Hosterick, in Holland, and daughter of
Sir Robert Killigrew, Vice-Chamberlain to Henrietta Maria, Queen of
Charles I. She died Nov. 6, 1677.
HUGH CHAMBERLAIN, M.D., and F.R.S.--The principal figure on this monument
lies, as it were, at ease, upon a sarcophagus, leaning on his right arm,
with his hand upon his cap and his head uncovered. In his left hand he
holds a book, indicating thereby his intense application to study. On each
side are the emblems of physic and longevity; and over his head is Fame
descending with a trumpet in one hand, and in the other a wreath. On the
top are weeping cherubs, and on the pedestal a long inscription in Latin,
setting forth his vast knowledge and industry in his profession, his
humanity in relieving the sick, and his connections and affinities in
social and private life. This gentleman was famous for the improvements he
made in midwifery, the practice of which, since his time, has been studied
by the faculty to great advantage. He died June 17, 1728, aged
sixty-four.--_Scheemakers and Delvaux, sculptors._
Doctor SAMUEL ARNOLD, late Organist of this Church, died October 22, 1802,
aged sixty-two years. This monument was erected by his afflicted widow:--
"Oh, let thy still-loved Son inscribe thy stone,
And with a Mother's sorrows mix his own."
A sickle cutting the lyre is represented below. Turning round on your
right is--
Captain PHILIP DE SAUSMAREZ.--The inscription on this monument is a
recital of the deceased's naval exploits, one of those few whose lives
ought rather to be measured by their actions than their days. From sixteen
to thirty-seven years of age he served in the navy, and was often
surrounded with dangers and difficulties unparalleled, always proving
himself an able, active, and gallant officer. He went out a lieutenant on
board his Majesty's ship the Centurion, under the auspicious conduct of
Commodore Anson, in his expedition to the South Seas. He was commanding
officer of the same ship when she was driven from her moorings at the Isle
of Titian. In the year 1746, being Captain of the Nottingham, a sixty gun
ship, he (then alone) attacked and took the Mars, a French ship of
sixty-four guns. In the first engagement of the following year when
Admiral Anson defeated and took a squadron of French men-of-war and
Indiamen, he had an honourable share; and in the second, under Admiral
Hawke, when the enemy, after a long and obstinate resistance, was again
routed, in pursuing two ships that were making their escape, he
gloriously, but unfortunately fell. He was the son of Matthew de
Sausmarez, of the Island of Guernsey, Esq., by Ann Durell, of the Island
of Jersey, his wife. He was born November 17, 1710, killed October 14,
1747, and buried in the Old Church at Plymouth, with all the honours due
to his distinguished merits. This monument was erected by his brothers and
sisters.--_S. H. Cheere, sculptor._
Doctor CHARLES BURNEY.--A tablet with the following inscription, written
by his daughter:--"Sacred to the memory of Charles Burney, Mus. D.,
F.R.S., who, full of years and full of virtues, the pride of his family,
the delight of society, the unrivalled chief and scientific historian of
his tuneful art--beloved, revered, regretted, breathed in Chelsea College
his last sigh; leaving to posterity a fame unblemished, raised on a noble
basis of intellectual attainments. High principles and pure benevolence,
goodness with gaiety, talents with taste, were of his gifted mind the
blended attributes; while the genial hilarity of his airy spirits animated
or softened his every earthly toil: and a conscience without reproach,
prepared in the whole tenor of his mortal life, through the mediation of
our Lord Jesus Christ, his soul for heaven. Amen. Born April 7, O.S.,
1726; died April 12, 1814."
JOHN BLOW, Doctor in Music.--Under the tablet is a canon in four parts,
set to music, with enrichments, cherubs, and flowers. In the centre is an
English inscription, by which it appears he was Organist, Composer, and
Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal thirty-five years, and Organist
to this Abbey, fifteen years; that he was scholar to Dr. Christopher
Gibbons, and Master to the famous Mr. Purcell, and to most of the eminent
masters of his time. He died Oct. 1, 1708, in his sixtieth year.
WILLIAM CROFT.--On the pedestal of this monument, in bas-relief, is an
organ, and on the top a bust of the deceased, who was Doctor in Music,
Master of the Children, Organist and Composer of the Chapel Royal, and
Organist of Westminster Abbey. He died August 14, 1727, aged fifty.
DR. MONK, Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol.--This ecclesiastic is
represented in a fine brass in the centre of the aisle, holding a crosier
surmounted with the paschal lamb, the four corners representing the
evangelical emblems, while the inscription informs us that he was Bishop
of Gloucester and Bristol, Canon of Westminster, Dean of Peterborough, and
Regius Professor at Cambridge, and died June 6, 1859, aged
seventy-four.--_Hardiman._
On your left, on the choir side, against the column, is a small tablet to
the memory of HENRY PURCELL, Esq., with the following inscription:--"Here
lies Henry Purcell, who left this life, and is gone to that blessed place,
where only his harmony can be exceeded." A short, but comprehensive
epitaph, expressive of his great merit. He died Nov. 21, 1695, in his
thirty-seventh year.
Sacred to the memory of Captain GEORGE BRYAN, late of His Majesty's
Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, son of the Rev. John Bryan and Eliza
Louisa, his wife, of Hertford, in the island of Jamaica. He fell in the
month of July, 1809, in the twenty-seventh year of his age, at the battle
of Talavera, in Spain, so glorious in the annals of British valour, but so
deeply afflicting to a widowed mother. His remains were interred, with
every military honour, in the garden of the convent of St. Jeronimo, when
even the officers of the enemy joined in evincing respect to his memory
and sympathy for his untimely fate. The monument represents a mourner
reclining on the basement of a column that holds an urn, over which is the
name of Talavera. Military trophies and implements of war are
introduced.--_Bacon, jun., sculptor._
Sir THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES: his figure is seated on a handsome moulded
pedestal in serious contemplation; the following inscription
underneath:--"To the memory of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, LL.D., F.R.S.,
Lieutenant-Governor of Java, and first President of the Zoological
Society of London; born in 1781, died in 1826. Selected at an early age to
conduct the Government of the British conquests in the Indian Ocean, by
wisdom, vigour, and philanthropy, he raised Java to happiness and
prosperity unknown under former rulers. After the surrender of that Island
to the Dutch, and during his government in Sumatra, he founded an emporium
at Singapore, where he established freedom of person as the right of the
soil, and freedom of trade as the right of the port, he secured to the
British flag the maritime superiority of the Indian Seas. Ardently
attached to science, he laboured successfully to add to the knowledge and
enrich the museums of his native land: in promoting the welfare of the
people committed to his charge, he sought the good of his country and the
glory of God."--_Chantrey, sculptor._
ALMERICUS DE COURCY, Baron of Kinsale.--His Lordship is here represented
in full proportion, reposing himself, after the fatigues of an active
life, under a rich canopy, finely ornamented and gilt. He was descended,
as his inscription shows, from the famous John de Courcy, Earl of Ulster,
who, in the reign of John, in consideration of his great valour, obtained
that extraordinary privilege to him and his heirs, of standing covered
before the King. This nobleman was greatly in favour with Charles II. and
James II., and commanded a troop of horse under the latter. He died Feb.
9, 1719, aged fifty-seven.
"To the memory of WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, born in Hull, August 24, 1759, died
in London, July 29, 1833. For nearly half a century a member of the House
of Commons, and for six parliaments during that period one of the two
representatives for Yorkshire. In an age and country fertile in great and
good men, he was among the foremost of those who fixed the character of
their time; because to high and various talents, to warm benevolence, and
to universal candour, he added the abiding eloquence of a Christian life.
Eminent as he was in every department of public labour, and a leader in
every work of charity, whether to relieve the temporal or the spiritual
wants of his fellow men, his name will ever be specially identified with
those exertions which, by the blessing of God, removed from England the
guilt of the African Slave Trade, and prepared the way for the abolition
of slavery in every colony in the empire. In the prosecution of these
objects, he relied not in vain on God: but in the progress, he was called
to endure great obloquy and great opposition. He outlived, however, all
enmity, and in the evening of his days withdrew from public life and
public observation to the bosom of his family. Yet he died not unnoticed
or forgotten by his country: the Peers and Commons of England, with the
Lord Chancellor and the Speaker at their head, in solemn procession from
their respective houses, carried him to his fitting place among the mighty
dead around, here to repose, till, through the merits of Jesus Christ his
only Redeemer and Saviour, whom in his life and in his writings he had
desired to glorify, he shall rise in the resurrection of the just." His
figure is seated on a pedestal, very ingeniously done, and truly
expressive of his age, and of the pleasure he seemed to derive from his
own thoughts.--_Joseph, sculptor._
Above is Dr. PLENDERLEATH.--A medallion of the deceased is fixed up with
ribbon, under which is Hygeia, the cup of health, a serpent twining round,
and a bough of cypress lying on it. Below is written in a book--"He
healed--'many that were sick of divers diseases.'" (St. Mark, i. 34.)
Under the book is an Æsculapius as an emblem of physic. "In memory of Dr.
John Plenderleath, third son of John Plenderleath, Esq., of Glen, in
Tweedale, Scotland, Physician to the forces serving under the Marquis of
Wellington in Portugal, who died at Coimbra, of a typhus fever, on the
18th of June, 1811, aged twenty-eight years. He was eminently
distinguished by the strength of his mental faculties, his great classical
and professional knowledge; and no less by the humanity of his heart,
which manifested itself on all occasions, and especially towards the
numerous sick and wounded, both of his countrymen and of the enemy, which
were committed to his care. In commemoration of his public virtues, and of
his many amiable qualities in private life, this monument is erected as a
small tribute of parental affection."--_Bacon, jun., sculptor._
A monument to Sir THOMAS DUPPA, prettily ornamented with flowers and
foliage, and on the top with an urn wreathed. The inscription shows that
Sir Thomas in his youth waited on Charles II. when he was Prince of Wales.
He was afterwards made Gentleman Usher and Daily Waiter, and then
Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, in which office he died, April 25, 1694,
aged 75.
Behind you, looking upwards, in the window is a monument to the Rev.
EVELYN LEVETT SUTTON, M.A., Prebendary of Westminster, Rector of High
Holden, in the Isle of Thanet. Born 1777. On Sunday, 25th January, 1834,
when reading the Ninth Commandment, suddenly fell down, was removed from
the choir to his house, where he died the same evening. The inscription is
as follows:--"The learning of the scholar, the benevolence of the
Christian, obtained the esteem of the wise and the good, while his
graceful wit, classic elegance of mind, and gentle and generous heart,
made him the delight of all that knew him; his widow, now happiest when
recalling her husband's worth and love, seeks, on this monument, to record
her loss and her affection." A female is represented in front of the
pedestal, resting her head on books of divinity.--_Chantrey, sculptor._
"To the memory of Sir GEORGE LEONARD STAUNTON, Bart., of Cargin, county of
Galway, Ireland. His life was devoted to his country's service, in various
parts of the globe; his conduct on all occasions was distinguished by
firmness, prudence, and integrity, and in a peculiar manner displayed in
the treaty of peace concluded with Tippoo Sultan, in 1784, by which the
British interests in India were promoted and secured. Born 19th April,
1737; died 14th January, 1801." Sir George seems expounding the law to a
native. A tiger is represented at the east end of the
monument.--_Chantrey, sculptor._
Beneath is a fine bust of Admiral WEST.--The inscription is remarkable for
historical relation, viz.:--"Sacred to the memory of Temple West, Esq.,
who, dedicating himself from his earliest youth to the naval service of
his country, rose with merit and reputation to the rank of Vice-Admiral of
the White. Sagacious, active, industrious, a skilful seaman, cool,
intrepid, and resolute, he proved himself a gallant officer. In the signal
victory obtained over the French, May 3, 1747, he was Captain of the ship
which carried Sir Peter Warren, and acquired peculiar honour, even on that
day of general glory. In the less successful engagement near Minorca, May
20, 1756, wherein, as Rear-Admiral, he commanded the second division, his
distinguished courage and animated example were admired by the whole
British squadron; confessed by that of France; and, amidst the national
discontent which followed, rewarded, as they deserved, by the warmest
applauses of his country, and the just approbation of his Sovereign. On
the 17th November following, he was appointed one of the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty. He adorned his station by a modesty which
concealed from him his own merit, and a candour which disposed him to
reward that of others. With these talents he possessed the milder graces
of domestic life: to the frank and generous spirit of an officer, he added
the ease and politeness of a gentleman; and with the moral and social
virtues of a good man, he exercised the duties of a Christian. A life so
honourable to himself, so dear to his friends, so useful to his country,
was ended at the age of forty-three, A.D. 1757. To preserve to posterity
his fame, and his example, this monument was erected by the daughter of
the brave unfortunate Balchen, the wife of Temple West, A.D. 1761."
On the next monument are placed the arms of RICHARD LE NEVE, Esq., with
the instruments of war. The English inscription informs us, that being
made commander of his Majesty's ship the Edgar, he was unfortunately
killed in the twenty-seventh year of his age, in that sharp engagement
with the Hollanders, on the 11th August, 1673.
Sir EDMUND PRIDEAUX, Bart.--Near this monument, in one grave, in the
middle aisle, are deposited the remains of Sir Edmund Prideaux, of
Netherton, in Devonshire, Bart., and Dame ANN, his second wife. He
departed this life, February 26, 1728, in his fifty-fifth year; and she
the 10th May, 1741, aged fifty-five years. Their daughter Ann erected this
monument to their memories.--_Cheere, sculptor._
Dame ELIZABETH CARTERET.--She was daughter of Sir Edward Carteret, Knight,
Gentleman Usher to Charles I., and second wife and relict of Sir Philip de
Carteret, and by him mother of Sir Charles Carteret, her only son, by
whose death was extinguished the eldest branch of the ancient family of
the Carterets, Signeurs of St. Owen, in the Isle of Jersey. She died March
26, 1717, aged fifty-two.
Opposite is the tablet of Dr. PETER HEYLIN, on the top of which are the
arms of Heylin. On the face of the tablet is a long Latin inscription
greatly to his praise. Died May 8, 1662, aged 63.
A tablet to CHARLES WILLIAMS, Esq.--The scrollwork and scalloping are
somewhat remarkable. The inscription tells us that the deceased was of
Caerleon, in Monmouthshire, a strenuous defender of the Church and public
liberty, and a good and generous man. He died August 29, 1720, aged
eighty-seven.