Historical Description of Westminster Abbey Part 16

And blest, that timely from our scene remov'd, Thy soul enjoys that liberty it lov'd!

To these so mourn'd in death, so loved in life, The childless parent and the widow'd wife, With tears inscribed this monumental stone, That hold their ashes, and expects her own."

Mr. Rowe was Poet Laureate, and author of several fine tragedies; and, just before his death, had finished a translation of Lucan's Pharsalia.--_Rysbrack, sculptor._

JAMES THOMSON, author of the Seasons, and other Poetical Works. The figure of Mr. Thomson leans its left arm upon a pedestal, holding a book in one hand, and the Cap of Liberty in the other. Upon the pedestal, in bas-relief, are the Seasons; to which a boy points, offering him a laurel crown, as the reward of his genius. At the feet of the figure is the tragic mask and the ancient harp. The whole is supported by a projecting pedestal, and in a panel is the following inscription:--"James Thomson, _aetatis 48, Obit 27 August, 1748_. Tutored by thee, sweet Poetry exalts her voice to ages, and informs the page with music, image, sentiment, and thought, never to die!" Erected 1762.--_Spang, sculptor._

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.--Both the design and workmanship of this monument are extremely elegant. The figure of Shakspeare, and his att.i.tude, his dress, his shape, his genteel air, and fine composure, all so delicately expressed by the sculptor, cannot be sufficiently admired; and those beautiful lines of his that appear on the scroll are very happily chosen:--

"The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve.

And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, Leave not a wreck behind."--_The Tempest._

The heads on the pedestal, representing Henry V., Richard III., and Queen Elizabeth (three princ.i.p.al characters in his plays), are likewise proper ornaments to grace his tomb. In short, the taste that is here shown does honour to those great names under whose direction, by the public favour, it was so elegantly constructed: namely, the Earl of Burlington, Dr. Mead, Mr. Pope, and Mr. Martin. It was designed by Kent, executed by Scheemakers, and the expanse defrayed by the grateful contributions of the public, 125 years after his death. He died April 24, 1617, in his 53rd year, and was buried in the great church at Stratford.

In front of this monument are buried Dr. Johnson, Garrick, Henderson, Sheridan, Campbell, and Cary.

"To the memory of Mrs. PRITCHARD, this tablet is here placed by a voluntary subscription of those who admired and esteemed her. She retired from the stage, of which she had long been the ornament, in the month of April, 1768, and died at Bath in the month of August following, in the fifty-seventh year of her age.

"Her comic vein had every charm to please, 'Twas nature's dictates breathed with nature's ease: E'en when her powers sustain'd the tragic load, Full, clear, and just, the harmonious accents flow'd; And the big pa.s.sions of her feeling heart Burst freely forth and shamed the mimic art.

Oft on the scene, with colours not her own, She painted Vice, and taught us what to shun; One virtuous track her real life pursu'd, That n.o.bler part was uniformly good; Each duty there to such perfection wrought.

That, if the precepts fail'd, the example taught."

_W. Whitehead, P.L._

_Hayward, sculptor._

Above is a bust to ROBERT SOUTHEY (Poet Laureate); born August 12, 1774; died March 21, 1843.--_Weekes, sculptor._

THOMAS CAMPBELL, LL.D., Author of "The Pleasures of Hope," thrice Lord-Rector of the University of Glasgow, founder of the Polish a.s.sociation, &c. He was born July 27, 1777; died at Boulogne, June 15, 1844; and was buried with great public solemnity, near this spot, on the 3rd of July following. As a cla.s.sic poet, a warm philanthropist, a staunch friend of literary men, he possessed the highest qualities of mind and heart. His Patriotic Lyrics breathe the very spirit of British freedom and independence; while his other poems--all models of composition--are richly imbued with the spirit of moral and religious sentiment. This statue, from the cla.s.sic chisel of W. C. Marshall, R.A., was erected on the 1st of May, 1855. The pedestal as it now stands, was the gift of a lady (sister-in-law of Dr. Beattie, the Poet's physician and biographer). The highly appropriate Lines inscribed upon it are taken from "_The Last Man_:"--

"This spirit shall return to HIM Who gave its heavenly spark; Yet think not, sun, it shall be dim When thou thyself art dark!

No--it shall live again, and shine In bliss unknown to beams of thine, By HIM recall'd to breath Who captive led captivity.

Who robbed the Grave of Victory, And took the sting from Death!"

The statue represents the Poet in his academic robes of Lord-Rector and the relieved figure, with the torch, the triumph of immortal HOPE, as described in the following lines:--

"Eternal Hope! when yonder spheres sublime Peal'd their first notes to sound the march of Time, Thy joyous youth began, but shall not fade.-- When all the sister planets have decayed, When wrapped in fire, the realms of ether glow, And Heaven's last thunder shakes the world below, Thou, undismayed, shall o'er the ruins smile, And light thy torch at Nature's funeral pile!"

"_Pleasures of Hope._"

[For these and the preceding lines, see Campbell's Poems.]

Affixed to the pillar is a tablet--"Sacred to the memory of CHRISTOPHER ANSTEY, Esq., formerly a scholar at Eton, and fellow of Trinity College, in Cambridge: a very elegant poet, who held a distinguished pre-eminence, even among those who excelled in the same kinds of his art. About the year 1770, he exchanged his residence in Cambridgeshire for Bath, a place above all that he had long delighted in. The celebrated poem that he wrote, under the t.i.tle of the Bath Guide, is a sufficient testimony; and after having lived there thirty-six years, died in the year 1805, aged eighty-one, and was buried in Walcot Church, Bath."--_Horwell, sculptor._

A tablet with a fine medallion,--"Sacred to the memory of GRANVILLE SHARP, ninth son of Dr. Thomas Sharp, Prebendary of the Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches of York, Durham, and Southwell, and grandson of Dr.

John Sharp, Archbishop of York. Born and educated in the bosom of the Church of England, he ever cherished for her inst.i.tutions the most unshaken regard, whilst his whole soul was in harmony with the sacred strain--'Glory to G.o.d in the highest, on earth peace, good will towards men;' on which his life presented one beautiful comment of glowing piety and unwearied beneficence. Freed by competence from the necessity, and by content from the desire, of lucrative occupation, he was incessant in his labours to improve the condition of mankind. Founding public happiness on public virtue, he aimed to rescue his native country from the guilt and inconsistency of employing the arm of Freedom to rivet the fetters of Bondage, and established for the Negro Race, in the person of _Somerset_ (his servant), the long disputed rights of human nature. Having, in this glorious cause, triumphed over the combined resistance of Interest, Prejudice, and Pride, he took his post amongst the foremost of the honourable band a.s.sociated to deliver Africa from the rapacity of Europe, by the abolition of the Slave Trade; nor was death permitted to interrupt his career of usefulness, till he had witnessed that Act of the British Parliament by which 'The Abolition' was decreed. In his private relations he was equally exemplary; and having exhibited through life a model of disinterested virtue, he resigned his pious spirit into the hands of his Creator, in the exercise of Charity, and Faith, and Hope, on the 6th day of July, A.D. 1813, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. Reader, if on perusing this tribute to a private individual, thou shouldest be disposed to suspect it as partial, or censure it as diffuse, know that it is not panegyric, but history.--_Erected by the African Inst.i.tution of London_, A.D. 1816."--_Chantrey, sculptor._

Above is a bust of CHARLES DE ST. DENIS, Lord of St. Evremond.--This gentleman was of a n.o.ble family in Normandy, and was employed in the army of France, in which he rose to the rank of Marshal; but retiring to Holland, he was from thence invited by Charles II. into England, where he lived in the greatest intimacy with the King and princ.i.p.al n.o.bility, more particularly with the d.u.c.h.ess of Mazarine. He had a very sprightly turn both in conversation and writing. He lived to the age of ninety, and was carried off at last by a violent fit of the stranguary, September 9, 1703.

Though he left France, as it may be imagined, on account of religion, yet in his will he left twenty pounds to poor Roman Catholics, and twenty pounds to poor French refugees; besides other legacies to be disposed of to those in distress, of what religion soever they might be.

MATTHEW PRIOR.--The bust was done by order of the King of France. On one side of the pedestal stands the figure of Thalia, one of the nine Muses, with a flute in her hand; and on the other, History, with her book shut; between both is the bust of the deceased, upon a raised altar of fine marble; on the outermost side of which is a Latin inscription, importing that while he was busied in writing the history of his own times, Death interposed, and broke both the thread of his discourse and of his life, Sept. 18, 1721, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. Over the bust is a pediment, on the ascending sides of which are two boys, one with an hour gla.s.s in his hand, run out, the other holding a torch reversed; on the apex of the pediment is an urn, and on the base of the monument a long inscription, reciting the princ.i.p.al employments in which he had been engaged; particularly that, by order of King William and Queen Mary; he a.s.sisted at the Congress of the Confederate Powers of the Hague, in 1690; in 1697 was one of the Plenipotentiaries of the Peace of Ryswick: and in the following year was of the emba.s.sy to France and also Secretary of State in Ireland. In 1700, he was made one of the Board of Trade; in 1711, First Commissioner of the Customs; and lastly, in the same year, was sent by Queen Anne to Louis XIV. of France, with proposals of peace. All these trusts he executed with uncommon address and abilities, and had retired from public business, when a violent cholic, occasioned by a cold, carried him off; by which the world was deprived of an invaluable treasure, which he was preparing to lay before the public.--_Rysbrack, sculptor. Bust by Coizevox._

"Sacred to the best of men, WILLIAM MASON, A.M., a Poet, if any, elegant, correct, and pious. Died 7th of April, 1797, aged seventy-two."--It is a neat piece of sculpture. A medallion of the deceased is held up by a figure of Poetry, bemoaning the loss.--_Bacon, sculptor._

THOMAS SHADWELL.--This monument was erected by Dr. John Shadwell, to the memory of his deceased father. The inscription sets forth that he was descended from an ancient family in Staffordshire, was Poet Laureate and Historiographer in the reign of William III., and died November 20, 1692, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. He was author of several plays, and was satirized by Dryden, under the character of Ogg, in the second part of Absalom and Architophel. He died at Chelsea, by taking opium, and was there buried.--_Bird, sculptor._

JOHN MILTON.--He was a great polemical and political writer, and Latin Secretary to Oliver Cromwell; but what has immortalized his name, are those two inimitable pieces, Paradise Lost and Regained. He was born in London in 1604, and died at Bunhill (perhaps the same as Bunhill Fields) in 1674, leaving three daughters behind him unprovided for, and was buried at St. Giles's, Cripplegate. In 1737, Mr. Auditor Benson erected this monument to his memory.--_Rysbrack, sculptor._

Under Milton is an elegant monument erected to the memory of Mr. GRAY.

This monument seems expressive of the compliment contained in the epitaph, where the Lyric Muse, in alt-relief, is holding a medallion of the Poet, and at the same time pointing the finger up to the bust of Milton, which is directly over it.

"No more the Grecian muse unrival'd reigns; To Britain let the nations homage pay: She felt a Homer's fire in Milton's strains, A Pindar's rapture in the lyre of Gray."

Died July 30, 1771, aged fifty-four, and was buried at Stoke.--_John Bacon, sculptor._

SAMUEL BUTLER.--This tomb, as by the inscription appears, was erected by John Barber, Esq., Lord Mayor of London, _that he who was dest.i.tute of all things when alive, might not want a monument when dead_. He was author of Hudibras, and was a man of consummate learning, wit, and pleasantry, peculiarly happy in his writings, though he reaped small advantages from them, and suffered great distress by reason of his narrow circ.u.mstances.

He lived, however, to a good old age, and was buried at the expense of Mr.

Longueville, in the churchyard of St. Paul, Covent Garden. He was born at Strencham, in Worcestershire, in 1612, and died in London, 1680.

EDMUND SPENCER.--Beneath Mr. Butler's, there was a rough decayed tomb of Purbeck stone, to the memory of Mr. Edmund Spencer, one of the best English poets, which being much decayed, a subscription was set on foot, by the liberality of Mr. Mason, in 1778, to restore it. The subscription succeeded, and the monument was restored as nearly as possible to the old form, but in statuary marble. His works abound with innumerable beauties and such a variety of imagery, as is scarce to be found in any other writer, ancient or modern. On this monument is this inscription:--"Here lies (expecting the second coming of our Saviour Christ Jesus) the body of Edmund Spencer, the Prince of Poets in his time, whose divine spirit needs no other witness than the works which he left behind him. He was born in London in 1553, and died in 1598."

BEN JONSON.--This monument is of fine marble, and is very neatly ornamented with emblematical figures, alluding, perhaps, to the malice and envy of his contemporaries. His epitaph--"_O Rare Ben Jonson!_"--is cut in the pavement where he is buried in the North Aisle. He was Poet Laureate to James I., and contemporary with Shakspeare, to whose writings, when living, he was no friend, though, when dead, he wrote a Poem prefixed to his Plays, which does him the amplest justice. His father was a clergyman, and he was educated at Westminster School while Mr. Carden was Master; but after his father's death, his mother marrying a bricklayer, he was forced from school, and made to lay bricks. There is a story told of him, that at the building of Lincoln's Inn, he worked with his trowel in one hand, and Horace in the other; but Mr. Carden, regarding his parts, recommended him to Sir Walter Raleigh, whose son he attended in his travels, and upon his return entered himself at Cambridge. He died the 16th of August, 1637, aged sixty-three.--_Rysbrack, sculptor._

[Ill.u.s.tration: POETS CORNER WESTMINSTER ABBEY]

On the left is a monument to MICHAEL DRAITON. The inscription and epitaph were formerly in letters of gold, but now almost obliterated, and therefore are here preserved:--"Michael Draiton, Esq., a memorable Poet of his age, exchanged his laurel for a Crown of Glory, anno 1631.

"Do, pious marble, let thy readers know What they, and what their children, owe To _Draiton's_ name, whose sacred dust We recommend unto thy trust: Protect his mem'ry, and preserve his story; Remain a lasting monument of his glory; And when thy ruins shall disclaim To be the treasure of his name, His name, that cannot fade, shall be An everlasting monument to thee."

This gentleman was both an excellent poet and a learned antiquarian.

Over the monument to Ben Jonson is a window given by Dr. Rogers; it represents David and St. John, the poets of the Old and New Testaments.--_Clayton and Bell._

BARTON BOOTH, Esq., elegantly designed and well executed. His bust is placed between two cherubs, one holding a wreath over his head in the act of crowning him: the other in a very pensive att.i.tude, holding a scroll, on which is inscribed his descent from an ancient family in Lancashire, his admission into Westminster School, under Dr. Busby, his qualifications as an actor, which procured him both the royal patronage and the public applause. He died in 1733, in the fifty-fourth year of his age; and this monument was erected by his surviving widow in 1772.--_W. Tyler, sculptor._

Mr. JOHN PHILLIPS.--The bust of this gentleman, in relief, is here represented as in an arbour interwoven with laurel branches and apple trees; and over it is this motto--"_Honos erat huic quoque Pomo_;"

alluding to the high qualities ascribed to the apple, in that excellent poem of his called Cider. He was son of Stephen Phillips, D.D., Archdeacon of Salop; was born at Bampton, in Oxfordshire, December 30, 1676, and died at Hereford, Feb. 15, 1708, of a consumption, in the prime of life.

GEOFFREY CHAUCER.--This has been a very beautiful monument in the Gothic style, but is now much defaced, and is generally pa.s.sed over with a superficial glance, except by those who never suffer anything curious to escape their notice. Geoffrey Chaucer, to whose name it is sacred, is called the Father of English Poets, and flourished in the fourteenth century. He was son of Sir John Chaucer, a citizen of London, and employed by Edward III. in negociations abroad relating to trade. He was a great favourite at court, and married the great John of Gaunt's wife's sister.

He was born in 1328, and died Oct. 25, 1400. This monument was erected by Nicholas Bingham, of Oxford, in 1556.

The memorial window to CHAUCER, immediately over his tomb, is intended to embody his intellectual labour, and his position amongst his contemporaries. At the base are the Canterbury Pilgrims, showing the setting out from London, and the arrival at Canterbury. The medallions above represent Chaucer receiving a commission, with others, in 1372, from King Edward III. to the Doge of Genoa, and his reception by the latter. At the apex, the subjects are taken from the moral poem ent.i.tled "The Floure and the Leafe." "As they which honour the Flower, a thing fading with every blast, are such as look after beauty and worldly pleasure; but they that honour the Leaf, which abideth with the root, notwithstanding the frost and winter storms, are they which follow virtue and during qualities, without regard to worldly respects." On the dexter side, dressed in white, is the Lady of the Leafe, and attendants; on the sinister side is the Lady of the Floure, dressed in green. In the spandrils adjoining are the Arms of Chaucer. On the dexter side, and on the sinister, Chaucer impaling these of (Roet) his wife. In the tracery above, the portrait of Chaucer occupies the centre, between that of Edward III. and Philippa his wife; below them Gower and John of Gaunt, and above are Wickliffe and Strode, his contemporaries. In the borders are disposed the following arms, alternately: England, France, Hainhault, Lancaster, Castile, and Leon. At the base of the window is the name Geoffrey Chaucer, died A.D. 1400, and four lines selected from the poem ent.i.tled, "Balade of G.o.de Counsaile."

"Flee fro the prees, and dwell with soth fastnesse, Suffise unto thy good though it be small;"

"That thee is sent receyve in buxomnesse; The wrastling for this world asketh a fall."

This window was designed by Mr. J. G. Waller, and executed by Messrs.

Thomas Baillie, and George Mayer, 118, Wardour Street, London, 1868.