Historical Description of Westminster Abbey Part 2

2. Earl of Stafford, 1762.

3. Monck, Bishop of Hereford, 1661.

4. Children of Edward III., 1350.

5. d.u.c.h.ess of Suffolk, 1563.

6. Holles, Son of Earl Clare, 1662.

7. Lady Jane Seymour, 1560.

8. Lady Katharine Knollys, 1568.

9. Lady Elizabeth Russel, 1601.

10. Lord John Russel, 1584.

11. Sir Bernard Brocas, 1339.

12. Sir Humphrey Bourgchier, 1471.

13. Sir Richard Pecksall, 1571.

14. Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, 1617.

15. Earl of Pembroke, 1296.

16. Robert de Waldeby, 1397.

17. d.u.c.h.ess of Gloucester, 1399.

18. Countess of Stafford, 1693.

19. Dr. Ferne, Bishop of Chester, 1661.

20. Above the d.u.c.h.ess of Suffolk's Monument is one to Mary Countess of Stafford and her Son, 1719.

On the left as you enter is a monument sacred to the memory of JOHN of ELTHAM, second son of Edward II., and so called from Eltham, in Kent, the place of his nativity, where our English Kings had once a palace. His statue is of alabaster, the head encircled in a coronet of large and small leaves, remarkable for its being the first of the kind. His habit is that of an armed Knight. He died in Scotland, in 1334, at the age of nineteen, unmarried, though three different matches had been proposed to him; the last of which, to Mary, daughter of Ferdinand, King of Spain, he accepted, but lived not to consummate it.

At the foot of this is a monument with the following inscription:--"In this Chapel lies interred all that was mortal of the most ill.u.s.trious and most benevolent JOHN PAUL HOWARD, Earl of Stafford, who in 1738 married Elizabeth, daughter of A. Ewens, of the county of Somerset, Esq. His heart was as truly great and n.o.ble as his high descent. Faithful to his G.o.d. A lover of his country. A relation to relations. A detester of detraction. A friend to mankind. Naturally generous and compa.s.sionate, his liberality and his charity to the poor were without bounds. Being s.n.a.t.c.hed away suddenly by death, which he had long meditated and expected with constancy, he went to a better life the 1st of April, 1762, having lived sixty-one years nine months and six days." The figures round the inscription are the ancient badges of honour belonging to the Stafford family, who descended by ten different marriages from the royal blood of England and France.--_Invented and stained by Chambers._

Next to this is a small table monument, on which lie the figures of WILLIAM of WINDSOR, sixth son of Edward III., who died in his infancy; and of BLANCH of the TOWER, sister to William, who likewise died young, having obtained their surnames from the places of their nativity. About 1350.

Against the wall is a monument of NICHOLAS MONCK, Provost of Eton, Bishop of Hereford, and brother of George Monck, Duke of Albemarle, &c. He died December 11, 1661, aged fifty.--_Woodman, sculptor._

On an altar tomb lies the effigy of LADY FRANCES, d.u.c.h.ess of Suffolk. She was the daughter of the famous Charles Brandon, by Mary, the French Queen, daughter to Henry VII., and became herself d.u.c.h.ess of Suffolk, by marrying Henry Grey, then Marquis of Dorset, but upon her father's decease created Duke of Suffolk, and afterwards beheaded for being concerned in dethroning Queen Mary. She died in 1558-9.

Against the wall above is a monument to the memory of MARY, Countess of Stafford, and of HENRY, Earl of Stafford, her son, who died abroad in 1719, and was buried in this Chapel.

The next, representing a youth in Grecian armour sitting on a Greek altar, to the memory of FRANCIS HOLLES, by John, Earl of Clare his afflicted father. This brave youth, after returning home from a campaign in Flanders, died August 12, 1622, aged eighteen. His epitaph is thus written:--

"What so thou hast of nature or of arts, Youth, beauty, strength, or what excelling parts Of mind and body, letters, arms, and worth, His eighteen years beyond his years brought forth; Then stand and read thyself within this gla.s.s, How soon these perish, and thyself may pa.s.s: Man's life is measured by the work, not days; Not aged sloth, but active youth, hath praise."

--_N. Stone, sculptor._

Next are two tablets, one to the memory of the Right Honourable the Lady KATHERINE KNOLLYS, chief Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth, and wife to Sir Francis Knollys, Knt., Treasurer of her Highness's household.

She died January the 15th, 1568. This Lady Knollys and Lord Hunsdon, her brother, were the only children of William Carey, Esq., by Lady Mary, his wife, one of the daughters and heirs of Thomas Bulleyne, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond, and sister to Anne Bulleyne, Queen of England, wife to Henry VIII., father and mother to Queen Elizabeth. What is farther remarkable, Lady Knollys' only daughter was mother of the favourite Earl of Ess.e.x.

The other to Lady JANE SEYMOUR, daughter of Edward, Duke of Somerset, who died March 19, 1560, aged nineteen.

On an altar sits, in a sleeping posture, the figure of Lady ELIZABETH RUSSEL, daughter of Lord John Russel, in alabaster. She p.r.i.c.ked her finger with a needle, which is supposed to have caused a lock-jaw, and occasioned her death. On the plinth of the pedestal is--"_Dormit, non mortua est_"--(She is not dead, but sleepeth). Died 1601.

Lord JOHN RUSSEL, second son of Francis, second Earl of Bedford, and his son FRANCIS, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Anthony Cook, Knt., and widow of Sir Thomas Hoby, Knt. He died in 1584. He is represented in a c.u.mbent posture, habited in his coronation robes, with his infant son at his feet.

His lady was esteemed the Sappho of her age, being well versed in the learned languages, and an excellent poet; five of the epitaphs on this tomb are of her composition, of which three are in Latin, one in Greek, and the other in English, which is here transcribed as a specimen, the rest being to the same purport:--

"Right n.o.ble twice, by virtue and by birth, Of heaven lov'd, and honour'd on the earth, His country's hope, his kindred's chief delight, My husband dear, more than this world's light, Death hath me reft. But I from death will take His memory, to whom this tomb I make.

John was his name (ah, was! wretch, must I say?) Lord Russel once, now my tear-thirsty clay."

Next is a very ancient monument, representing a Gothic chapel, and in it the figure of a Knight in armour, in a c.u.mbent posture, with his feet resting on a lion's back. This was erected for Sir BERNARD BROCAS, of Baurepaire, in the county of Hants, Chamberlain to Ann, Queen of Richard II. But this Princess dying, and Richard falling under the displeasure of his people, who deposed him, Sir Bernard still adhered to his Royal master in his misfortunes, which cost him his life. He was publicly beheaded on Tower Hill, January, 1399, and here buried.

In front of this is a low altar tomb, on which has been, in plated bra.s.s, the figure of a Knight in armour, his head reclining upon his helmet, and one of his feet placed upon a leopard, the other on an eagle. By the Latin inscription this Knight was HUMPHREY BOURGCHIER, son and heir to John Bourgchier, Lord Berners, who espousing the cause of Edward IV. against the Earl of Warwick, was slain in the battle of Barnet Field, on Easter-day, 1471.

Next is the monument of Sir RICHARD PECKSALL, Knt., Master of the Buckhounds to Queen Elizabeth; first married to Alianer, the daughter of William Paulett, Marquis of Winchester, by whom he had four daughters; and afterwards to Alianer, daughter of John Cotgrave. On the bases of the pillars are Latin verses thus translated:--

"Death can't disjoin whom Christ hath joined in love; Life leads to death, and death to life above.

In heaven's a happier place; frail things despise: Live well to gain in future life a prize."

He died 1571.

The next is a most magnificent monument to the memory of EDWARD TALBOT, eighth Earl of Shrewsbury, and his lady, JANE, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Cuthbert, Baron Ogle, whose effigies in their robes lie on a black marble table, supported by a pedestal of alabaster. He died February 8, 1617, in the fifty-seventh year of his age.

In front of this is the gravestone to the memory of EDWARD, Lord Herbert, Baron of Cherbury, in England, and of Castle-Ireland, in Ireland, who died December 9, 1678, aged forty-six.

On the right is the ancient monument of WILLIAM DE VALENCE, Earl of Pembroke, lying in a c.u.mbent posture on a chest of wainscot, placed upon a tomb of freestone; the figure is wood, covered originally with copper gilt, as was the chest on which it lies. In the year 1296, he was slain at Bayonne treacherously. His body was afterwards brought to England, and honourably buried in this Chapel, and an indulgence of one hundred days granted to all devout people who should offer up prayers for his soul.

On the floor is a tomb to MARY, Countess of Stafford, wife to the unfortunate Viscount Stafford, beheaded in the reign of Charles II., on Tower Hill, Dec. 29, 1680. She was lineally descended from the Barons and Earls of Stafford, and was daughter and heiress to the n.o.ble house of Buckingham. She died Jan. 1693.

The next is a tomb on which is a lady in a widow's dress, with a barb and veil, cut in bra.s.s, round which is an inscription in old French, importing that ALIANER DE BOHUN, daughter and heiress of Sir Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hertford, Ess.e.x, and Northampton, and wife to the mighty and n.o.ble Prince of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Ess.e.x and Buckingham, son of Edward III., lies interred here. This lady, who was the greatest heiress in England, was deprived of her husband by the cruelty of his nephew, Richard II., who, jealous of his popularity, most treacherously betrayed him by a show of friendship; for coming to visit him at Plashy, a pleasant seat of his in Ess.e.x, and staying supper, in duty he thought to attend his Majesty to town; but at Stratford was suddenly surrounded by an ambush of armed men, who privately hurried him on board a ship, and carried him to Calais, where, by the King's order, he was stifled between feather beds in 1397. After this melancholy circ.u.mstance, his lady spent the rest of her days in the nunnery at Barking, and died October 3, 1399; from whence her remains were brought and here interred.

There is also an Archbishop buried here, as appears by a very antique figure in a ma.s.s habit, engraven on a bra.s.s plate, and placed on a flat stone in the pavement, over the remains of ROBERT DE WALDEBY, who, as appears by the inscription, was first an Augustine monk, and attended Edward the Black Prince into France, where, being young, he prosecuted his studies, and made a surprising progress in natural and moral philosophy, physic, the languages, and in the canon law; and, being likewise an elegant preacher and sound divine, was made Divinity Professor in the University of Toulouse, where he continued till called by Richard II. to the Bishopric of Man; from whence he was removed to the Archbishopric of Dublin; but not liking that country, upon the first vacancy he was recalled, and advanced to the see of Chichester, and afterwards to the Archbishopric of York. Such is the history of this great man, who died May 29, 1397, as gathered from an inscription formerly very legible, but now almost obliterated.

At the foot of Waldeby is a blue marble slab, which covers the remains of Dr. HENRY FERNE, inlaid with five shields in bra.s.s, surrounded with an inscription. He was Chaplain Extraordinary to Charles I.; by Charles II.

made Bishop of Chester, which he lived to enjoy about five weeks, dying March 16, 1661.

Also a black marble slab which covers the remains of EDWARD GEORGE EARLE LYTTON BULWER LYTTON. Born 25th May, 1803; died 18th January, 1873.

1831-1841, Member of Parliament for St. Ives and for Lincoln; 1838, Baronet of the United Kingdom; 1852-1856, Knight of the Shire of the County of Hertford; 1858, one of her Majesty's Princ.i.p.al Secretaries of State, Knight Grand Cross of St. Michael and George; 1866, Baron Lytton of Knebworth. Laborious and distinguished in all fields of intellectual activity, indefatigable and ardent in the cultivation and love of letters.

His genius as an author was displayed in the most varied forms, which have connected indissolubly with every department of the literature of his time the name of Edward Bulwer Lytton.