The Life, Studies, and Works of Benjamin West, Esq Part 22

Four Mutes on horseback, by twos.

Lid of Feathers, with attendant Pages.

Hea.r.s.e and Six, with rich trappings, feathers, and velvets, attended by Eight Pages.

Two Mourning Coaches and four, with attendant Pages, conveying the Pall-bearers.

Mourning Coach and Four, with attendant Pages, conveying the Sons and Grandson of the deceased, as CHIEF MOURNERS.

Mourning Coach and Four, with attendant Pages, conveying the Family Trustees and Executors of the deceased.

Mourning Coach and Four, with attendant Pages, conveying the Reverends the Vicar of Mary-la-bonne, the Chaplain to the Lord Mayor, and the Medical Attendant of the deceased.

Then followed Sixteen Mourning Coaches and Pairs, with Attendant Pages, conveying the Right Rev. the Chaplain, the Secretary for Foreign Correspondence, and the Members of the Royal Academy and Students.

Twenty Mourning Coaches and Pairs, with attendant Pages, conveying the Mourners and Private Friends of the deceased.

The Procession was closed by above sixty carriages, arranged in rank by the junior City Marshal and Marshalmen--the servants wearing hat-bands and gloves.

The Procession was attended on each side by fifty Constables, to preserve order; and the accesses from Bridge-street, Chancery-lane, the Old Bailey, &c. were stopped. On reaching St. Paul's Cathedral, where the senior City Marshal was in wailing, with several a.s.sistants, to arrange the Procession, it entered at the great Western Gate, and was met at the entrance of the Cathedral by the Church Dignitaries, &c. the whole then proceeded to the Choir in the following order:

The two junior Vergers.

The Marshals.

The young Gentlemen of the Choir, two by two.

Their Almoner, or Master.

The Vicars Choral, two by two.

The Sub-Dean and Junior Canons, two by two.

The Feathers, with Attendant Pages and Mutes.

The two Senior Vergers.

Honourable and Rev. Dr. Wellesley.

The Canon residentiary, and the Rev. the Prebendary.

[THE CORPSE]

Pall-bearers. Pall-bearers.

The Earl of Aberdeen, Right Honourable Sir His Excellency the American William Scott, Amba.s.sador, Honourable Gen. Phipps, Hon. Augustus Phipps, Sir George Beaumont, Sir Thomas Baring. Sir Robert Wilson.

CHIEF MOURNERS.

The Sons and Grandson of deceased, namely, Raphael Lamar West, Esq.

Benjamin West, Esq.

and Mr. Benjamin West, jun.

followed by Robert Brunning (the old Servant of deceased) Henry Fauntleroy, Esq. and James Henry Henderson, Esq.

(the Family Trustees and Executors of deceased.) and The Rev. Dr. Heslop, Vicar of St. Mary-la-Bonne; the Rev.

Mr. Borrodaile, Chaplain to the Lord Mayor; and Joseph Hayes, Esq. Medical Attendant on deceased (Dr. Baillie being unavoidably absent).

Then followed

The Bishop of Salisbury, (As Chaplain to the Royal Academy; and an Honorary Member).

Prince h.o.a.re, Esq. (Secretary for Foreign Correspondence to the Royal Academy.)

The body of Academicians and a.s.sociates of the Royal Academy, according to seniority, two by two, Students, two by two.

And the private mourners of the deceased, consisting of--Aldermen Wood and Birch, Rev. ---- Est, Rev. Holt Oakes, Henry Bankes, Esq. M.P., William Smith, Esq. M.P., Richard Hart Davies, Esq. M.P., George Watson Taylor, Esq. M.P., Jesse Watts Russell, Esq. M.P., Archibald Hamilton, Esq., Thomas Hope, Esq., Samuel Boddington, Esq., Richard Payne Knight, Esq., Thomas Lister Parker, Esq., George Hibbert, Esq., John Nash, Esq., John Edwards, Esq., Major Payne, Captain Henry Wolseley, Captain Francis Halliday, James St. Aubyn, Esq., Henry Sansom, Esq., ---- Magniac, Esq., George Sheddon, Esq., James Dunlop, Esq., Joseph Ward, Esq., N. Ogle, Esq., George Repton, Esq., William Wadd, Esq., Henry Woodthorpe, jun.

Esq., Christ. Hodgson, Esq., ---- c.o.c.kerell, sen. Esq., ---- c.o.c.kerell, jun. Esq., Leigh Hunt, Esq., P. Turnerelli, Esq., J. Holloway, Esq., Charles Heath, Esq., Henry Eddridge, Esq., A. Robertson, Esq., W. J.

Newton, Esq., John Taylor, Esq., T. Bonney, Esq., ---- Muss, Esq., ---- Martin, Esq., J. Green, Esq., John Gait, Esq., William Carey, Esq., ---- Leslie Esq., ---- Behnes, Esq., George Samuel, Esq., John Young, Esq., Christopher Pack, Esq., W, Delamotte, Esq., E. Scriven Esq., J. M. Davis, Esq., C. Smart, Esq., &c.

It being Pa.s.sion Week, the usual chanting and performance of music in the Cathedral-service could not take place, but an Anthem was, by special permission, allowed to be sung; and the Hon. and Rev. Dr. Wellesley, a.s.sisted by the Rev. the Prebendary, performed the solemn service in a very impressive manner. The body was placed in the choir, and at the head were arranged, on chairs, the chief mourners and executors. The pall-bearers were seated on each side of the corpse, and the Members of the Royal Academy, and other mourners, were arranged on each side of the choir. After the Anthem, the body was attended to the vault-door by the pall-bearers, followed by the chief mourners and executors, and was conveyed into the crypt, and placed immediately beneath the perforated bra.s.s plate, under the centre of the dome. Dr. Wellesley, with the other canons, and the whole choir, then came under the dome, and the pall-bearers, chief mourners, and executors, stood by them. The Members of the Royal Academy were ranged on the right, and the other mourners on the left, forming a circle, the outside of which was protected by the Marshals and undertaker's attendants. Here the remainder of the service was completed, and the s.e.xton, placed in the crypt below, at the proper period, let fall some earth, as usual, on the coffin. After the funeral-service was ended, the chief mourners and executors, accompanied by most of the other mourners, went into the crypt, and attended the corpse to its grave, which was sunk with brick-work under the pavement at the head of the grave of the late Sir Joshua Reynolds, and adjoining to that of the late Mr. West's intimate and highly-valued friend, Dr.

Newton, formerly Bishop of Bristol, and Dean of St. Paul's, the brick-work of whose grave forms one side of Mr. West's; thus uniting their remains in the silent tomb. Sir Christopher Wren, the great architect, lies interred close by, as well as those eminent artists, the late Mr. Opie and Mr. Barry.

The Members of the Royal Academy, and all the mourners, then returned to Somerset-House, in the like order of procession (with the exception of the hea.r.s.e and feathers,) where refreshments were provided for them.

The whole of this affecting ceremony was conducted with great solemnity and respect, and was witnessed by an immense concourse of people.

The carriages attending in the Procession were those of the Lord Mayor, the Archbishop of York, the Dukes of Norfolk, Northumberland, and Argyll; the Marquisses of Lansdowne and Stafford; the Earls of Liverpool, Ess.e.x, Aberdeen, Carlisle, Dartmouth, Powis, Mulgrave, Darnley, and Carysfort; Viscount Sidmouth; the Bishops of London, Salisbury, Carlisle, and Chester; Admiral Lord Radstock; the Right Honourables Sir William Scott, Charles Manners Sutton, and Charles Long; the American Amba.s.sador; the Hon. General Phipps, Augustus Phipps; Sirs George Beaumont, J. Fleming Leicester, Thomas Baring, and Henry Fletcher; the Solicitor General, Sir Robert Wilson, Dr. Heslop, Dr. Baillie, Aldermen Birch and Wood, Mr.

Chamberlain Clarke, Henry Bankes, Esq. M.P., Richard Hart Davies, Esq.

M.P., George Watson Taylor, Esq. M.P., Jesse Watts Russell, Esq. M.P., Henry Fauntleroy, Esq., Archibald Hamilton, Esq., Thomas Courts, Esq., John Penn, Esq., Thomas Hope, Esq., Samuel Boddington, Esq., Walter Fawkes, Esq., George Hibbert, Esq., John Yenn, Esq., John Soane, Esq., Francis Chantry, Esq., Henry Sanson, Esq., John Nash, Esq., John Edwards, Esq., George Sheddon, Esq., James Dunlop, Esq., Joseph Ward, Esq., Henry Meux, Esq. &c. &c.

The following is the Inscription upon the Tombstone over the deceased:--

Here lie the Remains of BENJAMIN WEST, Esq., President of the Royal Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture: born 10th Oct. 1738, at Springfield, in Pennsylvania, in America: died in London, 11th March, 1820.

END OF PART II.