Historical Description of Westminster Abbey Part 5

NORTH AISLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

1. Monument to Queen Elizabeth, 1602, and her Sister Queen Mary, 1558.

2. Mary, Daughter of James the First, 1607.

3. Edward the Fifth and Duke of York, 1483.

4. Sophia, Daughter of James the First, 1606.

5. Marquis of Halifax, 1695.

6. Earl of Halifax, 1715.

From hence you pa.s.s to the North Aisle, by a door on the right hand, where is a monument to the memory of CHARLES MOUNTAGUE, the first of this family that bore the t.i.tle of Lord Halifax, son of George Mountague, of Horton.

In the reigns of William III. and George I. he was placed at the head of the Treasury, where, undertaking the reformation of the coin, which in those days was most infamously clipped, to the great loss of the public, he restored it to its proper value. For these and other public services, he was first created Baron, and then Earl of Halifax, and died May 19, 1715.

In front of this monument was buried JOSEPH ADDISON; to mark the spot a slab of white marble, inlaid with solid bra.s.s letters and devices, has recently been placed by the Earl of Ellesmere. The very appropriate epitaph was the effusion of Addison's friend and contemporary, Thomas Tickle:--

ADDISON.

"Ne'er to these chambers, where the mighty rest, Since their foundation, came a n.o.bler guest; Nor e'er was to the bowers of bliss conveyed A fairer spirit, or more welcome shade.

Oh, gone for ever! take this long adieu, And sleep in peace, next thy lov'd Mountague."

Egerton, Earl of Ellesmere, Born 1672, Died 1719.

P.C. 1849. _Poole, mason_.

Also one to the memory of Sir GEORGE SAVILLE, created by Charles I. Baron of Eland, and Viscount Halifax, afterwards Earl, and lastly Marquis of Halifax. He was Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal for some time in the reigns of Charles II., James II., and William III.; and, at the beginning of the reign of James II., he was, for a few months, Lord President of the Council. He died April 5, 1695.

Here is the lofty and magnificent monument of Queen ELIZABETH, erected to her memory by James I., her successor. The inscription speaks her character, high descent, and the memorable acts of her glorious reign:--"That she was the mother of her country, and the patroness of religion and learning; that she was herself skilled in many languages; adorned with every excellence of mind and person, and endowed with princely virtues beyond her s.e.x; that in her reign, religion was restored to its primitive purity; peace was established; money restored to its just value; domestic insurrections quelled; France delivered from intestine troubles; the Netherlands supported; the Spanish Armada defeated; Ireland, almost lost by the secret contrivances of Spain, recovered; the revenues of both Universities improved, by a law of provisions, and, in short, all England enriched; that she was a most prudent Governess, forty-five years a virtuous and triumphant Queen, truly religious, and blessed in all her great affairs; and that after a calm and resigned death, in the seventieth year of her age, she left the mortal part to be deposited in this Church, which she established upon a new footing. She died March 24, 1602, aged seventy." Queen MARY, whose reign preceded that of Queen Elizabeth, was interred here likewise. She died Nov. 17, 1558.--_Stone, sculptor._

At the end of this Aisle is a small tomb over which is a figure of a child, erected to the memory of MARY, third daughter of James I., born at Greenwich in 1605; and soon afterwards committed to the care of Lady Knevet, in whose house at Stainwell she died, December 19, 1607, at two years old.

And a child in a cradle, erected to the memory of SOPHIA, fourth daughter of the same King, born at Greenwich in 1606, and died in three days.

Against the end wall is an altar, raised by Charles II. to the memory of EDWARD V. and his brother, who, by their treacherous uncle, Richard III., were murdered in the Tower. The inscription, which is in Latin, gives a particular account of their sad catastrophe, and is in English thus:--"Here lie the relics of Edward V., King of England, and Richard, Duke of York, who, being confined in the Tower, and there stifled with pillows, were privately and meanly buried, by order of their perfidious uncle, Richard, the usurper. Their bones, long inquired after and wished for, after laying 191 years in the rubbish of the stairs (_i.e._, those lately leading to the Chapel of the White Tower), were, on the 17th of July, 1674, by undoubted proofs, discovered, being buried deep in that place. Charles II., pitying their unhappy fate, ordered these unfortunate Princes to be laid among the relics of their predecessors, in the year 1678, and the thirtieth of his reign." It is remarkable, that Edward was born November 4, 1471, in the sanctuary belonging to this Church, whither his mother took refuge during the contest between the houses of York and Lancaster; at eleven years of age, upon the death of his father, 1483, he was proclaimed King; and on the 23rd of June, in the same year, was murdered in the manner already related. Richard, his brother, was born May 28, 1474, and married, while a child, to Ann Mowbray, heiress of Norfolk.

In front of Queen Elizabeth's tomb are the bodies of GEORGE MONCK, Duke of Albemarle, 1670. EDWARD, Earl of Sandwich, 1672.

V.--Chapel of St. Paul.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

_Begin on your left._

1. Sir Henry Belasyse, 1717.

2. Colonel Macleod.

3. Sir John Puckering, 1596.

4. Sir James Fullerton.

5. Lord Chancellor Bromley, 1587.

6. Sir Dudley Carleton, 1631.

7. Countess of Suss.e.x, 1589.

8. Lord and Lady Cottington, 1631.

9. James Watt, 1819.

10. Sir Giles Daubeny, 1507.

11. Lewis Robsart, Standard Bearer to Henry V., 1431.

Lord Delaval and Lord Tyrconnel's Banners hang over the place of their interment.

On your left hand is a monument to the memory of Sir HENRY BELASYSE, Knt., Lieutenant-General, some time Governor of Galway in Ireland, and afterwards of Berwick-on-Tweed, in the reign of William III. He died December 16, 1717, aged sixty-nine. Bridget, wife of his only son, W.

Belasyse, Esq., died July 28, 1735, aged twenty.--_Scheemakers, sculptor._

Next this, one--"To the memory of Lieutenant-Colonel CHARLES MACLEOD, who fell at the siege of Badajos, aged twenty-six years. This monument is erected by his brother officers. In Lieutenant-Colonel Macleod, of the forty-third Regiment, who was killed in the breach, his Majesty has sustained the loss of an officer who was an ornament to his profession, and was capable of rendering the most important services to his country."

Vide Marquis Wellington's Dispatch, 8th April, 1812.--_Nollekens, sculptor._

Sir JOHN PUCKERING, Knt., and his Lady, remarkable, as his inscription sets forth, for his knowledge in the laws, as well as piety, wisdom, and many other virtues. He was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England four years, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in which office he died, April 30, 1596. His epitaph, in Latin, over his effigy, is thus translated:--

"The public cares and laws engaged my breast; To live was toilsome, but to die is rest.

Wealth, maces, guards, crowns, t.i.tles, things that fade, The prey of time and sable death are made.

VIRTUE INSPIRES MEN.

His wife this statue rears to her loved spouse, The test of constancy and marriage vows."

"I trust I shall see the Lord in the land of the living."

Sir JAMES FULLERTON and his Lady, with an epitaph:--"Here lie the remains of Sir James Fullerton, Knight, First Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Charles the First (Prince and King), a generous rewarder of all virtue, a severe reprover of all vice, a professed renouncer of all vanity. He was a firm pillar to the Commonwealth, a faithful patron to the Catholic Church, a fair pattern to the British Court. He lived to the welfare of his country, to the honour of his Prince, to the glory of his G.o.d. He died _fuller_ of faith than of fear, _fuller_ of consolation than of pains, _fuller_ of honour than of days."

In the middle of this Chapel is a table monument, on which lie the effigies of Sir GILES DAUBENY, created Lord Daubeny in the first year of the reign of Henry VII., and Dame ELIZABETH, his wife. He seems to have been a man of great authority in the reign of Henry VII., as he was Lord Lieutenant of Calais, in France, Lord Chamberlain to his Majesty, Knight of the Most n.o.ble Order of the Garter, and father of Henry Lord Daubeny, the first and last Earl of Bridgewater of that surname, by Elizabeth, of the ancient family of the Arundels, in Cornwall. He died May 22, 1507, and his lady in 1500.

JAMES WATT: he is represented with compa.s.ses forming designs, seated on an oblong pedestal. The inscription as follows:--"Not to perpetuate a name, which must endure while the peaceful arts flourish, but to show that mankind have learned to honour those who best deserve their grat.i.tude, the king, his ministers, and many of the n.o.bles and commoners of the realm, raised this monument to James Watt, who, directing the force of an original genius, early exercised in philosophical research, to the improvement of the steam-engine, enlarged the resources of his country, increased the power of man, and rose to an eminent place among the most ill.u.s.trious followers of science, and the real benefactors of the world.

Born at Greenock, 1736, died at Heathfield, in Staffords.h.i.+re, 1819."--_Chantrey, sculptor._