Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, Its Monuments and CuriositiesAnonymous
History
Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, Its Monuments and Curiosities
Anonymous
Westminster Abbey
In front of this is a low altar tomb, on which has been, in plated brass,
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 cumbent 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 noble house of
Buckingham. She died Jan. 1693.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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