Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, Its Monuments and CuriositiesAnonymous
History
Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, Its Monuments and Curiosities
Anonymous
Westminster Abbey
The remains of JAMES I. are in the tomb of Henry VII. This Prince reigned
over Scotland 59 years, and over England 22 years. He was son to Lord
Darnley, by Mary Queen of Scots. He died March 16, 1625, aged 61, after a
long and peaceable reign. The remains of his Queen, ANN of Denmark, are in
the tomb in front of the monument of Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham. She
died March 2, 1619.
On the north side of Henry the Seventh's Chantry, in a chapel, is a very
antique monument, decorated with several emblematical figures in brass,
gilt, the principal of which is Neptune, in a pensive posture, with his
trident reversed, and Mars with his head crouched. These support the tomb
on which lie the effigies of GEORGE VILLIERS, Duke of Buckingham, and his
Duchess, the great favourite of James I. and Charles I., who fell a
sacrifice to national resentment, and perished by the hands of Felton,
August 23, 1628, who had no other motive of action but the clamours of the
people. CATHERINE, his Duchess, was interred in the same vault, April 8,
1643.
CROMWELL, four of his family, and six officers were buried in the vault at
the end of this chapel. Their remains were removed at the Restoration.
The following are also interred in this portion of the Chapel:--JOHN
CAMPBELL, Duke of Argyle and Greenwich, 1743. EDWARD VI., ELIZABETH
CLAYPOLE, second daughter of Oliver Cromwell, 1658.
NORTH AISLE.
[Illustration]
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 pass 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 title 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 brass 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 nobler 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_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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