Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, Its Monuments and CuriositiesAnonymous
History
Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, Its Monuments and Curiosities
Anonymous
Westminster Abbey
On the right hand wall, side of Wolfe, is a monument to the memory of
Bishop DUPPA, tutor to Charles II., a man of such exemplary piety, lively
conversation, and excess of good nature, that when Charles I. was a
prisoner in Carisbrooke Castle, he thought himself happy in the company of
so good a man. He was born at Greenwich, and educated first at Westminster
School, and then at Christ Church College, Oxford, of which he was
afterwards Dean; and being selected for the Preceptor to the then Prince
of Wales, was first made Bishop of Chichester, from thence translated to
Salisbury, and after the Restoration to the See of Winchester. He died
March 26, 1622, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.--_Burman,
sculptor._
Beneath is a tablet, "Sacred to the memory of JOHN THEOPHILUS BERESFORD,
eldest son of Marcus Beresford, and the Lady Frances, his wife, Lieutenant
in the eighty-eighth regiment of foot, who died in the twenty-first year
of his age, at Villa Formosa, in Spain, of wounds received from the
exploding of a powder magazine, at Ciudad Rodrigo, after he had passed
unhurt through eight days of voluntary service, of the greatest danger
during the siege, for which he received the thanks of the
Commander-in-Chief. Brave and zealous in his military duties, animated by
a strong feeling of piety to God, and distinguished by his ardent filial
affection and duty towards a widowed mother, he has left to her the
recollection of his rising virtues as her only consolation under the
irreparable loss she has sustained by his death. Born, Jan. 16, 1792, and
died Jan. 29, 1812; interred with military honours, in the fort of
Almeida.--'_Yea, speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should
alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul._'--Wisdom of Solomon,
chap. iv., verse 11."--_Westmacott, sculptor._
Next to this is a tablet to the memory of Sir JAMES ADOLPHUS OUGHTON,
Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's forces in North Britain. The
inscription is a recital of his military employments, and a record of his
death, which took place April 14, 1780, in the sixty-first year of his
age.--_Hayward, sculptor._
On the floor is the image of an Abbot in his mass habit curiously
engraved on brass, representing JOHN DE EASTNEY, who died March 4, 1498.
By the records of the Church he appears to have been a great benefactor to
it; he ornamented the grand west window with some noble paintings on glass
of which some little still remains. He gave the screen to the Chapel, and
presented two images gilt for the altar of St. Peter and St. Paul, and one
for the chapter house. He paid the King 1,000_l._ on account of the
merchants, and 3,700_l._ to the Court of Rome, due for the confirmation of
abbots.
A little to the left, on another gravestone, plated with brass, is the
figure of an armed Knight, resting his feet on a lion, and his head on a
greyhound, which, as the register informs us, represents Sir JOHN
HARPEDON, Knight, who died in 1457.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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