Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, Its Monuments and CuriositiesAnonymous
History
Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, Its Monuments and Curiosities
Anonymous
Westminster Abbey
Above is a monument erected--"To the memory of JOHN STEWART, Esq., Captain
in the Royal Navy; son of William Stewart, Esq., of Castle Stewart, in
Wigtownshire, and Euphemia, daughter of Lord Fortros. He entered the Navy
at an early age, and distinguished himself in every rank and branch of the
service, particularly when in command of the Seahorse, of thirty-eight
guns, with which single ship he totally defeated a Turkish squadron, and
captured the Bedere Zaffer, carrying fifty-one guns. He died in London, on
the 25th October, 1811, aged thirty-six years. The knowledge, decision,
and coolness which he displayed as an officer, won him the confidence of
all who served with him; the gaiety and cheerfulness of his temper, the
frankness of his disposition, and the warmth and goodness of his heart,
rendered him the delight of all who approached him, and made his death an
equal loss to private society and to his country."
On the left is a handsome monument of Governor LOTEN, consisting of a
single figure, representing Generosity, attended by a lion, who is
sustaining a medallion, with his portrait upon a pedestal, on which is
inscribed, in Latin, his great character, and the high offices he
exercised over the Dutch settlements in India, where he arrived in the
year 1732; married Henrietta Beaumont, August 24, 1733, who died August
10, 1755. He returned to Europe in 1758, married in England July 4, 1765,
to Lætitia Cotes, of Cotes, in Staffordshire, and died at Utrecht, May
25, 1789, ætatis eighty. The lower inscription is the fifteenth Psalm,
except the last verse, and concludes--"Such was John Gideon
Loten."--_Banks, sculptor._
Mrs. MARY BEAUFOY.--The principal figure is represented in a devout
posture, with cherubs crowning her; on each side are Cupids lamenting the
early decay of virgin beauty; and underneath, the arms of her family,
quarterly, upheld by cherubs. The inscription on the base:--"_Reader!_
whoe'er thou art, let the sight of this tomb imprint on thy mind, that
young and old (without distinction) leave this world; and therefore fail
not to secure the next." This lady was only daughter and heiress of Sir
Henry Beaufoy, of Guy's Cliff, near Warwick, by the Hon. Charlotte Lane,
eldest daughter of George, Lord Viscount Lansborough. She died July 12,
1705.--_Grinling Gibbons, sculptor._
"ROBERT KILLIGREW, of Arwenack, in Cornwall, Esq.; son of Thomas and
Charlotte; Page of Honour to Charles II.; Brigadier-General of Her
Majesty's Forces; killed in Spain, in the battle of Almanza, April 14,
1707, _ætatis suæ_ forty-seven. _Militavit annis_ twenty-four." A fine
piece of sculpture, cut out of one stone. The embellishments are distinct
and very picturesque, and the inscription modest and soldierlike.--_Bird,
sculptor._ In front of this monument Ben Jonson was buried.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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