Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, Its Monuments and CuriositiesAnonymous
History
Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, Its Monuments and Curiosities
Anonymous
Westminster Abbey
ROBERT STEPHENSON.--Nearly in front of the new pulpit, upon the floor, is
a brass figure of life-size upon a rich foliage diaper over the remains of
this eminent engineer, in addition to which has just been erected a superb
painted window illustrative of his fertile genius. He died 12th October,
1859, aged fifty-six.
At the foot of R. Stephenson's grave is a slab of black Irish marble
inlaid with brass, sacred to the memory of Sir CHARLES BARRY, Knt., R.A.
and F.S.A., and Architect of the New Palace of Westminster and other
buildings, who died A.D. 1860, aged 64 years, and lies buried beneath this
brass, which represents the Victoria Tower and the Ground Plan of the
Houses of Parliament.
Nearly opposite this slab is a granite tombstone, upon which is the
following inscription:--"Beneath this stone rest the remains of COLIN
CAMPBELL, Lord Clyde, who by his own deserts, through fifty years of
arduous service, from the earliest battles in the Peninsular War to the
Pacification of India, in 1858, rose to the rank of Field-Marshal and the
Peerage. He died lamented by the Queen, the army, and the people, August
the 14th, 1863, in the seventy-first year of his age."--_Gaffin, fecit._
Field-Marshal Sir GEORGE POLLOCK, Bart., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., Constable of
the Tower. Died 6th October, 1872, aged 86 years. "O God the Lord, the
strength of my salvation, Thou hast covered my head in the day of
battle."--Psalm cxl. 7.
A little to the west of the latter is the tombstone of TOMPION and GRAHAM,
the celebrated chronometer inventors. Tompion died 1713, aged
seventy-five. Graham died 1751, aged seventy-eight.
Beside Tompion is the grave of LIVINGSTONE, over which there is a large
black marble slab, with the following inscription: "Brought by faithful
hands over land and sea, here rests David Livingstone, Missionary,
Traveller, Philanthropist. Born March 19th, 1813; died May 1st, 1873, at
Chetamba's village, Ulala. For 30 years his life was spent in an
unwearied effort to evangelize the Native races, to explore the
undiscovered secrets, to abolish the desolating slave trade of Central
Africa, where, with his last words, he wrote: 'All I can add in my
solitude is, May Heaven's rich blessing come down on every one, American,
English, or Turk, who will help to heal this open sore of the world.'
'Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring,
and they shall hear My voice.'" The Latin verses are from Lucan the Roman
poet, who, in his "Pharsalia," describes the aspiration of Julius Cæsar to
solve the problem, even then before the world, of the causes and source of
the Nile. The verses may be thus translated:--_So great is my love of
truth that there is nothing I would rather know than the causes of the
river that have lain hid through so many ages...._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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