London and Its Environs Described, vol. 1 (of 6): Containing an Account of Whatever is Most Remarkable for Grandeur, Elegance, Curiosity or Use, in the City and in the Country Twenty Miles Round ItAnonymous
History
London and Its Environs Described, vol. 1 (of 6): Containing an Account of Whatever is Most Remarkable for Grandeur, Elegance, Curiosity or Use, in the City and in the Country Twenty Miles Round It
Anonymous
London (England) -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; London (England) -- Gazetteers -- Early works to 1800
Next to this is a small table monument, on which lie the effigies of
William of Windsor, and Blanch of the Tower, the son and daughter of
Edward III. They took their surnames from the places of their birth,
and both died in their infancy. They are dressed in the habits of the
times, the young Prince in a short doublet, of the indecency of which
Chaucer’s parson complains, and the Princess in a horned head-dress,
which Stow says, was frightful.
On another tomb lies the statue of the Lady Frances, Duchess of
Suffolk, represented dressed in her robes. She was the daughter of the
famous Charles Brandon by Mary the French Queen, daughter to Henry
VII. and became Duchess of Suffolk by marrying Henry Grey, Marquis of
Dorset, who, upon her father’s decease, was created Duke of Suffolk.
On her tomb are two inscriptions, the first in Latin verse in praise
of her virtues, and the other in English, shewing her different
marriages.
The next is an elegant monument of white marble, erected by John Earl
of Clare, to the memory of his son Francis Hollis, a youth of great
bravery, who, after returning from making a campaign in Flanders, died
on the 12th of August 1622, aged eighteen. He is represented clad in
Grecian armour, sitting on a Greek altar. A good author mentioning
this statue, says, that it expresses more juvenile sweetness and
beauty, than any thing of the kind he ever saw, and that if this
figure has any fault in character or design, it is being placed in a
languid sedentary posture, tho’ cloathed in armour, and described as a
hero in his bloom; a more spirited attitude, he observes, would have
been more suitable to the person represented, would have given the
statuary greater latitude to exert his genius, and afforded more
satisfaction to the spectator. The epitaph on this is as follows:
What so thou hast of nature or of arts,
Youth, beauty, strength, or what excelling parts
Of mind and body, letters, arms, and worth,
His eighteen years, beyond his years brought forth;
Then stand, and read thyself within this glass,
How soon these perish, and thy self may pass;
Man’s life is measur’d by the work, not days,
No aged sloth, but active youth hath praise.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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