The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851 — John Shaqi
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851Various
History
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
The Duke of Devonshire's grounds, containing about ninety acres, are
filled with mementos, pleasant to the eye and suggestive to the
imagination; but we must seek and find a more solemn scene, where the
churchyard of Chiswick incloses the ashes of some whose names are
written upon the pages of History. Though the church is, in a degree,
surrounded by houses, there is much of the repose of "a country
churchyard" about it; the Thames belts it with its silver girdle, and
when we visited its sanctuary, the setting sun cast a mellow light upon
the windows of the church, touching a headstone or an urn, while the
shadows trembled on the undulating graves. Like all church-yards it is
crowded, and however reverently we bent our footsteps, it was impossible
to avoid treading on the soft grass of the humble grave, or the gray
stone that marks the resting-place of one of "the better order."
[Illustration: HOGARTH'S TOMB.]
How like the world was that silent churchyard! High and low, rich and
poor, mingled together, and yet avoiding to mingle. The dust of the
imperious Duchess of Cleveland found here a grave; while here too, as if
to contrast the pure with the impure, repose the ashes of Mary, daughter
of Oliver Cromwell; Holland the actor, the friend of David Garrick, here
cast aside his "motley." Can we wonder at the actor's love of
applause?--posterity knows him not; present fame alone is his--the
lark's song leaves no record in the air!--Lord Macartney, the famous
ambassador to China, a country of which our knowledge was then almost as
dim as that we have of the moon--the ambassador rests here, while a
Chinese junk is absolutely moored in the very river that murmurs beside
his grave! Surely the old place is worthy of a pilgrimage. Loutherbourg,
the painter, found a resting-place in its churchyard. Ralph, the
historian and political writer, whose histories and politics are now as
little read as the Dunciad which held them up to ridicule, is buried
here; and confined as is the space, it is rich in epitaphs,--three are
from the pen of David Garrick, two from that of Arthur Murphy.
Hogarth's monument has been very faithfully copied by Mr. Fairholt.
It is remarkable among the many plainer "stones" with which the
churchyard is crowded, but is by no means distinguished for that
artistic character--which it might have received as covering the remains
of so great an artist. A small slab, in relief, takes from it, however,
the charge of insipidity; it contains a comic mask, an oak branch,
pencils and mahl-stick, a book and a scroll, and the palette, marked
with the "line of beauty."
It has been remarked, that "while he faithfully followed nature through
all her varieties, and exposed, with inimitable skill, the infinite
follies and vices of the world, he was in himself an example of many
virtues." And the following poetical tribute by David Garrick is
inscribed on the tomb:
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