for the City and Liberties of Westminster. He derived his How eminently these were displayed, with what vigilance and spirit they were exerted in the various services wherein he had the honour to command, and the happiness to conquer, will be more properly recorded in the annals of Great Britain. On this tablet affection, with truth, must say, that deservedly esteemed in private life, and universally renowned for his public conduct, the judicious and gallant officer possessed all the amiable qualities of the friend, the gentleman, and the Christian. But the Almighty, whom alone he feared, and whose gracious protection he had often experienced, was pleased to remove him from a life of honour to an eternity of happiness on the 29th day of July 1752, in the 49th year of his age. Susannah, his afflicted wife, caused this monument to be erected." Britannia with a withered laurel in her hand, inclines towards the bust of the admiral, which a fine figure of Hercules places on its pedestal. It is admirably executed, even to the marks of the small-pox on the face. Although the statue of Britannia is very excellent, it is objectionable on account of her wet garment. An ensign is the back ground; and the whole is worthy of its author, Roubiliac. Adjoining is a tomb, consisting of a pedestal and Corinthian pillars, with a pediment, weeping children, cherubim, and a canopy, erected by Dame Elizabeth Campbell (who died September the 28th, 1714, aged forty-nine years) to her brother Sir Gilbert Lort, Bart, who died December 19, 1698, aged twentyeight years. Over it a tablet and bust by Tyler: "To the memory of John Storr, Esq. of Milston, in the County of York, rear admiral of the red squadron of his Majesty's fleet. In his profession, a brave and gallant offi cer; cer; in private life, a tender husband, an honest man, and a Considerably higher up is a small neat tablet, with a Latin inscription: it was erected by the present worthy Dean of Westminster, Dr. Vincent, to the memory of his wife Hannah, who died February 17, 1807. Many of the inscriptions are worn away from other stones, and there are numbers that have had brass inlaid, of which a few fragments remain. A few marks of the ancient skreen, which passed north and south from pillar to pillar, forming the east aisle into three chapels, remain at the back of Sir Gilbert Lort's monument. This was part of St. John the Evangelist's Chapel, whose altar was the first on entering the aisle. Those who heard mass at it were rewarded with an indulgence of two years and thirty days. A few yards farther stood the altar of St. Michael; and at the north end St. Andrew had an altar, accompanied by the same inducements to hear mass. Dart says that the skreens were very richly painted and gilt, but they are now entirely demolished. On the east side are one niche, and several beautiful arches, part of the side of Abbot Islip's chauntry. The monumental figure in Roman armour, of Sir George Holles frowns before it. He died 1626. On the pavement just before him kncel the loaded Esquires, much mutilated, whose shoulders sustain the heavy slab of black marble, on which are the new battered alabaster portions of the arinour of Sir Horace Vere, who died 160S. His short and clumsy figure, well executed, rests fearless of the impending weight, covered with dust beneath.. Above is a pyramidal monument, by Bacon, to the memory of Captain Edward Cooke, commander of H. M. S. Sybelle, erected by the Hon. East-India Company. He died in consequence of the severe wounds he received while engaging La Forte, French frigate, D 2 frigate, in the Bay of Bengal, on the 23d of May, 1799, aged twenty-seven. The Captain is finely represented, falling into the arms of a seaman; with many well-executed emblems. In the centre the ships are represented as closely engaged. This monument is highly creditable to the artist, and is in his best stile. Part of the pillar near those tombs has been cut away, to admit one representing Britannia in an attitude of defiance, with an extended right arm wielding lightening; her left rests on a medallion. She is very masculine, and her seat, upon a small pedestal on one side of a larger, gives an uneasy air to the statue, which is upon the whole not quite what one might have expected from Bacon. There is a happy thought expressed in a relief, of two sea-horses, protecting an anchor within a wreath of laurel. "Sacred to the memory of Sir George Pocock, K. B. who entered early into the naval service of his country, under the auspices of his uncle Lord Torrington; and who, emulating his great example, rose with high reputation to the rank of admiral of the blue. His abilities as an officer stood confessed by his conduct on a variety of occasions. But his gallant and intrepid spirit was more fully displayed by the distinguished part he bore at the taking of Geriah; and in leading the attack at the reduction of Chandernægore; and afterwards, when, with an inferior force, he defeated the French fleet under M. de Ache in three general engagements; shewing what British valour can atchieve, aided by professional skill and experience. Indefatigably active and persevering in his own duty, he enforced a most strict observance of it in others, at the same time with so much mildness, with such condescending manners, as to gain the love and esteem of all who served under him, whose merits he was not more quick in discerning, or more ready to reward, than he was ever backward in acknowledging his own. Returning from his successful career in the East, he was appointed to command the fleet in the expedition against the Havannah, by his united efforts in the conquests of which, he added fresh laurels to his own brow, and a valuable possession to this kingdom. Upon his retiring from public employment, he spent the remainder of his life in dignified ease and splendour; hospitable and genorous to his friends, and exhibiting a striking picture of Christian benevolence by his countenance and support of public charities, and by his liberalities to the poor. A life so honourable to himself, and so endeared to his friends and family was happily extended to the age of 86, when he resigned it with the same tranquil and serene mind, which pecularly marked and adorned the whole course of it. He left by Sophia his wife, daughter of George Francis Drake, Esq. and who was first married to Commodore Dent, a son and a daughter; George Pocock, Esq. who caused this monument to be erected; and Sophia married to John Earl Poulett.” Between the next pillars "Rest the ashes of Joseph Gascoigne Nightingale, of Mainhead, in the county of Devon., Esq. who died July 20th, 1752, aged 56, and of Lady Elizabeth, his wife, daughter and co-heir of Washington Earl Ferrers, who died August 11th, 1734, aged 27. Their only son Washington Gascoigne Nightingale, Esq., deceased, in inemory of their virtues, did by his last will order this monument to be erected." And he has thus immortalized their memories, and the fame of Roubiliac, his artist. This wonderful tomb, one of the great efforts of a great mind, is characteristic from the key-stone of the grey marble rustic niche to the base of the yawning sepulchre, whose heavy doors have grated open to release a skeleton bound in its deathly habiliments, of such astonishing truth of expression, and correctness of arrangement, as it perhaps never fell to one man's genius to execute. The dying figure of Lady Nightingale seems to exert its last fading strength to clasp and lean upon her husband, whose extended arm would repel the unerring dart pointed at her breast. "His horror and eager motion can only be described by such actors as Garrick was, and Kemble is." The eager impatience of Death to make sure of his prey is finely imagined, not only in the general attitude, but particularly in the manner in which he holds his long dart; he has suddenly seized it at the end, grasping and discommoding the feathers: the dart is somewhat thick and clumsy. What shall be said to its neighbour, the monument of Sarah, Duchess of Somerset, who died 1692? That it is a foil to the former. And yet the little weeping charity boys are good. The vast tomb to Sir Francis Norris, Knight, is, after the fashion of Queen Elizabeth's time, ponderous, of costly materials, and gilt. The effigies, who rest under a tall Corinthian canopy, are good; and two of the six kneeling Knights are very excellent figures. Behind it are some fragments of the arches on the wall; and to the left a large and angular-roofed door, the moldings resting on foliaged capitals of slender columns. The north end of the aisle is divided into three parts in height, the basement into three arches, supported by four columns, three of which had been destroyed. Two are restored on the sides of the monument, "Sacred to the memory of Susannah Jane Davidson, only daughter of William Davidson, of Rotterdam, merchant. Her form the most elegant and lovely, was adorned by the native purity and simplicity of her mind, which was improved by every accomplishment education could bestow. It pleased the Almighty to visit her in the bloom of life with a lingering and painful disease, which she endured with fortitude and Christian resignation, and of which she died at Paris, January the first, 1767, aged 20. To her much loved memory this monument is erected by her afflicted father." The sculpture is by R. Hayward; but he has failed sadly in Imitating the thought of the Nightingale tomb in a basso-relieyo.. The |