Part 20 (1/2)

On the left is a tablet with a coat of arms over, and a music-book under it:--”Near this place are deposited the remains of BENJAMIN COOKE, Doctor in Music of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and Organist and Master of the Choristers of this Collegiate Church for above thirty years.

He departed this life on the 14th of September, 1793, and in the fifty-ninth year of his age.”

ENOCH HAWKINS, Esq., Gentleman of her Majesty's Chapel Royal, and Vicar Choral of this Collegiate Church, who died on the 9th January, 1847, aged fifty.

Upon a tablet that has emblems of music,--”To the memory of JAMES BARTLEMAN, formerly a Chorister and Lay-Clerk of Westminster Abbey, and Gentleman of his Majesty's Royal Chapel. He was born the 19th of September, 1769, died the 15th of April, 1821, and was buried in this Cloister, near his beloved master, Dr. Cooke.”

In this walk is erected a monument to W. BUCHAN, M.D., author of the Domestic Medicine, who died in 1805.

A tablet with inscriptions, to Mr. JOHN BROUGHTON, and his wife Elizabeth; she died in 1714, and himself in 1789. Also R. MONK, Esq., died in 1831; his wife CATHERINE, 1832.

”WILLIAM WOOLLETT, born August 22, 1735, died May 22, 1785.” The genius of engraving is represented handing down to posterity the works of painting, sculpture, and architecture. A monument with his bust on the top.

Near to this will be seen a tablet in memory of ELIZABETH WOODFALL, younger daughter of the late Henry Sampson Woodfall, having lived many years in Dean's Yard, contiguous to the Abbey, and died 12th February, 1862, at the age of ninety-three.

Having exceeded the bounds at first intended, we shall conclude in the words of an ingenious writer on the subject of this Abbey:--”I have wandered,” says he, ”with pleasure into the most gloomy recesses of this last resort of grandeur, to contemplate human life, and trace mankind through all the wilderness of their frailties and misfortunes, from their cradles to their graves. I have reflected on the shortness of our duration here, and that I was but one of the millions who had been employed in the same manner, in ruminating on the trophies of mortality before me; that I must moulder to dust in the same manner, and quit the scene to a new generation, without leaving the shadow of my existence behind me; that this huge fabric, the sacred depository of fame and grandeur, would only be the stage for the same performances; would receive new accessions of n.o.ble dust; would be adorned with other sepulchres of cost and magnificence; would be crowded with successive admirers; and, at last, by the unavoidable decays of time, bury the whole collection of antiquities in general obscurity, and be the monument of its own ruin.”

The Chapter House and Ancient House of Commons.

On the left as you enter the Chapter House is a stone coffin which was found on the removal of the acc.u.mulated earth and rubbish which for many years had hidden the lower parts of the b.u.t.tresses of the north side of the building; some ancient walls of considerable extent were discovered, and about five or six feet below the surface an ancient stone coffin was brought to light. It possesses great interest from its being the only Roman remains yet discovered. One side of it is beautifully wrought, with a sunk panel, having at each end the conventional Roman ornament called the Amazon s.h.i.+eld, while the panel itself is occupied with the following inscription, in the best style of the old Roman lettering--