Begin on your left.

On your left hand is a monument to the memory of Sir Henry Belasyse, Knt., Lieutenant-General, some time Governor of Galway in Ireland, and afterwards of Berwick-on-Tweed, in the reign of William III. He died December 16, 1717, aged sixty-nine. Bridget, wife of his only son, W. Belasyse, Esq., died July 28, 1735, aged twenty.—Scheemakers, sculptor.

Next this, one—“To the memory of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Macleod, who fell at the siege of Badajos, aged twenty-six years. This monument is erected by his brother officers. In Lieutenant-Colonel Macleod, of the forty-third Regiment, who was killed in the breach, his Majesty has sustained the loss of an officer who was an ornament to his profession, and was capable of rendering the most important services to his country.” Vide Marquis Wellington’s Dispatch, 8th April, 1812.—Nollekens, sculptor.Sir John Puckering, Knt., and his Lady, remarkable, as his inscription sets forth, for his knowledge in the laws, as well as piety, wisdom, and many other virtues. He was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England four years, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in which office he died, April 30, 1596. His epitaph, in Latin, over his effigy, is thus translated:—

“The public cares and laws engaged my breast;
To live was toilsome, but to die is rest.
Wealth, maces, guards, crowns, titles, things that fade,
The prey of time and sable death are made.
VIRTUE INSPIRES MEN.
His wife this statue rears to her loved spouse,
The test of constancy and marriage vows.”
“I trust I shall see the Lord in the land of the living.”

Sir James Fullerton and his Lady, with an epitaph:—“Here lie the remains of Sir James Fullerton, Knight, First Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Charles the First (Prince and King), a generous rewarder of all virtue, a severe reprover of all vice, a professed renouncer of all vanity. He was a firm pillar to the Commonwealth, a faithful patron to the Catholic Church, a fair pattern to the British Court. He lived to the welfare of his country, to the honour of his Prince, to the glory of his God. He died fuller of faith than of fear, fuller of consolation than of pains, fuller of honour than of days.”

In the middle of this Chapel is a table monument, on which lie the effigies of Sir Giles Daubeny, created Lord Daubeny in the first year of the reign of Henry VII., and Dame Elizabeth, his wife. He seems to have been a man of great authority in the reign of Henry VII., as he was Lord Lieutenant of Calais, in France, Lord Chamberlain to his Majesty, Knight of the Most noble Order of the Garter, and father of Henry Lord Daubeny, the first and last Earl of Bridgewater of that surname, by Elizabeth, of the ancient family of the Arundels, in Cornwall. He died May 22, 1507, and his lady in 1500.

James Watt: he is represented with compasses forming designs, seated on an oblong pedestal. The inscription as follows:—“Not to perpetuate a name, which must endure while the peaceful arts flourish, but to show that mankind have learned to honour those who best deserve their gratitude, the king, his ministers, and many of the nobles and commoners of the realm, raised this monument to James Watt, who, directing the force of an original genius, early exercised in philosophical research, to the improvement of the steam-engine, enlarged the resources of his country, increased the power of man, and rose to an eminent place among the most illustrious followers of science, and the real benefactors of the world. Born at Greenock, 1736, died at Heathfield, in Staffordshire, 1819.”—Chantrey, sculptor.

Sir Thomas Bromley, Knight, Privy Councillor to Queen Elizabeth, and eight years Chancellor, in which office he died, April 12, 1587, to the grief of all good men. The eight children depicted on this tomb, were all by his Lady, Elizabeth, of the family of Fortescue.Sir Dudley Carleton, afterwards made Viscount Dorchester, for his eminent services to Charles I. and his father, both abroad and at home. He was a person versed in the languages, customs, and laws of most of the European nations, and was entrusted both by James I. and his successors, with the most important foreign negotiations. After the death of James I., he was sent to Holland, and was the last deputy who voted in the Assembly of the States, which great privilege the crown of England possessed from the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign to this period. He died Feb. 15, 1631, aged fifty-seven.

Frances, Countess of Essex. This great lady was the wife of Thomas Ratcliffe, Earl of Sussex, Lord Deputy of Ireland, and Knight of the Garter, &c., and daughter of Sir William Sidney, of Pensehurst, Knight. By her last will, having outlived her husband, she instituted a divinity lecture to be read in this Collegiate Church, gave 5,000l. towards the building of a new College in Cambridge, now called Sidney Sussex College; and left a sufficient yearly revenue for the maintenance of one master ten fellows, and twenty scholars, either in the said new college, or else in Clare Hall. She died April 15, 1589, aged fifty-eight.

Next to this is a monument of black marble, very remarkably different from every other in the Abbey. On the top of it is a circular frame of gilt brass, enclosing the bust of Ann, Lady Cottington, wife of Francis, Lord Cottington, Baron of Hanworth, so created by Charles I. She was daughter of Sir William Meredith, of Denbighshire, by Jane, his wife, of the family of the Palmers, in Kent, and died February 22, 1633, in the thirty-third year of her age, having had four daughters and a son, all of whom died before their father, who, on a table monument beneath, lies in effigy, resting on his left arm; and over a satyr’s head is this inscription in English: “Here lies Francis, Lord Cottington, of Hanworth, who, in the reign of Charles I., was Chancellor of his Majesty’s Exchequer, Master of the Court of Wards, Constable of the Tower, Lord High Treasurer of England, and one of the Privy Council. He was twice Ambassador in Spain, once for the said King, and a second time for Charles II., now reigning, to both of whom he most signally showed his allegiance and fidelity, during the unhappy civil broils of those times; and for his faithful adherence to the Crown (the Usurper prevailing) was forced to fly his country; and, during his exile, died at Valladolid, in Spain, June 19, 1652, in the seventy-fourth year of his age, whence his body was brought, and here interred, by Charles Cottington, Esq., his nephew and heir, in 1679.”

The next is a very old Gothic monument, erected to the memory of Lewis Robert, or Robsart, a foreigner, but standard bearer to Henry V., a Knight of the Bath, and afterwards of the Garter, and at length created Lord Bourchier. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of St. Bartholomew Bourchier, and probably a relation to Geoffrey Chaucer, the old English poet.

On leaving this Chapel, on your right is a monument to the memory of William Pulteney, Earl of Bath, with a medallion and urn, supported by Wisdom and Poetry. The inscription is as follows:—“Erected to the memory of William Pulteney, Earl of Bath, by his brother, the Hon. Harry Pulteney, General of his Majesty’s Forces, 1764, Ob. July 7, 1767, Æt. eighty-one.”—Wilton, sculptor.

CHAPEL OF EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, LOOKING WEST.

Charles Holmes, Esq., Rear-Admiral of the White; who is represented in a Roman habit, leaning against a cannon mounted on a sea carriage; an anchor, cable, and flag in the back ground.—“He died the 21st of Nov., 1761, Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty’s fleet stationed at Jamaica, aged fifty. Erected by his grateful nieces, Mary Stanwix and Lucretia Stowe.”—Wilton, sculptor.

In front of the monument to Admiral Holmes, is an old gravestone, plated with brass, with Latin inscription, to John of Windsor, nephew of Sir William of Windsor, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the reign of Edward III. He died April 4, 1414.

Near this spot was buried John Pym, the celebrated Parliamentary orator, who died December 13, 1643; and also James Usher, Archbishop of Armagh, 1656.