Beside Tompion is the grave of Livingstone, over which there is a large black marble slab, with the following inscription: “Brought by faithful hands over land and sea, here rests David Livingstone, Missionary, Traveller, Philanthropist. Born March 19th, 1813; died May 1st, 1873, at Chetamba’s village, Ulala. For 30 years his life was spent in an unwearied effort to evangelize the Native races, to explore the undiscovered secrets, to abolish the desolating slave trade of Central Africa, where, with his last words, he wrote: ‘All I can add in my solitude is, May Heaven’s rich blessing come down on every one, American, English, or Turk, who will help to heal this open sore of the world.’ ‘Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice.’” The Latin verses are from Lucan the Roman poet, who, in his “Pharsalia,” describes the aspiration of Julius Cæsar to solve the problem, even then before the world, of the causes and source of the Nile. The verses may be thus translated:—So great is my love of truth that there is nothing I would rather know than the causes of the river that have lain hid through so many ages....
On the right of the West door, in the middle of a pyramid, is a large medallion of brass, resting on a cherub below, and suspended by another at the top. Round the medal is a Latin inscription, thus translated:—“John Conduit, Master of the Mint.” This gentleman succeeded his relation, the great Sir Isaac Newton, in that office, and desired to be buried near him, as appears by a long Latin inscription on the base. Died May 23, 1737, aged forty-nine. Catherine, his wife, died Jan. 20, 1739, aged fifty-nine, and lies interred in the same tomb.—Cheere, sculptor.
A stone arch has been turned over the west door, on which is erected a monument, voted by Parliament to the memory of the Right Hon. William Pitt. This illustrious statesman is represented habited in the robes of Chancellor of the Exchequer. To the right of the base of the statue, is History recording his speeches, whilst Anarchy, on the left, lies subdued, and writhing in chains at his feet. The Statues composing this group are nine feet in height. Inscription:—“This monument is erected by Parliament to William Pitt, son of William Earl of Chatham, in testimony of gratitude for the eminent public services, and of regret for the irreparable loss of that great and disinterested Minister. He died Jan. 23, 1806, in the forty-seventh year of his age.”—Sir Richard Westmacott, R.A., sculptor.
On the left is a lofty pyramid of a bluish coloured marble, to the memory of Sir Thomas Hardy, Knt., whose effigy is reclining upon a tomb of elegant workmanship, with a naked boy on his left side weeping over an urn. The inscription, a little history of the deceased’s life, is here copied:—“Sir Thomas Hardy, to whose memory this monument was erected, was bred in the Royal Navy from his youth, and was made a Captain in 1693. In the expedition to Cadiz, under Sir George Rook, he commanded the Pembroke; and when the fleet left the coast of Spain to return to England, he was ordered to Lagos Bay, where he got intelligence of the Spanish galleons being arrived in the harbour of Vigo, under convoy of seventeen French men-of-war. By his great diligence and judgment he joined the English fleet, and gave the Admiral that intelligence which engaged him to make the best of his way to Vigo, where all the aforementioned galleons and men-of-war were either taken or destroyed. After the success of that action, the Admiral sent him with an account of it to the Queen, who ordered him a considerable present, and knighted him. Some years afterwards he was made a Rear-Admiral, and received several other marks of favour and esteem from her Majesty, and from her Royal Consort, Prince George of Denmark, Lord High Admiral of England. He died August 16, 1732, aged sixty-seven.”—Cheere, sculptor.
Captain James Cornewall.—This noble monument, which is thirty-six feet high, has a large base and pyramid of rich Sicilian marble. Against the pyramid is a rock (embellished with naval trophies, sea weeds, &c.) in which are two cavities; in the one is a Latin epitaph; in the other, a view of the sea-fight before Toulon, in bas-relief, on the foreground whereof the Marlborough, of ninety guns, is seen fiercely engaged with Admiral Navarre’s ship, the Real, of one hundred and fourteen guns, and her two seconds, all raking the Marlborough fore and aft. On the rock stand two figures; the one represents Britannia, under the character of Minerva, accompanied with a lion: the other figure is expressive of Fame, who, having presented to Minerva a medallion of the hero, supports it whilst exhibited to public view. The medallion is accompanied with a globe and various honorary crowns as due to valour. Behind the figure is a lofty spreading palm-tree (whereon is fixed the hero’s shield or coat of arms), together with a laurel-tree, both which issue from the naturally barren rock, as alluding to some heroic and uncommon event. The inscription:—“Amongst the monuments of ancient merit in this sacred Cathedral, let the name of James Cornewall be preserved, the third son of Henry Cornewall, of Bradwarden Castle, in the County of Hereford, Esq., who, from the very old and illustrious stock of the Plantagenets, deriving a truly ancient spirit, became a naval commander of the first eminence; equally and deservedly honoured by the tears and applause of Britons, as a man who bravely defended the cause of his country in that sea-fight off Toulon, and being by a chain-shot deprived of both his legs at a blow, fell unconquered, on the 3rd of February, 1743, in the forty-fifth year of his age, bequeathing his animated example to his fellow sailors as a legacy of a dying Englishman, whose extraordinary valour could not be recommended to the emulation of posterity in a more ample eulogy, than by so singular an instance of honour; since the Parliament of Great Britain, by an unanimous suffrage, resolved that a monument, at the public expense, should be consecrated to the memory of this most heroical person.”—Tayler, sculptor.
South Aisle.
t the back of Cornewall’s, is the monument to the Right Honourable James Craggs, who was made Secretary at War in April, 1717, and one of his Majesty’s Privy Council and Secretary of State, in March, 1718. The statue of this gentleman, large as the life, is finely represented as leaning on an urn, which has upon it in golden characters, an inscription, showing that he was principal Secretary of State, and a man universally beloved, which is there particularly marked, because, as he was of low extraction, being only a shoemaker’s son, it is the more admirable, that in the high station to which his merit had raised him, he should escape envy, and acquire the general esteem. He died February 16, 1720, aged thirty-five. Upon the base of the monument is this epitaph, written by Mr. Pope:—