WEST WALK.
On the left door of the Abbey is a monument, erected by John English Dolben, Esq., “To the memory of Edward Wortley Montague, who was cast away, on his return to England, in 1777, from the East Indies, in the twenty-seventh year of his age. In memory of their friendship, which commenced at Westminster School, continued for some time at Oxford, not diminished by the greatest distance, scarcely dissolved by death, and if it please God, to be renewed in heaven.—J. E. D., to whom the deceased bequeathed his books (and appointed joint residuary legatee), erected this monument.”
Francis Smedley.—Adjoining the Godolphin monument is a neat tablet to the memory of the above, who was High Bailiff of Westminster for twenty-two years. Born September 15, 1791; died February 25, 1859.
The next is a monument that deserves particular attention, as it commemorates a charity, which otherwise might, in time, like many others, be perverted or forgotten. The inscription is as follows:—“Here rest, in hope of a blessed resurrection, Charles Godolphin, Esq., brother of the Right Honourable Sydney, Earl of Godolphin, Lord High Treasurer of Great Britain, who died July 16, 1720, aged sixty-nine; and Mrs. Godolphin, his wife, who died July 29, 1726, aged sixty-three; whose excellent qualities and endowments can never be forgotten, particularly the public-spirited zeal with which he served his country in Parliament, and the indefatigable application, great skill, and nice integrity, with which he discharged the trust of a Commissioner of Customs for many years. Nor was she less eminent for her ingenuity, with sincere love of her friends, and constancy in religious worship. But as charity and benevolence were the distinguishing parts of their characters, so were they most conspicuously displayed by the last act of their lives: a pious and charitable institution, by him designed and ordered, and by her completed to the glory of God, and for a bright example to mankind; the endowment whereof is a rent-charge of one hundred and eighty pounds a-year, issuing out of lands in Somersetshire, and of which, one hundred and sixty pounds a year are to be ever applied, from 24th June, 1726, to the educating eight young gentlewomen, who are so born, and whose parents are of the Church of England, whose parents or friends will undertake to provide them with decent apparel; and after the death of the said Mrs. Godolphin, and William Godolphin, Esq., her nephew, such as have neither father or mother; which said young gentlewomen are not to be admitted before they are eight years old, nor to be continued after the age of nineteen, and are to be brought up in the city of New Sarum, or some other town in the county of Wilts, under the care of some prudent governess or schoolmistress, a communicant of the Church of England; and the overplus, after an allowance of £5. a-year for collecting the said rent-charge, is to be applied to binding out one or more poor children apprentices, whose parents are of the Church of England. In perpetual memory whereof Mrs. Frances Hall, executrix to her aunt, Mrs. Godolphin, has, according to her will, and by her order, caused this inscription to be engraven on their monument, 1772.”
The next is a neat tablet, in memory of the Rev. Edward Smedley, A.M., Rector of Powderham, and of North Bovey, in the county of Devon, and from 1774 to 1820, one of the Ushers of Westminster School; born Nov. 5, 1750, died August 6, 1825. Also of Hannah, his wife, daughter of George Bellas, Esq.; born August 21, 1754, died October 17, 1824. This tablet is erected by their surviving children.
“To you, dear names, these filial thanks we give,
For more than life, for knowledge how to live—
For many a rule with holy wisdom fraught,
And works embodying the creed you taught;
For faith triumphant, tho’ the lips which told
Its glowing lessons, now, alas! are cold;
Faith, which proclaiming that the dead but sleep,
Invites us home to those whom here we weep.”
—Westmacott, jun., sculptor.
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.”