64. We come now to the neat and elegant monument erected to the memory of Dr. Boulter, Archbishop of Armagh in Ireland. It is of the finest marble beautified with an admirable new invented polish. The bust of this worthy Archbishop is finely executed; his long flowing hair has all the gracefulness of nature, without the smallest degree of that stiffness which belongs to stone; and his venerable countenance strikes the beholder with reverence. The ensigns of his dignity wherewith the monument is adorned, are most exquisitely fine, and every part about it discovers a masterly genius in the sculptor. The inscription is inclosed in a beautiful border of porphyry, and is as follows:
Dr. Hugh Boulter, late Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of all Ireland, a Prelate so eminent for the accomplishments of his mind, the purity of his heart, and the excellence of his life, that it may be thought superfluous to specify his titles, recount his virtues, or even erect a monument to his fame. His titles he not only deserved, but adorned; his virtues are manifest in his good works, which had never dazzled the public eye, if they had not been too bright to be concealed; and as to his fame, whosoever has any sense of merit, any reverence for piety, any passion for his country, or any charity for mankind, will assist in preserving it fair and spotless, that when brass and marble shall mix with the dust they cover, every succeeding age may have the benefit of his illustrious example. He was born Jan. 4, 1671, was consecrated Bishop of Bristol, 1718, translated to the Archbishopric of Armagh, 1723, and from thence to Heaven, Sept. 27, 1742.
65. A plain table monument erected to the memory of Dr. Samuel Bradford, Bishop of Rochester, who died on the 14th of May 1731, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. It contains a long Latin inscription scarce legible, surrounded with the arms, and proper ensigns of his several dignities.
66. The next is a monument erected to the memory of Richard Kane, Esq; Governor of Minorca, adorned with a curious bust of that gentleman in white marble, placed upon a handsome pedestal, whereon are inscribed the most remarkable passages of his life. He was born at Down in Ireland, Dec. 20, 1661. In 1689 he first appeared in a military capacity at the memorable siege of Derry; and after the reduction of Ireland, followed King William into Flanders, where he distinguished himself, particularly by his intrepid behaviour at the siege of Namur, where he was grievously wounded. In 1702, he bore a commission in the service of Queen Anne, and assisted in the expedition to Canada; from whence he again returned into Flanders, and fought under the Duke of Argyle and Greenwich, and afterwards under Lord Carpenter. In 1712, he was made Sub-Governor of Minorca, through which island he caused a road to be made, which had been thought impracticable. In 1720 he was ordered by King George I. to the defence of Gibraltar, where he sustained an eight months siege against the Spaniards, when all hope of relief was extinguished. For which gallant service he was afterwards, by King George II. rewarded with the government of Minorca, where he died Dec. 19, 1736, and was buried in the castle of St. Philip.
67. The monument of Percy Kirk, Esq; is adorned with a fine bust of that gentleman, on each side of which is a winged seraph, one with a dagger in his right hand inverted, and in his left a helmet; the other resting on a ball, and holding in his left hand a torch reversed. The inscription lets us know, that he was Lieutenant-General of his Majesty’s armies; that he was son to Percy Kirk, Lieutenant-General in the reign of King James II. by the Lady Mary, daughter to George Howard Earl of Suffolk, and that he died Jan. 1, 1741, aged fifty-seven.
68. We come now to the monument erected to the memory of that brave commander the Lord Aubrey Beauclerk, ornamented with arms, trophies, and naval ensigns, and in an oval nich on a beautiful pyramid of dove-coloured marble, is a fine bust of that young Hero. On this pyramid is the following historical inscription:
The Lord Aubrey Beauclerk was the youngest son of Charles Duke of St. Albans, by Diana, daughter of Aubrey de Vere Earl of Oxford. He went early to sea, and was made a commander in 1731. In 1740, he was sent upon that memorable expedition to Carthagena, under the command of Admiral Vernon, in his Majesty’s ship the Prince Frederic, which, with three others, was ordered to cannonade the castle of Boccachica. One of these being obliged to quit her station, the Prince Frederic was exposed, not only to the fire from the castle, but to that of Fort St. Joseph, and to two ships that guarded the mouth of the harbour, which he sustained for many hours that day, and part of the next, with uncommon intrepidity. As he was giving his commands upon deck, both his legs were shot off; but such was his magnanimity, that he would not suffer his wounds to be drest, till he communicated his orders to his first Lieutenant, which were, To fight his ship to the last extremity. Soon after this he gave some directions about his private affairs, and then resigned his soul with the dignity of a Hero and a Christian. Thus was he taken off in the thirty-first year of his age, an illustrious commander of superior fortitude and clemency, amiable in his person, steady in his affections, and equalled by few in the social and domestic virtues of politeness, modesty, candour, and benevolence. He married the widow of Col. Francis Alexander, a daughter of Sir Henry Newton, Knt. Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of Florence and the Republic of Genoa, and Judge of the high court of Admiralty.
Over his inscription is the following epitaph:
Whilst Britain boasts her Empire o’er the deep,
This marble shall compel the brave to weep;