Upon another tomb is an honorary inscription for Frances, Duchess of Suffolk. The sense of it is,
That titles, royal birth, riches, or a large family, are of no avail:
That all are transitory; virtue alone resisting the funeral pile.
That this lady was first married to a duke, then to Stoke, a gentleman;
And lastly, by the grave espoused to Christ.
The next is the tomb of Lord Russell, son of the Earl of Bedford, whose lady composed the following Greek and Latin verses, and had them engraved on the marble:—
How was I startled at the cruel feast,
By death’s rude hands in horrid manner drest;
Such grief as sure no hapless woman knew,
When thy pale image lay before my view.
Thy father’s heir in beauteous form arrayed
Like flowers in spring, and fair, like them to fade;
Leaving behind unhappy wretched me,
And all thy little orphan-progeny:
Alike the beauteous face, the comely air,
The tongue persuasive, and the actions fair,
Decay: so learning too in time shall waste:
But faith, chaste lovely faith, shall ever last.
The once bright glory of his house, the pride
Of all his country, dusty ruins hide:
Mourn, hapless orphans; mourn, once happy wife;
For when he died, died all the joys of life.
Pious and just, amidst a large estate,
He got at once the name of good and great.
He made no flatt’ring parasite his guest,
But asked the good companions to the feast.
Anne, Countess of Oxford, daughter of William Cecil, Baron Burleigh, and Lord Treasurer.
Philippa, daughter and co-heiress of John, Lord Mohun of Dunster, wife of Edward, Duke of York.
Frances, Countess of Sussex, of the ancient family of Sidney.
Thomas Bromley, Chancellor to Queen Elizabeth.
The Earl of Bridgewater, [29] Lord Dawbney, Lord Chamberlain to Henry VII., and his lady.
And thus much for Westminster.