WILLIAM J. THOMS, Esq., F.S.A., Honorary Secretary, 25. Holy-Well Street, Millbank, Westminster.
The Tomb of Geoffrey Chaucer in Westminster Abbey stands in need of repair. The portrait and the inscriptions have disappeared; the overhanging canopy has suffered damage; the table is chipped and broken; the base is fast mouldering into irretrievable decay.
Such an announcement is calculated to stir every heart that can respond to the claims of poetry, or feel grateful for the delight which it affords to every cultivated mind. It summons us, like the sound of a trumpet, "To the rescue!" It cannot be that the first and almost the greatest of English bards should ever be allowed to want a fitting memorial in our "Poet's Corner," or that the monument which was erected by the affectionate respect of Nicholas Brigham, nearly three centuries ago, should, in our time, be permitted to crumble into dust.
A sum under One Hundred Pounds will effect a perfect repair.
It is thought that there can be no difficulty in raising such a sum, and that multitudes of people in various conditions of life, and even in distant quarters of the globe, who venerate the name of Chaucer, and have derived instruction and delight from his works, will be anxious to contribute their mite to the good deed.
The Committee have therefore not thought it right to fix any limit to the subscription; they themselves, with the aid of several distinguished noblemen and gentlemen, have opened the list with a contribution from each of them of Five Shillings, but they will be ready to receive any amount, more or less, which those who value poetry and honour Chaucer may be kind enough to remit to them.
The design of the Committee is sanctioned by the approval of the Earl of Carlisle, the Earl of Ellesmere, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Lord Braybrooke. Lord Londesborough, Lord Mahon, the Right Hon. C. W. W. Wynn, and by the concurrence of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster.
An account of the sums received and expended will be published when the work is completed.
Subscriptions are received by all the members of the Committee, and at the Union Bank, Pall Mall East. Post-office orders may be made payable to William Richard Drake, Esq., the Treasurer, 46. Parliament Street, at the Charing Cross Office.