The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-09-27 00:00:00

TrrE STOTJRBRIDO-B OBSERVER

WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
(Fr3m Wednesday's Times.)
At this season of the year, when so many strangers
visit London, it may be worth while to notice several
additions which have been made to the interest of the
building and its monuments.
1. Oa the pedestal of the statue of Lord Canning,
which some years ago was erected close to the spot
where he is buried in his father's grave, has lately
been inscribed toe following epitaph from the hand of
his illustrious kinsman, Lord Stratford as Radcliffe, a
unique example within the Abbey walls of words
written by a scholar and statesman in his 94th

year :
" Charles John
Earl Ganning, KG.,
Tonngest eon
01 the Itighs Hon. George Canning;
Born December 14, 1812.
Died June 17, 1862.
Governor-General and First Viceroy of India
1855-1862.
In that high office,
During the perilous crisis
Of the Sepoy Mutiny,
Ile displayed, with entire success
Such fortitude, judgment,
And wise clemency,
As proved him worthy of his iliustrio as father,
And lastly entitled him
To the lasting gratitude of his country."
2. In the Chapel of St. John the Baptist there are
now inscribed on the floor the names of all the per-
sons buried within the chapel, as nearly as possible
over the spots where they are interred, an identifica-
tion which was for the first time rendered possible by
the recent investigation set on foot to discover the
precise locality of the grave of Lord Essex, General of
the Parliamentary forces. The following is the in-
scription now placed on the spot, copied exactly from
the plate found on his coffin
The right Honble. ds Excellent
Lord Robert Devereux Earle of
Essex. Zc Ewe. Vicount Hereford.. Lord
Ferrets of Chartley, Bovrchier and
LOVElyne, late Lord Generall of ye
Forces raised & imployed by ye Par-
liament of England, Dyed at
Essex House, London, on
Monday ye 14th Seoptembr
Ao Do!: 1646 aged O."
The number of persons buried in the chapel amounts
altogether to 68, among whom the most interesting are
Lord Hunsdon, cousin of Queen Elizabeth, whose
monument fills the east end of the chapel, and the
entrance to whose vault is marked by the contempor-
ary inscription, recently found, "The Lord of Huns.
don's Valte " ; the first Earl of Exeter, eldest son of
Lord Burleigh, whose monument is also conspicuous;
Thomas Carey, Gentleman of the Bedcharuber to
Charles 1., the discovery of whose coffin-plate for the
first time explains an extraordinary "conceit" in the
inscription hung on the wall; and Alice Egerton, the
" Lady" in Comm.
3. The monument of George Villiers, Duke of
Buckingham, in Henry Vll,'s chapel, has been par-
tially restored at the cost of the two chief representa-
tives of the Villiers family (the Earl of Jersey and the
Earl of Clarendon), and the Duke of Rutland as repre-
senting the Duchess of Buckingham, who was a
Manners. The cleansing of the bronze effigies of the
mourning allegorical figures and of the gilded statues
of the duke and, duchess, and the restoration of the
inscriptions and armorial bearings in their original
hues, have succeeded in rendering this monument of
the great favourite and his tragical death a magnificent
equipoise to the like tomb of the first Doke of Lennox
on the other side of the chapel, not long ago restored
by the munificence of Lord Darnley.
4, The interment of Sir Rowland Hill beside the
statue of James Watt (not, as has been often erron-
eously stated, buried) in St. Paul's Chapel has been
described too recently to need further comment.
5. A marble slab has just been laid over the grave
of Lord Lawrence in the nave, with the following in-
scription. It may be remarked that "Be ready" is
the motto of his family :
"Here rests from his labours
John Laird Mai;
let Baron Lawrence,
Of the Punjab,
Born 4th March, 1811,
Died 27th June, 1879.
• Be ready,
His works do follow him."
6. On the statue of Wordsworth, which has stood for
many years in the south-western corner of the Abbey
without any date or inscription, the name of "William
Wordsworth" having been deemed sufficient, it has now
for the first time been thought desirable to add a
few of his own beautiful words to mark the associa-
tions which have since sprung up around the spot which
his monument was almost' the first to oocupy. Keble,
Maurice' and Kingsley mark the religious genius of the
atmosphere, at once poetic and religious, of which
Wordsworth was the chief representative. The
stained windows, presented by an American
citizen, commemorates the two Westminster scholars
and sacred poets of an earlier date, and of the two
divergent tendencies of the English Church, Herbert
and Cowper; and the restoration of the almost
effaoed verses on the pedestal of the monument of
Craggs preserved the only memorial of the best part
of Pope's character which the Abbey contains. The
inscription now added to Wordsworth'e statue is
taken from the fourth of his impressive sonnets on
"Personal Talk," and was suggested by Principal
Shairp:—
" Blessings be with them, and eternal praise,
"Who gave us nobler loves, and nobler cares,
"The Poets—who on earth have made us heirs
"01 truth and pure delight by heavenly lays!'

(Companion of the Indian Empire). During
the wintering of the troops at Jellalabad I was very
busy collecting information specially with a view to
revenue w'ministration, had we annexed the district.
The little book I send you is the result of my work.
It is nothing in itself, and can have no interest for
you, but I send it merely to show that I
have bcen workiog. The Government of India
have formally thanked me for it. I hope
you will kindly exuuse the egotieic air of this
letter. Since the conclusion of the war I hate
been appointed Secretary to the Embassy now esta-
blished at the Afghan capital, and from that spot of
mournful celebrity to us I now write to you. I need
not give any news about the Embassy, as my letters
to the Pioneer newspaper are pretty sure to be copied
into the English papers which you see. I again wish
to say that I did not send you my report because it is
of any great value, but only to show that I am doing
something. and that my thoughts are still of King's
College.---Yours most sincerely, W. JENEYNS.
"Professor Geddes, Aberdeen.

am engaged in working up some account
of the language of Kafiristan, which is of peculiar in-
terest. At Jellalabad I collected some very curious
information regarding a strange language called
Sughmani in Pashai. This I hope to print, with the
help of Government, as soon as I find leisure to put
nay notes in order. I will send copies of anything I
may publish."