CHAPTER VIII

THE HOUSE OF HANOVER AND THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

“_We were dreamers, dreaming greatly, in the man-stifled town; We yearned beyond the sky-line where the strange roads go down. Came the Whisper, came the Vision, came the Power with the Need, Till the Soul that is not man’s soul was lent us to lead._” RUDYARD KIPLING (_The Seven Seas_).

At the death of Queen Anne a great change took place in the reigning family. The people would not have Queen Anne’s brother, Prince James, for their King, because he was a Roman Catholic, but there were many plans and plots in his favour, as we have heard. And even here again the Abbey plays a part in it all, for the famous Dean of Westminster, Francis Atterbury, was concerned in these Jacobite plots. It is said, indeed, that on Queen Anne’s death he had been ready to go to Charing Cross to proclaim James III, but James and his friends somehow let their opportunity slip, and instead of James III, George I was proclaimed. Later on it was discovered that Jacobite plots still went on at the Westminster Deanery, and Dean Atterbury was imprisoned and then exiled in France, where he died in 1731–32. He is buried in the Abbey, close to the Deanery entrance in the Nave, and, as he wished, “as far from Kings and Cæsars as the space will admit of.”

George I, in spite of his mother’s descent from the Stuarts, was really a foreigner, and he is buried in his native town of Hanover, just as the first Norman King is buried at Caen, and the first Plantagenet Kings at Fontevrault.

George II, and his wife, Caroline of Anspach, are buried in Henry’s VII’s Chapel, straight in front of Edward VI’s grave. Queen Caroline died in 1737, and George II in 1760. They are the last sovereigns buried at Westminster. Since that time the Kings and Queens of England have been buried at Windsor and in the new Mausoleum at Frogmore, where Queen Victoria and Prince Albert rest.

At the funeral of Queen Caroline the choir sang the beautiful anthem which had just been composed by Handel, “When the ear heard her, then it blessed her.” It was King George’s special wish that his ashes should mingle with his wife’s, and therefore the two coffins are placed in one large sarcophagus. There is no monument; only the names on the stones above.

It is interesting to remember that George II was the last English sovereign to be present at a battle. During the years 1740 to 1748 several of the nations of Europe were fighting in what was called the War of the Austrian Succession. This war was really caused by Frederick the Great of Prussia and other German sovereigns trying to get various possessions away from the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. England took the Austrian side, and George II himself joined the army at the Battle of Dettingen, in 1743. The English and their allies were victorious. Handel composed his famous “Dettingen Te Deum” for the thanksgiving after the victory.

Several other members of the Hanoverian Royal House are buried in the central aisle of Henry VII’s Chapel. Among them are the following: Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales (son of George II), and his wife, Augusta Princess of Wales, the father and mother of King George III.

William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, third son of George II, is also buried here. The Duke of Cumberland was a brave soldier, but his severity to the Scotch Jacobites after the Battle of Culloden in 1746 earned him the name of “the Butcher.” The Scotch, who had been fighting for Prince Charlie, were mercilessly slaughtered, and this cruelty has never been quite forgotten.

There are several other monuments in the Abbey to remind us of the Jacobite Rising of 1745. Such, for instance, is the monument to Marshal Wade, on the south side of the Nave. Marshal Wade was commander-in-chief of the army which was sent to quell the rebellion, and he was the man who made the great military roads through the Highlands spoken of in the well-known rhyme—

“If you’d seen these roads before they were made You would hold up your hands and bless Marshal Wade.”

Two other soldiers who fought at Culloden, General Guest and Colonel Webb, are buried in the East Cloister. General Guest, who has a monument in the North Transept, defended Edinburgh against the rebels in 1745.

There is a tablet to Colonel Webb in the East Cloister.

Just at this time France declared war upon England, and took up the cause of Prince Charles Edward. In 1745 a battle was fought at Fontenoy, in Flanders. The English and their allies were under the command of the Duke of Cumberland, but their army was much smaller than the French army, and although they made a gallant attempt, they had to retreat. In the Westminster Cloisters there is a monument to two brave soldier-brothers of the name of Duroure, one of whom was killed at Fontenoy.

The naval victories over the French won by Admiral Anson and Admiral Hawke in 1747 are recorded on the Abbey walls by the monuments of Captain Philip Saumarez and Sir Charles Saunders, who both fought in the action off Finisterre. We shall meet with Sir Charles Saunders’s name again later on.

The monument to Admiral Vernon, at the end of the North Transept, tells us of the war with Spain in 1737–40, and of the English victories at Porto Bello and Cartagena. In the North Transept aisle is a monument to Lord Aubrey Beauclerk, who was killed in 1740, on Admiral Vernon’s expedition to Cartagena. And again, we are reminded of the fights with the Spanish fleet in the West Indies when we look at the monuments to Admiral Wager and Sir Peter Warren, which are also both in the North Transept. Sir Peter Warren’s monument is a very fanciful one. It was made by the French sculptor, Roubiliac, the sculptor of the well-known Nightingale Monument in the Chapel of St. Michael. Roubiliac has actually represented the marks of smallpox on the face of Sir Peter Warren’s bust!

Sir Peter Warren’s nephew, Admiral Tyrrell, has a monument in the Nave. Tyrrell once defeated three French men-of-war single-handed, while he was commanding the _Buckingham_. He died in 1766, and is buried at sea.

Close to the entrance of the former Baptistery is the huge monument to Captain James Cornewall, who was killed in a great fight with the Spanish-French fleet off Toulon early in 1744. This monument was the first which was erected by Parliament in honour of a distinguished sailor.

In 1756 began the Seven Years’ War, between Prussia on one side, and Austria, France, Russia, Poland, Saxony, and Sweden on the other. These countries wanted to break up the kingdom of Prussia, which was becoming very powerful under Frederick the Great. Now, England was already at war with France, and she took the side of Prussia. The Duke of Cumberland, of whom we have already heard a good deal, was in command of the army in Hanover. At first, things seemed to be going very badly for England, but the tide turned when William Pitt, “the Great Commoner,” as he was called, became War Minister. William Pitt was indeed the foremost man in England’s history at this time, for not only did he strengthen our position in Europe, but it was he who slowly built up our world-wide Empire. He was created Earl of Chatham in 1766, and died in 1778. All this is most interesting and important to remember when we are in the Abbey, because this great English statesman is buried in the North Transept—Statesmen’s Corner, as it began to be called. Pitt’s monument is close to the North Transept door. High up you will see the figure and keen, eagle face of Lord Chatham, who is represented as if speaking to a large audience, his arm outstretched as though to make his words the more impressive, reminding us that he was a great orator as well as statesman. Perhaps he looked like this when he made his impassioned protests against the unjust taxation of the American colonies.

The Seven Years’ War ended with the Peace of Paris in 1763, but meanwhile there had been a great deal of fighting, chiefly at sea, with the French and Spaniards. Many of these battles went on in the West Indies, where England was victorious. One of our successes, the taking of Havana from Spain in 1762, is brought back to our minds by the monuments to Admiral Pocock and Rear-Admiral Harrison. Admiral Pocock was commander-in-chief of the expedition, and conveyed Lord Albemarle and his troops to Havana.

Another of the great events in our history during the eighteenth century was the conquest of Canada from the French, a conquest always connected with the name of General Wolfe, who was killed at the taking of Quebec in 1759. There is a very large and, sad to say, very ugly monument to General Wolfe in the Abbey. It is in the North Ambulatory, and makes a great contrast to the splendid and beautiful Plantagenet tombs just opposite to it. However, the monument is very interesting, because the whole scene of Wolfe’s death is represented on it. The group of figures shows Wolfe mortally wounded, and hearing, just before his death, that his soldiers were putting the enemy to flight. Below this group is a bronze bas-relief representing the Heights of Abraham, which had been scaled by the British, and also the landing of the British troops from the river St. Lawrence. So important was Wolfe’s victory that, in the following year, the English had won all Canada.

Admiral Sir Charles Saunders has already been mentioned, and his grave in the Islip Chapel reminds us, not only of his services in the French war, but also of his share in the conquest of Canada, for he was commander-in-chief of the fleet which carried General Wolfe and his soldiers to the mouth of the St. Lawrence. Another Admiral, Charles Holmes, who served with Saunders at the taking of Quebec, has a memorial in the Nave. Viscount Howe and Colonel Townshend, who both fell at Ticonderoga during this same Canadian War, have memorials in the Abbey. Viscount Howe was the elder brother of the great Admiral, Lord Howe. His monument was put up by the people of Massachusetts a short time before the American colonies separated from the Mother Country.

General Adrian Hope, one of the first English Governors of Quebec, has a monument in the North Transept.

This is perhaps a good place in which to speak of another man who did a great deal for our Colonial Empire, namely, George Montague Dunk, Earl of Halifax, whose monument is also in the North Transept. He was a prominent statesman in the reigns of George II and George III, and he did so much for commerce in America that he was called the “Father of the Colonies.” He had also a great deal to do with the founding of the colony of Nova Scotia, and its capital, Halifax, is named after him. He died in 1771.

But we must now turn to quite another part of the world, and think of what was going on in India. Just about this time, or a little earlier, Clive had made the conquest of Bengal, and we find much to remind us of this in the Abbey.

At the end of the North Transept aisle is the monument—a terribly ugly one—put up by the East India Company to the memory of Admiral Watson, who helped Clive to recapture Calcutta from the cruel Suraj-ad-Dowlah, the man who shut up the Europeans in the “Black Hole of Calcutta,” of which every one has heard. Watson also helped Clive to take Chandernagore. He died in 1757, the year of the Battle of Plassey, and the year after the taking of Calcutta.

Major-General Stringer Lawrence, who defended Trichinopoly against the French in 1753–54, has a monument in the Nave. In the North Transept, again, is the monument to Sir Eyre Coote, who drove out the French from the Coromandel coast, and took Pondicherry in 1761.

Another monument in the North Transept reminds us of a famous man who is connected with the Anglo-Indian history of the time. This is Warren Hastings. It is true that he properly belongs to a rather later date, but as he has so much to do with India we will speak of him now. Warren Hastings was the first Governor-General of the British possessions in India, and was appointed to that post in 1773. He did a great deal to save the British Empire in India. It was while Warren Hastings was Governor-General that Hyder Ali and son, Tippoo Saib, rose against the English, and Hastings put down the rebellion. Unhappily, his enemies accused him of wrongful exactions of money, and when Warren Hastings returned to England he was impeached before the House of Lords on charges of cruelty and oppression towards the natives of India. The trial went on for years, and Hastings was finally acquitted. The expenses of the trial left him penniless, but the East India Company granted him a pension, and he spent his remaining years in retirement at his own home at Daylesford. He is not buried in the Abbey, but he has a special connection with Westminster, because he was educated at Westminster School. Hastings died in 1818.

In the North Transept is a statue of Sir John Malcolm, another soldier who greatly distinguished himself in the various wars in India during Clive’s time. He was sent as Envoy to Persia in 1799, being the first English Envoy sent there since the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He was finally Governor of Bombay in 1830, and died in 1833.

As we know, the disturbances in India went on for some long time, in spite of English victories under General Lake and Sir Arthur Wellesley (afterwards Duke of Wellington). Wellesley’s great victory in this war was at the Battle of Assaye, in 1803.

Again, all English people, young and old, know about the war in which we lost our American colonies during George III’s reign, and there are several monuments in the Abbey to bring the story of it back to our minds.

General Burgoyne, whose surrender at Saratoga lost America to England, is buried in the North Cloister. Near him is buried Colonel Enoch Markham, who served throughout the same war. In the Abbey itself is the famous monument of Major André, who was hanged as a spy by the Americans in 1780. André had gone on a secret mission to the American General, Arnold, who betrayed a fortress on the Hudson River to the British. On his way back from the meeting André was taken, and, in spite of every effort to save him from a traitor’s death, he was hanged by order of General Washington, and was buried under the gallows on the banks of the Hudson. Forty years later his body was removed, at the request of the Duke of York, and was finally buried in the Abbey. Some locks of his beautiful hair still remained, and these were sent to his sisters. The chest in which André’s bones were sent home is still in the Islip Chantry. His monument is in the south aisle of the Nave, and the head of his figure has more than once been broken off and taken away, either by people with strong political feelings on one side or the other, or else by some mischievous schoolboy. There is a famous story of Charles Lamb half accusing Southey of having carried off André’s head. Southey did not like this, and it was a long time before he quite forgot it.

The war with the American colonies is thought to have broken Lord Chatham’s heart. Every one remembers the last scene in his public life—a scene represented in a famous picture—when Lord Chatham came to the House of Lords to make one last protest against a policy which meant the loss of the American colonies. During his speech he fell to the ground in a fit, and died a few weeks afterwards.

The French wars in the later part of the eighteenth century have a memorial in the Abbey in the enormous monument to the three captains, Bayne, Blair, and Lord Robert Manners, in the North Transept. These three captains fell in 1782, at Admiral Rodney’s victorious fight with the French off Guadaloupe in the West Indies. In St. Michael’s Chapel is another memorial of the same wars in the monument which tells of the death of Admiral Kempenfelt in the shipwreck of the _Royal George_ at Spithead in 1782.

Again, Lord Howe’s famous victory over the French off Ushant, on June 1st, 1794, has left its mark on the Abbey in the monuments of Captains Hardy and Hutt, and of Captain Montagu, which are both in the Nave.

In the reign of George I there was a terrible happening which caused great misery throughout England, and which has never been forgotten. This was what was called the South Sea Bubble,—that is, the failure of the South Sea Company. We are reminded of this disgraceful business even in the Abbey, because of the grave and monument of the poet Craggs, who was mixed up with it. Craggs is buried in Henry VII’s Chapel, and his monument is in the Baptistery.

As we are now coming quite close to the end of the eighteenth century it will be best to turn back and think of some of the great writers, men of science, musicians and others, who belonged to that time and are either buried or commemorated in the Abbey.

We will begin with Joseph Addison, the author of many beautiful essays in the _Spectator_ and the _Tatler_. He died in 1719, and was buried in Henry VII’s Chapel, in the same aisle as the Tudor Queens. His statue is in Poets’ Corner. Addison’s beautiful hymn, “The spacious firmament on high,” is sometimes sung in the Abbey, and ought to be well known to all English children.

Now we come to the great Sir Isaac Newton, the famous mathematician and philosopher, who discovered the law of gravitation. He died in 1727, and was buried in the Nave, close to the Screen. He had a very stately funeral, at which a great number of distinguished men were present. The famous French writer, Voltaire, was there as a spectator. The monument is quite near the grave, and is meant to represent Newton’s discoveries. It is not the sort of monument we care about now, and the inscription on the gravestone below is much better: “Here lies all that was mortal of Isaac Newton.”

James Thomson, who wrote a poem called _The Seasons_, has a monument in Poets’ Corner. He died in George II’s reign, and is buried in Richmond Parish Church.

Sir Richard Steele, a famous essay writer of the time, is brought to our memory by the grave of his second wife in Poets’ Corner.

John Gay, author of the _Fables_, which were written for the education of the Duke of Cumberland, was buried in Poets’ Corner in 1732. His monument is over the door into St. Faith’s Chapel, and on it are carved these curious lines—

“Life is a jest, and all things show it; I thought so once, and now I know it.”

Thomas Gray, who wrote the famous _Elegy in a Country Churchyard_, has a monument in Poets’ Corner, but he is buried in the beautiful churchyard at Stoke Pogis, which he loved so well. Gray’s poem is so celebrated that a learned Italian has lately made a very beautiful translation of it into his lovely native tongue. Gray died in 1771.

Oliver Goldsmith, author of the _Vicar of Wakefield_, the _Deserted Village_, and _She Stoops to Conquer_, died in 1774, and was buried in the Temple Churchyard. He has a monument in Poets’ Corner, and the Latin epitaph on it was written by the great Dr. Johnson.

Dr. Samuel Johnson, author of the _Lives of the Poets_, _Rasselas_, and the famous English Dictionary, died in 1784, and is buried in the Abbey at the foot of Shakspeare’s monument, close to David Garrick, the great actor, who had died four years before. Dr. Johnson’s only monument is his gravestone. Garrick has a rather foolish looking monument on the western wall of the South Transept.

Near Shakspeare’s monument is the bust of Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, who died in 1796.

A window in the former Baptistery commemorates two well known English poets who were both educated at Westminster School. These are George Herbert, who really belongs to the Stuart times, and William Cowper, who died in 1800. George Herbert’s poems are all on sacred subjects, and Cowper wrote some of the hymns which are very familiar to us all. But Cowper also wrote other things, some of the best known of his poems being the _Task_ and _John Gilpin_. This window was given to the Abbey by Mr. Childs, of Philadelphia.

One of the greatest names of the eighteenth century is that of the famous musician, George Frederick Handel, the composer of the “Messiah” and many other splendid works. He died in 1759 and was buried in Poets’ Corner. His monument is by Roubiliac, and represents Handel holding the music of his famous song, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” Just below his monument is a medallion in memory of the great Swedish singer, Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt, who died in 1889, and who used to sing that very song so finely. The same words are carved on her monument also.

When Charles Dickens was buried in 1870, the coffin of Handel was seen by those who were present at the funeral.

While we are speaking of musicians it will be interesting to note that Dr. Burney, author of the well-known _History of Music_, has a monument in the Musicians’ aisle.

The monuments to Dr. Isaac Watts, the well-known hymn-writer, and to John and Charles Wesley, are in the South Choir aisle, and bring back the memory of men who did great work in the eighteenth century, work that still has much influence in England.

Several of the eminent doctors of the eighteenth century are buried in the Abbey. Such are Richard Mead, physician to George II, who died in 1754; Dr. John Freind, a favourite of George II and Queen Caroline, who died in 1728; and Dr. Hugh Chamberlen, who also died in 1728.

Another man who was famous in a very different way was James Watt, the inventor of the steam-engine. He has a monument in St. Paul’s Chapel. It is of giant size, and actually broke down the pavement in the Chapel when it was brought in. Watt died in 1819.

William Horneck, one of the earliest of our great English engineers, is buried in the South Transept, and has a memorial tablet in the North-West Tower. He died in 1746.

We will add to our list of eighteenth century men the names of two inventors, who are buried side by side in the Nave. These are (1) Thomas Tompion, who died in 1713. He was called the “Father of English Watch-making,” because of the many improvements he introduced in the art of making clocks and watches. (2) George Graham, who died in 1751, nephew and pupil of Tompion. He invented a curious astronomical instrument called the “Orrery,” so named after Lord Orrery, who is also buried in the Abbey.

In the North Transept there is a monument to Jonas Hanway, a philanthropist and traveller, who died in 1786. Hanway was so kind, and worked so hard to help those who were less fortunate than himself, that he was called “the friend and father of the poor.” He is said to have been the first person in England who ever carried an umbrella. It seems curious that such a useful invention was not made until the eighteenth century.

In the West Cloister is a monument to Dr. Benjamin Cooke, who died in 1793, having been organist of the Abbey for thirty years. In the North Aisle of the Choir are the grave and monument of Dr. Samuel Arnold, a well-known Church musician, who succeeded Dr. Cooke as organist of the Abbey, and died in 1802.

Two famous engravers, William Woollett, who died in 1785, and George Vertue, who died in 1756, have monuments in the West Cloister. Vertue is buried in the North Cloister, near one of his family, who was a monk.

Several well-known actors and actresses of the eighteenth century are also buried in the Cloisters.