. Shakespeare's England . ere, in royal poet King James the First, of Scotland, wasmarried there, in 1423, to Jane, daughter of the Earl ofSomerset and niece of Cardinal Beaufort. In the southtransept of the church is the tomb of John Gower, theold poet — whose efifigy, carved and painted, reclinesupon it and is not attractive. A formal, severe aspecthe must have had, if he resembled that image. Thetomb has been moved from the spot where it first stood— a proceeding made necessary by a fire that destroyedpart of the old church. It is said that Gower causedthe tomb to be erected during
. Shakespeare's England . ere, in royal poet King James the First, of Scotland, wasmarried there, in 1423, to Jane, daughter of the Earl ofSomerset and niece of Cardinal Beaufort. In the southtransept of the church is the tomb of John Gower, theold poet — whose efifigy, carved and painted, reclinesupon it and is not attractive. A formal, severe aspecthe must have had, if he resembled that image. Thetomb has been moved from the spot where it first stood— a proceeding made necessary by a fire that destroyedpart of the old church. It is said that Gower causedthe tomb to be erected during his lifetime, so that itmight be in readiness to receive his bones. The bonesare lost, but the memorial remains — sacred to the 48 SHAKESPEARES ENGLAND CHAP. memory of the father of English song. This tomb wasrestored by the Duke of Sutherland, in 1832. It isenclosed by a little grill made of iron spears, paintedbrown and gilded at their points. I went into the newpart of the church, and, alone, knelt in one of the. AiidreTiS Movument. pews and long remained there, overcome with thoughtsof the past and of the transient, momentary nature ofthis our earthly life and the shadows that we pursue. One object of merriment attracts a passing glance inthat old church. There is a tomb in a corner of itthat commemorates Dr. Lockyer, a maker of patent IV IX 49 physic, in the time of Charles the Second. This ehibo-rate structure presents an effigy of the doctor, togetherwith a sounding epita))h which declares that • His virtues and his pills are so well knownPiiat envy cant confine them under stone. Shakespeare once lived in Clink Street, in the bor-ough of Southwark. Goldsmith practised medicinethere. Chaucer came there, with his Canterbury Pil-grims, and lodged at the Tabard inn, which has dis-appeared. It must have been a romantic region inthe old times. It is anything but romantic now.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidshakespeares, bookyear1895
