south, Mr. Guy's arms; and on the north, which fronts the street, the following inscription: THOMAS GUY, SOLE FOUNDER OF THIS HOSPITAL, IN HIS LIFE TIME, 4. D. MDCCXXI. Next the street, the buildings consist of a centre and wings; and behind these is a quadrangle; while a detached edifice is appropriated to the reception of lunatics. The west wing includes a chapel, in which is another statue of the founder, by Bacon, finely executed, at the cost of £1000. He is here represented holding out one hand to raise an emaciated recumbent figure, and pointing with the other to a second who is carrying into the hospital. Emblematic medallions adorn the sides of the pedestal, on which is this inscription: "Underneath are deposited the remains of Thomas "Guy, Citizen of London, Member of Parliament, and "the sole Founder of this Hospital in his life-time. It "is peculiar to this beneficent man to have persevered, "during a long course of prosperity and industry, in 66 pouring forth to the wants of others all that he had "earned by labour, or with-held from self indulgence. "Warm with philanthropy, and exalted by charity, "his mind expanded to those noble affections which grow but too rarely from the most elevated pursuits. "After administering with extensive bounty to the claims "of consanguinity, he established this asylum for that stage of languor and disease to which the charity of "others had not reached; he provided a retreat for "hopeless insanity, and rivalled the endowment of "Kings. He died the 27th of December, 1724, in the "S0th year of his age." The hospital comprises 13 wards, and 411 beds; and the out-patients, to whom relief is extended by this establishment, are also very numerous: upon the whole, the institution fully rivals the neighbouring one of St. Thomas in excellence of plan and general utility. The parish of ST. SAVIOUR was originally, and is still frequently, called St. Mary Overey, which is said to mean St. Mary over the River. This appellation in all probability is derived from the tradition, which Stow mentions, of a maiden, named Mary, having founded a nunnery here, and endowed it with the profits of a ferry across the Thames, previous to the building of the bridge. This house afterwards became a priory, the revenues of which, at the Dissolution, were valued at £624. 6s. 6d. per annum. A fine crypt, 100 feet by 25, with other remains of this religious foundation, are now used as store-cellars, warehouses, &c. Soon after the Dissolution, the inhabitants of St. Margaret and St. Mary Magdalen, purchased the fine Church which had been attached to the priory when those parishes were consolidated, and have subsequently been called by their present name. This edifice affords a good specimen of Gothic architecture; and amidst all the changes and chances, dilapidations and improvements, which have occurred in the course of ages, it has preserved its ancient character internally, and in a considerable degree also externally. It is spacious, and on the plan of a cathedral; having a nave and side aisles, transepts, choir with side aisles, a chapel dedicated to Our Lady, and a smaller one at the east end of the latter, now called the Bishop's, from the tomb of Bishop Andrewes having been placed in it. The length, from the east end of the additional chapel to the west door, is 272 feet; At the the breadth, including the two side aisles, 61 feet. intersection of the transepts with the nave, stands the tower on four strong pillars, and contains 12 bells. The pillars of the interior are some of them round, and in the massy Saxon style; most of the others octangular, with small cluster columns added at the four cardinal points. Upon all of them are turned pointed arches, though these probably,` as well as the pillars, were originally round and Saxon: the round arch, with the zigzag ornament, are still to be seen in St. Mary's Chapel. These incongruities in the architecture, it is likely, originated in the destruction of the roof by the fire which has been mentioned; when some few of the clumsy pillars and massy walls remaining uninjured, were not disturbed at the re-edification of the building. In the north aisle is a curious monument for Gower, the carly English poet, under seven trefoil arches, with a diminishing buttress at each extremity, terminating in pinnacles. Over these are two others on brackets, connected by three cinquefoil arches, a small quatrefoil over each. The figure of the poet is recumbent, in a plain gown, with buttons down the front, the head reposing on three of his works, the Vox Clamantis,' 'Speculum Meditantis,' and Confessio Amantis,' the latter of which only has been printed. A fillet set with roses is bound round his head, the hair of which is plentiful, and curled at the extremities; the beard is pointed; the hands are elevated as in prayer, and a dog is at his feet. At the back of the niche are three modern paintings of Charity, Mercy, and Pity. On that of Charity is written: En toy qui es fitz de dieu le Pere, MERCY. O bone Jesu fait toy mercy, PITY. Pour ta pite Jesu regarde Et met cest alme en sauve garde. Underneath the arms is the inscription: Hic Jacet J. Gower, Arm. Anglorum Poeta celeberrimus ac huie sacro edificio benefact, insignis temporibus Ed. III. et R. II. Armigeri scutum nihil à modo fert tibi tutum, Est ubi virtutum regnum sinè labe statutum. The part of this inscription which styles him a benefactor to the church, is explained by the circumstance that, about the year 1400, Gower contributed largely to its repairs, as well by his own money as by the subscriptions which he procured. In the arch between the north aisle and the altar, under a canopy with roses, supported by Ionic pillars, are figures of a man, two females, and children, all kneeling. The inscription tells us, that this monument is dedicated" to the pious memory of Richard Humble, Alderman of London," and several members of his family which information is succeeded by the quaint verses following: Like to the damask Rose you see, Or like the Blossom on the tree, Ye Gourd consumes, and Man he dies. On a stone under the arms of the Grocer's Company, are some miserable lines on one who followed that trade: concluding with Weep not for him, for he is gone before, To Heaven, where Grocers there are many more. And some verses which memorialize a Susanna Barford, are these: Such grace the King of Kings bestowed upon her, "In this church," says Aubrey, "was interred, without any memorial, that eminent dramatic poet, Mr. John Fletcher, who died of the plague 19th of August, 1625, When searching the register in 1670 for his obit, for the use of Mr. Anthony à Wood, the parish clerk, aged above 80, told me that he (the clerk) was his tailor, and that Mr. Fletcher, staying for a suit of cloaths before he retired into the country, Death stopped his journey." The Poet Massinger also was buried in the churchyard, and the comedians of his time attended him to the grave. It does not appear from the strictest search, that a stone, or inscription of any kind, marked the place where his dust was deposited: even the parish memorial is given with a pathetic brevity, which accords but too well with his obscure and humble life: "March 20, 1639-40, buried Philip Massinger, a stranger!" No flowers were flung into his grave; no elegies "soothed his hovering spirit;" and of all the admirers of his talents and his worth, none but Sir Aston Cockayne dedicated a line to his memory. In the north transept is an ancient figure in oak of a knight templar, cross-legged, by a ridiculous perversion of the original intent, now set upright against the wall. |