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Near this place lies ABRAHAM COWLEY, the Pin-
dar, Horace, and Virgil of England; and the de-
light, ornament, and admiration of his age.
While, sacred bard, far worlds thy works proclaim,
And you survive in an immortal fame,
Here may you bless'd in pleasing quiet lie,
To guard thy urn may hoary Faith stand by;
And all thy favourite tuneful Nine repair
To watch thy dust with a perpetual care.
Sacred for ever may this place be made,
And may no desperate hand presume t' invade
With touch unhallow'd, this religious room,
Or dare affront thy venerable tomb;
Unmov'd and undisturb'd till time shall end.
May Cowley's dust this marble shrine defend.
So wishes, and desires that wish may be sacred to pos-
terity, George Duke of Buckingham, who erected this
monument for that incomparable man. He died in
the forty-ninth year of his age, and was carried from
Buckingham-house, with honourable pomp, his exe-
quies being attended by persons of illustrious charac-
ters of all degrees, and interred August 13, 1667.
His grave is just before the monument,
as appears by a blue stone, on which is en-
graved his name.
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4. The monument of that ancient poet
Geoffery Chaucer, was once a handsome
one in the Gothic stile; but is now de-
faced by time. Chaucer, who is stiled the
Father of the English poets, was the son of
Sir John Chaucer, a citizen of London,
employed by Edward III. in negociations
abroad relating to trade. He was first a
student at Cambridge; but afterwards
studied at Merton College, Oxford; and to
perfect himself in the knowledge of the
laws, entered himself of the Middle Temple:
thus accomplished, he soon became a fa-
vourite at court, and was employed as
shield-bearer to the King; was a gentle-
man of the bedchamber, and by Edward III.
was sent Embassador abroad. However, in
the succeeding reign he fell into disgrace,
and was committed to the Tower for high-
treason, where he wrote his Testament of
Love: but upon the death of Richard II.
he became a greater favourite at court than
ever, from his having married the great
John of Gaunt's wife's sister. He was born
in 1328, and died in 1400.
5. The plain monument of Mr. John
Phillips, has his bust in relief, represented
as in an arbour, intervoven with vines,
laurel branches, and apple-trees; and over
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