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Here lie the reliques of Edward V. King of
England, and Richard Duke of York,
who being confined in the Tower, and
there stifled with pillows, were privately
and meanly buried, by order of their
persidious uncle Richard the Usurper.
Their bones, long enquired after and
wished for, after lying two hundred and
one years in the rubbish of the stairs,
lately leading to the chapel of the White
Tower, were on the 17th of July 1674,
by undoubted proofs discovered; being
buried deep in that place. Charles II.
pitying their unhappy fate, ordered these
unfortunate Princes to be laid amongst
the reliques of their predecessors, in the
year 1678, and the 20th of his reign.
At the east end of the same isle is a vault
in which are deposited the bodies of King
James I. and Anne his Queen, daughter
to Frederic II. King of Denmark.
Over this vault is a small tomb adorned
with the figure of a child, erected to the me-
mory of Mary the third daughter of James I.
who was born at Greenwich in 1605, and
died at two years old.
There is also another monument on
which is the representation of a child in a
cradle, erected to the memory of Sophia,
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the fourth daughter of the same King, who
was born at Greenwich in 1606, and died
three days after.
In the same isle is a lofty monument
erected to the memory of Queen Elizabeth
by King James I. her successor. The in-
scription represents her character, high de-
scent, and the memorable acts of her glori-
ous reign. " That she was the mother of
" her country, and the patroness of reli-
" gion and learning; was herself skilled in
" many languages, adorned with every ex-
" cellence of mind and person, and endow-
" ed with princely virtues beyond her sex:
" that in her reign religion was refined to
" its original purity; peace was established;
" money restored to its just value; domestic
" insurrections quelled; France delivered
" from intestine troubles; the Netherlands
" supported; the Spanish Armada defeat-
" ed; Ireland, almost lost by the secret
" contrivances of Spain, recovered; the
" revenues of both universities improved
" by a law of provisions; and, in short,
" all England enriched. That she was a
" most prudent Governess, forty-five years
" a virtuous and triumphant Queen; truly
" religious, and blest in all her great affairs;
" and that after a calm and resigned death
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