| 142 | A L B | |
Which has been thus translated:
Sacred to the memory of the best of men.
Interr'd within this consecrated ground,
Lies he, whom Henry his protector found:
Good Humphry, Gloc'ster's Duke, who well could spy
Fraud couch'd within the blind impostor's eye.
His country's light, the state's rever'd support,
Who peace and rising learning deign'd to court;
Whence his rich library at Oxford plac'd
Her ample schools with sacred influence grac'd:
Yet fell beneath an envious woman's wile,
Both to herself, her King, and country vile;
Who scarce allowed his bones this spot of land:
Yet spite of envy shall his glory stand.
About 40 years ago in digging a
grave, a pair of stairs were discovered that
lead down into a vault where his leaden
coffin was found, in which his body was
preserved entire, by a kind of pickle in
which it lay, only the flesh was wasted
from the legs, the pickle at that end
being dried up. Many curious medals,
and coins are to be seen in the church,
that have been dug out of the ruins
of Old Verulam that stood on the other
side of the river Ver, or Moore, which
runs south-west of the town.
|
| | Near |
|
| A L B | 143 |
|
Near St. Alban's is a fort, at a place
called by the common people the Oyster
Hills, which is supposed to have been the
camp of Ostorius, the Roman Proprætor.
This town is the largest in the county,
and besides the four churches, has several
meeting-houses, two charity schools, and
three fairs, and has on Saturday one of the
best markets for wheat in England. It
gives the title of Duke to the noble fami-
ly of Beauclerc. The great John Duke
of Marlborough erected a seat here, cal-
led Holloway-house, and several neat
alms-houses have been built here by him
and his Duchess.
St. Alban's, Wood street, on the north
side of London, and the east side of
Wood street, Cheapside, is dedicated
to St. Alban, the British Proto-Mar-
tyr, who suffered under the persecu-
tion of Dioclesian. The first church in
this place was erected in the year 930,
and dedicated to the same Saint. After
various repairs, the old church was pul-
led down in 1634, and another erected,
which was destroyed by the fire of Lon-
don thirty-two years after, when the
present edifice was built from the same
model as the former. It is entirely in
|
| | the |
|
HomeVolume IPage Group 140 - 159
