The Life, Studies, And Works Of Benjamin West, Esq.
by
John Galt

Part 5 out of 5



Twenty Mourning Coaches and Pairs, with attendant Pages, conveying the
Mourners and Private Friends of the deceased.

The Procession was closed by above sixty carriages, arranged in rank by
the junior City Marshal and Marshalmen--the servants wearing hat-bands
and gloves.

The Procession was attended on each side by fifty Constables, to preserve
order; and the accesses from Bridge-street, Chancery-lane, the Old Bailey,
&c. were stopped. On reaching St. Paul's Cathedral, where the senior City
Marshal was in wailing, with several assistants, to arrange the
Procession, it entered at the great Western Gate, and was met at the
entrance of the Cathedral by the Church Dignitaries, &c. the whole then
proceeded to the Choir in the following order:


The two junior Vergers.
The Marshals.
The young Gentlemen of the Choir, two by two.
Their Almoner, or Master.
The Vicars Choral, two by two.
The Sub-Dean and Junior Canons, two by two.
The Feathers, with Attendant Pages and Mutes.
The two Senior Vergers.
Honourable and Rev. Dr. Wellesley.
The Canon residentiary, and the Rev. the Prebendary.

[THE CORPSE]
Pall-bearers. Pall-bearers.
The Earl of Aberdeen, Right Honourable Sir
His Excellency the American William Scott,
Ambassador, Honourable Gen. Phipps,
Hon. Augustus Phipps, Sir George Beaumont,
Sir Thomas Baring. Sir Robert Wilson.


CHIEF MOURNERS.

The Sons and Grandson of deceased, namely,
Raphael Lamar West, Esq.
Benjamin West, Esq.
and
Mr. Benjamin West, jun.
followed by
Robert Brunning (the old Servant of deceased)
Henry Fauntleroy, Esq. and James Henry Henderson, Esq.
(the Family Trustees and Executors of deceased.)
and
The Rev. Dr. Heslop, Vicar of St. Mary-la-Bonne; the Rev.
Mr. Borrodaile, Chaplain to the Lord Mayor; and Joseph
Hayes, Esq. Medical Attendant on deceased (Dr. Baillie being unavoidably
absent).

Then followed

The Bishop of Salisbury, (As Chaplain to the Royal Academy; and an
Honorary Member).

Prince Hoare, Esq. (Secretary for Foreign Correspondence to the
Royal Academy.)

The body of Academicians and Associates of the Royal Academy, according to
seniority, two by two, Students, two by two.

And the private mourners of the deceased, consisting of--Aldermen Wood
and Birch, Rev. ---- Est, Rev. Holt Oakes, Henry Bankes, Esq. M.P.,
William Smith, Esq. M.P., Richard Hart Davies, Esq. M.P., George Watson
Taylor, Esq. M.P., Jesse Watts Russell, Esq. M.P., Archibald Hamilton,
Esq., Thomas Hope, Esq., Samuel Boddington, Esq., Richard Payne Knight,
Esq., Thomas Lister Parker, Esq., George Hibbert, Esq., John Nash, Esq.,
John Edwards, Esq., Major Payne, Captain Henry Wolseley, Captain Francis
Halliday, James St. Aubyn, Esq., Henry Sansom, Esq., ---- Magniac, Esq.,
George Sheddon, Esq., James Dunlop, Esq., Joseph Ward, Esq., N. Ogle,
Esq., George Repton, Esq., William Wadd, Esq., Henry Woodthorpe, jun.
Esq., Christ. Hodgson, Esq., ---- Cockerell, sen. Esq., ---- Cockerell,
jun. Esq., Leigh Hunt, Esq., P. Turnerelli, Esq., J. Holloway, Esq.,
Charles Heath, Esq., Henry Eddridge, Esq., A. Robertson, Esq., W. J.
Newton, Esq., John Taylor, Esq., T. Bonney, Esq., ---- Muss, Esq., ----
Martin, Esq., J. Green, Esq., John Gait, Esq., William Carey, Esq., ----
Leslie Esq., ---- Behnes, Esq., George Samuel, Esq., John Young, Esq.,
Christopher Pack, Esq., W, Delamotte, Esq., E. Scriven Esq., J. M. Davis,
Esq., C. Smart, Esq., &c.

It being Passion Week, the usual chanting and performance of music in the
Cathedral-service could not take place, but an Anthem was, by special
permission, allowed to be sung; and the Hon. and Rev. Dr. Wellesley,
assisted by the Rev. the Prebendary, performed the solemn service in a
very impressive manner. The body was placed in the choir, and at the head
were arranged, on chairs, the chief mourners and executors. The
pall-bearers were seated on each side of the corpse, and the Members of
the Royal Academy, and other mourners, were arranged on each side of the
choir. After the Anthem, the body was attended to the vault-door by the
pall-bearers, followed by the chief mourners and executors, and was
conveyed into the crypt, and placed immediately beneath the perforated
brass plate, under the centre of the dome. Dr. Wellesley, with the other
canons, and the whole choir, then came under the dome, and the
pall-bearers, chief mourners, and executors, stood by them. The Members
of the Royal Academy were ranged on the right, and the other mourners on
the left, forming a circle, the outside of which was protected by the
Marshals and undertaker's attendants. Here the remainder of the service
was completed, and the sexton, placed in the crypt below, at the proper
period, let fall some earth, as usual, on the coffin. After the
funeral-service was ended, the chief mourners and executors, accompanied
by most of the other mourners, went into the crypt, and attended the
corpse to its grave, which was sunk with brick-work under the pavement at
the head of the grave of the late Sir Joshua Reynolds, and adjoining to
that of the late Mr. West's intimate and highly-valued friend, Dr.
Newton, formerly Bishop of Bristol, and Dean of St. Paul's, the
brick-work of whose grave forms one side of Mr. West's; thus uniting
their remains in the silent tomb. Sir Christopher Wren, the great
architect, lies interred close by, as well as those eminent artists, the
late Mr. Opie and Mr. Barry.

The Members of the Royal Academy, and all the mourners, then returned to
Somerset-House, in the like order of procession (with the exception of the
hearse and feathers,) where refreshments were provided for them.

The whole of this affecting ceremony was conducted with great solemnity
and respect, and was witnessed by an immense concourse of people.

The carriages attending in the Procession were those of the Lord Mayor,
the Archbishop of York, the Dukes of Norfolk, Northumberland, and Argyll;
the Marquisses of Lansdowne and Stafford; the Earls of Liverpool, Essex,
Aberdeen, Carlisle, Dartmouth, Powis, Mulgrave, Darnley, and Carysfort;
Viscount Sidmouth; the Bishops of London, Salisbury, Carlisle, and
Chester; Admiral Lord Radstock; the Right Honourables Sir William Scott,
Charles Manners Sutton, and Charles Long; the American Ambassador; the
Hon. General Phipps, Augustus Phipps; Sirs George Beaumont, J. Fleming
Leicester, Thomas Baring, and Henry Fletcher; the Solicitor General, Sir
Robert Wilson, Dr. Heslop, Dr. Baillie, Aldermen Birch and Wood, Mr.
Chamberlain Clarke, Henry Bankes, Esq. M.P., Richard Hart Davies, Esq.
M.P., George Watson Taylor, Esq. M.P., Jesse Watts Russell, Esq. M.P.,
Henry Fauntleroy, Esq., Archibald Hamilton, Esq., Thomas Courts, Esq.,
John Penn, Esq., Thomas Hope, Esq., Samuel Boddington, Esq., Walter
Fawkes, Esq., George Hibbert, Esq., John Yenn, Esq., John Soane, Esq.,
Francis Chantry, Esq., Henry Sanson, Esq., John Nash, Esq., John Edwards,
Esq., George Sheddon, Esq., James Dunlop, Esq., Joseph Ward, Esq., Henry
Meux, Esq. &c. &c.

The following is the Inscription upon the Tombstone over the deceased:--

Here lie the Remains of BENJAMIN WEST, Esq., President of the Royal
Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture: born 10th Oct. 1738,
at Springfield, in Pennsylvania, in America: died in London, 11th
March, 1820.

END OF PART II.






 


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