Milton's tomb ... no wonder Shakespeare had a verse "Curst be he, etc."
lyra
...............................................
A story that makes it clear just why Shakespeare needed the verse...
"...And curst be he yt moves my bones"
(quote)
"St Giles' historically unscrupulous vergers lead us to the second
story, which seems to be true. During the 1790's, while repairs were
being made to the chancel, the coffin of John Milton was exhumed. The
enterprising verger opened it and put the great poet on public display,
charging interested parties first 6d, later 2d, and finally the price
of a pint for a peek. This led to his teeth, hair and one rib being
purloined for souvenirs before he was reburied, and the contemporary
poet William Cowper wrote, 'Ill fare the hands that heaved the stones,
where Milton's ashes lay! That trembled not to grasp his bones, and
steal his dust away
!'
....................................................................................................................................
(excerpts)
The interior is quiet and somewhat stately, thanks to the arcades
separating the north and south aisles from the nave, and a leisurely
stroll quickly reveals the church to be one that is very proud of its
historical connections!
The most notable of these features is a collection of busts set on
plinths, showing four famous parishioners. Daniel Defoe, government
agent, pamphleteer, useless businessman and famous author, was born in
the parish and worshipped here.
A third bust is that of John Bunyan, the Nonconformist preacher who
spent twelve years in Bedford Jail for his beliefs and wrote 'The
Pilgrims Progress', one of Puritan England's most popular and
influential books. He was an occasional visitor to the church, and is
buried close to Defoe in Bunhill Fields, a Dissenter's Cemetery in St
Giles' parish, which also contains another famous local - the
poet/painter William Blake, one of history's true eccentric geniuses.
The remaining bust is that of John Milton, author of Paradise Lost and
a member of Cromwell's Council of State. Milton is the church's most
famous interment; as well as the bust, there is a memorial in the south
aisle and his burial place is marked near the chancel.
Another legendary poet with connections to St Giles is William
Shakespeare. Two of his nephews were christened here, one was buried
here, and interred here in 1634 was the grand-daughter of Sir Thomas
Lucy, supposedly the basis of the comic 'Justice Shallow' in Henry IV
Part II and The Merry Wives Of Windsor. Shakespeare's fellow actor and
local benefactor Edward Alleyn is memorialised by a stained glass
window - he was the proprieter of the Fortune Theatre which once stood
close by.
Also buried in the body of the church are two eminent Elizabethans:
John Foxe, the propagandist whose 'Book Of Martyrs' did absolutely
nothing for the Catholic cause, and Sir Martin Frobisher, a mariner who
fought against the Armada and attempted to locate the North-West
Passage. Close by, and with a monument that has managed to survive the
Victorian fire and the Luftwaffe bombs, is the seventeenth century
cartographer and historian, John Speed.
St Giles' historically unscrupulous vergers lead us to the second
story, which seems to be true. During the 1790's, while repairs were
being made to the chancel, the coffin of John Milton was exhumed. The
enterprising verger opened it and put the great poet on public display,
charging interested parties first 6d, later 2d, and finally the price
of a pint for a peek. This led to his teeth, hair and one rib being
purloined for souvenirs before he was reburied, and the contemporary
poet William Cowper wrote, 'Ill fare the hands that heaved the stones,
where Milton's ashes lay! That trembled not to grasp his bones, and
steal his dust away
!'
http://www.ourpasthistory.com/london/st_giles_cripplegate.htm
lyra
> St. Giles, Cripplegate, London
>
> ...............................................
>
> A story that makes it clear just why Shakespeare needed the verse...
>
> "...And curst be he yt moves my bones"
>
> (quote)
>
> "St Giles' historically unscrupulous vergers lead us to the second
> story, which seems to be true. During the 1790's, while repairs were
> being made to the chancel, the coffin of John Milton was exhumed. The
> enterprising verger opened it and put the great poet on public display,
> charging interested parties first 6d, later 2d, and finally the price
> of a pint for a peek. This led to his teeth, hair and one rib being
> purloined for souvenirs before he was reburied, and the contemporary
> poet William Cowper wrote, 'Ill fare the hands that heaved the stones,
> where Milton's ashes lay! That trembled not to grasp his bones, and
> steal his dust away
> !'
>
> ....................................................................................................................................
>
> (excerpts)
>> Another legendary poet with connections to St Giles is William
> Shakespeare. Two of his nephews were christened here, one was buried
> here, and interred here in 1634 was the grand-daughter of Sir Thomas
> Lucy, supposedly the basis of the comic 'Justice Shallow' in Henry IV
> Part II and The Merry Wives Of Windsor. Shakespeare's fellow actor and
> local benefactor Edward Alleyn is memorialised by a stained glass
> window - he was the proprieter of the Fortune Theatre which once stood
> close by.
> http://www.ourpasthistory.com/london/st_giles_cripplegate.htm
................................................................................................................
Ill fare the hands that heaved the stones
Where Milton's ashes lay,
That trembled not to grasp his bones
And steal his dust away!
O ill-requited bard! neglect
Thy living worth repaid,
And blind idolatrous respect
As much affronts thee dead.
(William Cowper)
...............................................................................................................
(quote, excerpts)
Considering that Foxe, the martyrologist (buried, it is believed, on
the south side of the chancel) was sheltered by Sir Thomas Lucy,
Shakespeare's traditional persecutor-
"At home a poor scarecrow, in London an ass,"
it is singular to find near the centre of the north aisle of St.
Giles's a monument to Constance Whitney, eldest daughter of Sir Robert
Whitney, and granddaughter of Sir Thomas Lucy, who died at the age of
seventeen.
A small white marble tablet within the communion-rails also records
another Lucy. The inscription is-
"Here lies Margaret Lucy, the second daughter of Sir Thomas Lucy, of
Charlcott in the county of Warwicke, Knight (the third by imediate
discent of the name of Thomas),
by Alice, sole daughter and heire of Thomas Spenser, of Clarenden, in
the same county, Esq.,
and Custos Brevium of the Courte of Comon Pleas at Westminster, who
departed this life the 18th day of November, 1634, and aboute the 19th
year of her age. For discretion and sweetnesse of conversation not many
excelled, and for pietie and patience in her sicknesse and death, few
equalled her; which is the comforte of her nearest friendes, to every
of whom shee was very dear, but especiallie to her old grandmother, the
Lady Constance Lucy, under whose government shee died, who, having long
exspected every day to have gone before her, doth now trust, by faith
and hope in the precious bloode of Christ Jesus, shortly to follow
after, and be partaker, together with her and others, of the
unspeakable and eternell joyes in His blessed kingdome; to whom be all
honour, laude, and praise, now and ever. Amen."
In this church, too, after many a voyage and many a battle, rests that
old Elizabethan warrior and explorer, Sir Martin Frobisher, who was
brought here in February, 1594-5, after receiving his death shot at
Brest. His northern discoveries while in search of a north-west passage
to China, in a mere fishing-boat of twenty-five tons, his West Indian
cruise with Drake, and his noble courage against the Spanish Armada,
fully entitle Frobisher to rank as one of the earliest of our naval
heroes.
From: 'Cripplegate', Old and New London: Volume 2 (1878), pp. 229-45.
Art Neuendorffer
.
St. Giles, Cripplegate, London
http://www.ourpasthistory.com/london/st_giles_cripplegate.htm
(quote)
.
<<The interior is quiet and somewhat stately, thanks to the arcades
separating the north and south aisles from the nave, and a leisurely
stroll quickly reveals the church to be one that is very proud of its
historical connections!
The most notable of these features is a collection of busts set on
plinths, showing four famous parishioners. Daniel Defoe, government
agent, pamphleteer, useless businessman and famous author, was born in
the parish and worshipped here.
.
A third bust is that of John Bunyan, the Nonconformist preacher who
spent twelve years in Bedford Jail for his beliefs and wrote 'The
Pilgrims Progress', one of Puritan England's most popular and
influential books. He was an occasional visitor to the church, and is
buried close to Defoe in Bunhill Fields, a Dissenter's Cemetery in St
Giles' parish, which also contains another famous local - the
poet/painter William Blake, one of history's true eccentric geniuses.
.
The remaining bust is that of John Milton, author of Paradise Lost and
a member of Cromwell's Council of State. Milton is the church's most
famous interment; as well as the bust, there is a memorial in the south
aisle and his burial place is marked near the chancel.
Another legendary poet with connections to St Giles is William
Shakespeare. Two of his nephews were christened here, one was buried
here, and interred here in 1634 was the grand-daughter of Sir Thomas
Lucy, supposedly the basis of the comic 'Justice Shallow' in Henry IV
Part II and The Merry Wives Of Windsor. Shakespeare's fellow actor and
local benefactor Edward Alleyn is memorialised by a stained glass
window - he was the proprieter of the Fortune Theatre which once stood
close by.
Also buried in the body of the church are two eminent Elizabethans:
John Foxe, the propagandist whose 'Book Of Martyrs' did absolutely
nothing for the Catholic cause, and Sir Martin Frobisher, a mariner
who fought against the Armada and attempted to locate the North-West
Passage. Close by, and with a monument that has managed to survive the
Victorian fire and the Luftwaffe bombs, is the seventeenth century
cartographer and historian, John Speed.
St Giles' historically unscrupulous vergers lead us to the second
story, which seems to be true. During the 1790's, while repairs were
being made to the chancel, the coffin of John Milton was exhumed. The
enterprising verger opened it and put the great poet on public display,
charging interested parties first 6d, later 2d, and finally the price
of a pint for a peek. This led to his teeth, hair and one rib being
purloined for souvenirs before he was reburied, and the contemporary
poet William Cowper wrote,
Ill fare the hands that heaved the stones
Where Milton's ashes lay,
That trembled not to grasp his bones
And steal his dust away!
O ill-requited bard! neglect
Thy living worth repaid,
And blind idolatrous respect
As much affronts thee dead.>>
_____ *IOHN MILTON*
_____ *IN MONOLITH*
------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
Art Neuendorffer