Thomas Parr, esq. "of Lisbon, merchant, educated here. He died July 1, 1783, aged 64 years." He is seated near a table, with his legs crossed, both arms resting on those of the chair, and holding in his left hand a letter addressed to the President and Governors of Christ's Hospital. He is dressed in a blue velvet coat, and white satin waistcoat richly embroidered, with ruffles of point-lace. The features are large, but pleasing. Richard Clark, esq. late Chamberlain of London, and elected President of Christ's Hospital in 1785, which he resigned on being appointed President of Bridewell in 1798. A good picture by Mather Brown, presented to the Governors by E. Parry, esq. in the year 1800. The likeness is correct, and the features, like the original, benevolent and pleasing. Sir John William Anderson, bart. President in 1798. James Palmer, esq. late Treasurer of Christ's Hospital. An admirable full-length by Sir Thomas Lawrence, painted at the request of the Committee, and by them presented to the Hospital. See page 165. There are some few other portraits, of no great merit, among which are those of Thomas Dyer, esq. and Mrs. Catharine Dyer. In the Treasurer's room there are engraved portraits of Sir Robert Clayton, Sir William Curtis, Bishop Middleton, and other individuals whose names are connected with the history or interests of the House. The side of the yard opposite the Counting-house is occupied by the Porter's House, and a range of wards, which are now in a very dilapidated state, and must shortly be removed. In a niche, facing the door of the Counting-house, is a statue of King Edward VI. standing on a black marble slab, and reaching out his right hand as in the act of delivering the Charter. Lower down, through a spacious semicircular porch, is a descent into the Cloisters; which are the most ancient part of the building. They open into a quadrangle by Gothic arches, which in the year 1730 were miserably defaced by an internal semicircular Y Y brickwork, entirely destroying their original character, and throwing an air of modern vandalism over the venerable remains of antiquity. The interior quadrangle is called the Garden, either because it formed such an appendage to the old Priory, or from the simple fact of its being, at a very recent date, covered with grass. In the year 1785, a large tree, which grew in the centre, was cut down, and the area paved, as at present; the ancient walls being at the same time cased with Yorkshire stone. Both the cloisters and the quadrangle are consecrated; and the former have been used from the earliest times as a burial-place for officers of the establishment. On the walls are several monuments erected to the memory of the deceased. of the deceased. Besides some, which have been already noticed, there is a very handsome one, in the centre of the south cloister, to Sir George and Lady Mertins; but the inscription cannot be deciphered. Sir George was first Treasurer, then President of the Hospital; and died shortly after his elevation to the latter office in 1727. There was formerly a tablet to the memory of one of the early masters, which is now removed; but the epitaph is worth preserving. RODOLPHO WADDINGTONO, Hujus Scholæ per annos 48 Moderatori digniss: Annos 17 Suavissimè degisset; Anno Ætatis 84. A. D. 1614. Aug. 14. Hic Waddingtonus tenui requiescit in urna, Et par præceptis, Quintiliane, tibi, Dulcis, amænus, amans, cultis, præstante, probata, Tales secla puto paucos antiqua dedissent, Postera non multos secla datura pares. Vita Angligen hunc peperit Londinum gloria gentis, Granta tulit segetem, fructumq: tumescere fecit, Londini messes Orphana turba tulit. |