the chancel, against the north wall, within the recess for the altar, is the
monument of Captain Edward Fenton, who accompanied Sir Martin
Frobisher in his second and third voyages, and had himself the command
of an expedition for the discovery of a north-west passage. Near this is
a tablet inscribed to Henry Roger Boyle, eldest son to Richard, Earl of |
Corke, who died at a school in Deptford, in 1615; and a neat mural
monument to the memory of George Shelvock, Esq., secretary of the
general post-office, and F.R.S., who, at a very early period of life, attended
his father in a voyage round the world. The tomb of Captain George
Shelvocke is near the east end of the chancel, on the outside; he was
descended of an ancient Shropshire family, and bred to the sea service under
Admiral Benbow. Against the east wall, to the north of the altar recess, is
the monument of Peter Pett, Esq., a master shipwright in the King's-yard,
whose family were long distinguished for their superior talents in ship-
I building; and who was himself the first inventor of that useful ship of war,
I a frigate: he died in 1652. On the opposite wall is a mural monument, with a
long inscription, in memory of Sir Richard Browne, Knt., of Sayes court,
who was " Governor of the United Netherlands, and was afterwards, by Queen
Elizabeth, made Clerk of the Green Cloth, in which honourable office he
continued under King James, till the time of his death, in May, 1604, aged
sixty-five years;" of Christopher Browne, Esq., his son, who died in
March, 1645, at the age of seventy; of Sir Richard Browne, knight and
baronet, only son of Christopher; and of their respective wives. Many
other monuments and inscriptions are in this church: among them a slab
in the pavement of the north aisle marks the burial-place of Mr. John
Benbow, eldest son of the gallant Admiral Benbow, who died at the age of
twenty-seven, November, 1708. The register of this parish records the
following instances of longevity: Maudlin Augur, buried in December,
1672, aged 106; Catherine Perry, buried in December, 1676, by her
own report, 110 years old; Sarah Mayo, buried in August, 1705, aged
102; and Elizabeth Wiborn, buried in December, 1714, in her 101st
year. The church of St. Paul is a handsome stone fabric, erected under
the provisions of certain acts passed in the ninth and tenth years of Queen
Anne, for the building of fifty new churches in and near London. It has
a well-proportioned spire at the west end : the roof is sustained by columns
of the Corinthian order; the pews are of Dutch oak, and the whole inte-
rior is neatly fitted up. On the north side of the altar, against the east
wall, is an elegant mural monument, by Nollekins, in memory of James
Sayer, Esq., Vice-Admiral of the White, son of John Sayer, and Catherine,
his wife, one of the daughters and co-heirs of Rear-Admiral Robert
Hughes, and Lydia, his wife, who all lie buried in the old church of this
town, with many of their issue. On the south side of the chancel is a
sumptuous monument, displaying a sarcophagus, surmounted by a large
urn of statuary marble, partly covered with a mantle, in memory of
Matthew Finch, gentleman, who died in 1745; and on the nprth side is
another splendid monument, in commemoration of Mary Finch, daughter
of the above, and wife to Richard Hanwell, of Oxford, gentleman, who
died in 1754. Among the tombs in the church-yard, is one in memory
of Margaret Hawtree, a famous midwife, who died in 1734, inscribed as
follows:
