Lady Lawrence survived her husband, and was buried at Chelsea on 22 March 1674-5. In Strype's edition of "Stowe's Survey of London," published in 1720, is the following note of an inscription. No trace of it is now to be found, nor is any mention made of it by Lysons or Faulkner : "Sacred to the memory of the Honourable Dame GRISEL, Relict of the Honourable The monument of Sarah, eldest daughter of the goldsmith, who married Richard Colvile, of Newton, in the Isle of Ely, is affixed to the north wall of the chapel, on the west side of that of her father. It is described by Bowack as "a monument very remarkable and surprising, being the representation of a woman about the bigness of the life, as rising from the dead on the last day. She is upon her knees, with eyes and hands lift up towards heaven, fronting the body of the Church, and has her winding sheet wrapped round her. The whole performance being of marble is an extraordinary piece of workmanship." The figure, which is really but a half length, is carved in alabaster, and set in a shallow recess of black touch which is finished with a semicircular head. On either side is a Doric column of touch, supporting a carved entablature, surmounted by a pediment. Upon a slab of black touch within a border of alabaster, which is placed underneath the ledge or bracket which supports the monument, is the following inscription: SACRED TO YE BLESSED MEMORY OF THAT WIFE TO RICHARD COLVILE OF NEVTON CAMBRIDGE ESQ DAVGHTER TO THOMAS LAVRENCE OF IVER IN YE COVNTY OF BVCKINGHAM ESQ BEING YE HAPPY MOTHER OF 8 SONS Wonder not (reader) how this stone Till she arise & leave the place; For losse of whome ye mournfull Vrne SHE DIED YE 17 OF APRILL 1631.* Upon the coffin this text is written : AND YOU SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD WHEN I HAVE OPENED YOUR GRAVES O MY PEOPLE AND BROVGHT YOV VP EZEKIEL 37 vers 13 The monument of Lady Salter, in Iver Church, dated 24 April 1631, is similar to this one in character, representing the deceased in grave clothes, rising from out of her coffin. Another, doubtless by the same hand, is that of Temperance Brown, in Steane Church, Northamptonshire, who died in the year 1634, and it is signed thus: JOHAN CHRISTMAS/FRATRES This date is incorrect. "Mrs. Sarah Covell, gentlewoman," was buried on 18 April 1632. In Walpole's "Anecdotes of Painting" there is a note on Gerard Christmas, which states that his sons John and Matthew were the carvers of the great ship built at Woolwich by Mr. Peter Pett in 1637. From Gough's "Topography," vol. i. p. 579, it appears that they also built a tomb for Sir H. Calthorp, at Ampton in Suffolk. Upon a shield in the tympanum of the pediment are the arms and crest of Lawrence of Chelsea. At the end of the cornice, on the sinister side, are the following arms impaling those of Lawrence, and surmounted by two crests, namely (1) a lion rampant, and (2) a chess-rook: Quarterly 1 and 4; Azure a lion rampant argent a label of 3 points gules. 2; argent 3 chess-rooks gules for Walsingham. 3; argent on a bend sable a bezant for Pinchbeck. Sir John Lawrence was succeeded by his eldest son, John, who married May, second daughter of Sir Thomas Hampson, Bart., of Taplow, Bucks, as appears from the following inscription given by Lipscomb in the " History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham," which is supposed to be now in the Orkney vault in the old churchyard at Taplow: "Here lyes the body of Mary sole daughter of S of Taplow, Baronet. She died the 13th. of December 1649 "Where rest thou pretty harmless dust Lady Lawrence was buried at Chelsea on 11 October 1664. I can find no record of the death or burial of her husband, but it appears from the entries in the registers at St. Giles'-in-the-Fields, of the baptism of two of his grand-children (see pp. 178 and 179, post), that he died between 19 June 1680, and 18 February 1682, his son being styled "Sir Thomas Lawrence" for the first time on the latter date. He has occasionally been wrongly identified with his namesake and contemporary, the Lord Mayor of London. He is mentioned in Aubrey's "Lives" as having repaired Sir Thomas More's monument in the year 1644. In the same year he was ordered to appear before the Commissioners of both kingdoms of England and Scotland, for attempting to gain a petition on behalf of Charles I. at Wickham (Wycombe ?), and sent to the Tower. It was during his lifetime that Delaford, the family mansion at Iver, was disposed of to Sir George Tash. Three other of Sir John Lawrence's (the first baronet) children, remain to be noticed, namely, Henry, Frances, and Griselda. Of the other two who survived him, Robert and Anne, I can find nothing recorded. On a slab of black touch-stone, in the floor of the chapel, is this inscription, now much worn and partly covered by the pews. Sacred to the memory HENRY LAVRENCE TVRKY MARCHANT Here rests ye weary Marchant having tride Ensures him there an hundred-folde And more. There is an interesting account of this Henry Lawrence in a book published in 1658, entitled "The baptiz'd Turk," &c., written by the Rev. Dr. Warmstry, being a narration of the circumstances of the conversion of Rigep Dandulo, which took place at Lady Lawrence's house at Chelsea. "At Smyrna," the author writes, "he (Dandulo) met with Mr. Lawrence, son of the Lady Lawrence of Chelsey, with whom he fell into some acquaintance." Afterwards Dandulo was sent as an agent to England, and there again met with the same Mr. Lawrence, "by whom he was after some time brought into Chelsey to the house of his worthy mother, where he was kindly entertained. . . . In the time of his being there, he had entered into some familiarity with Mr. Lawrence,* a Turkish merchant, who married the daughter of the Lady Lawrence before mentioned, who finding him, as he conceived, proper for some purpose of his, prevailed with him to stay some longer time in England than he intended to have done. . . . A while after he came again to the Lady Lawrence's at Chelsey, at whose house I happily found him when I came thither one evening to do those observances which I owe unto that worthy lady, by whose favour I enjoy a habitation as her tenant in the town of Chelsey. . . . So in much weakness, with the assistance of Mr. Lawrence afore mentioned, who was pleased to do the part of an interpreter between me and this convert, I made an entrance upon the work of his conversion." Subsequently" that worthy and learned Divine, Mr. Peter Gunning, addresseth himself unto Chelsey to the house of the Lady Lawrence, who was pleased to give a very favourable and courteous entertainment to all that came about that holy business, which I hope will be returned in many blessings upon her family." The following entry in Pepys' Diary probably refers to Henry Lawrence : "22 December 1660. Went to the Sun Tavern on Fish Street Hill to a dinner of Captain Teddiman's where was [amongst others] one Mr. Laurence (a fine gentleman, now going to Algiers) and other good Company, where we had a very fine dinner, I very merry. Went to bed, my head aching all night." This was Isaac Lawrence, of whom see page 171, post. |