Canterburys Doom, Branch 1 · Evidence 1 · Letter 7
My Gracious Lord.
I Vnderſtand that upon ſuggeſtions made unto your Grace, you conceive that a Tombe which I have lately cauſed to be erected in Saint Patrickes Church neere Dublin, is prejuditiall to the lights of the Chancell, and ſeated in the place where the NOTE.High Altar ſtood; And as I have alwayes by my beſt deſires and actions endeavored to inveſt my ſelfe in your Graces good opinion, and have not willingly done any act that might prejudice me therein; So in this particular I make humbly bold to deliver my juſtification to your Grace as followeth, which I beſeech you take into your Religious conſideration, and vouchſafe me ſuch a favourable reſolution, as the meritts of the cauſe requireth.
It is ſo that Doctor Robert Weſton, ſometimes one of the Lords Juſtices for the Government of Ireland, and Lord Chancellor of the ſame Realme, Grandfather to my deceaſed Wife, and great Vncle to the now Lord Treaſurer of England, whoſe memory yet lives by being ſtiled the good Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was buried in the upper end of the Chancell in Saint Patrickes Church, whoſe Daughter Sir Iefferey Fenton maried, he having beene principall Secretary of State to Queene Elizabeth and King Iames for many yeares, and lived and died in great honour, whoſe onelyonly Daughter I tooke to Wife, and hee was buryed in the ſame grave; My Wife drawing towards her end, made her laſt requeſt unto me, that her Grandfather, her Father, and her ſelfe might be buried together, and that I would be at the charge to erect ſome Monument in memoriall of them all; Whereupon in accompliſhment of her dying deſire, who was the Mother of my fifteene Children, I propounded unto the Lord Archbiſhop of Dublin, and to the Deane and Chapter of Saint Patricks, to purchaſe a place where I might erect a Tombe over them, And they aſſigned me the ground under an Arch to make a Seller or Vault in, to receive dead bodies, and three foote of the Chancell adjoyning to the Grave where the Lord Chancellor, and Sir Iefferey Fenton had beene buried, for which I payd them a Fyne, with Rent and other reſervations towards the reparation of the Church, and by their unanimous conſent have a Deed in due forme of Law, perfected under their Chapter Seale, and ſo being by generall conſent legally intereſted therein, I made a Vault of hewed ſtone under ground, with conveighances therein, to free the Church from the waters, with which floods, and great raynes it was before often anoyed withall, and where there was then but an earthen flower at the upper end of the Chancell, which was often overflowne, I rayſed the ſame three ſteps higher, making the Staires of hewen ſtone, and paving the ſame through out of the ſame, whereon the Communion Table now ſtands very dry and gracefully. In that Seller I have placed the Corps of my Wives Grandfather, her Father, and her ſelfe with a Daughter of mine ſince deceaſed, that was married to the Lord Digbie, and over the Vault I have cauſed a Tombe of foure ſtoryes to be erected, which reacheth two and thirtie foot from the ground, which hath coſt me a thouſand pounds at the leaſt, and is the greateſt ornament and beautie to that Church that ever was placed therein, that being ſeated under an Arch, that in former time was only a paſſage into the Saint Mary Chappell, at the Eaſt end of which Chappell the high Altar ſtood; and when that Chappell (which hath two other wayes into it, the one on the right hand, the other on the left) fell into ruine, that Arch wherein the Tombe is placed to keepe the winde and weather out of the Chancell, was made up with ſlight timber and lathes, and plaiſtred with Clay white lymed over, whereon the Commandements were lately written. It is three yeares ſince this my worke was finiſhed, and neither during the time of the worke, nor ſince, till now of late, did I ever heare of any mouth opened againſt it, but many in commendations of it, as a great beautie and ornament to that Chancell, neither doth it take away, or hide any of the lights of the Chancell, for they are all above this Fabricke, Neither is there any remembrance, nor can the oldeſt man living ſay, that there ever was any Altar placed neere this paſſage: Yet of late it hath pleaſed my honourable Lord, the Lord Deputy, to command me to give Your Grace ſatisfaction herein, or elſe to declare, that the Tombe muſt be defaced, which to have done, would bee the greateſt diſhonour and affliction that could bee layed upon me. And the more, for that before I heard any thing of Your Graces diſtant thereof. I had in the preſence of the Lord Prymate, given order to the Deane at my ovvne charges for a ſtately Skrene to be erected within the Quire, and upon the pavement raiſed by my ſelfe, upon which the tenne Commandements are to bee engraven, to the great beautifying of Gods Houſe; VponUpon that notice from the Lord Deputy, I made ſuite to the Lord Prymate, and the Lord Archbiſhop of Dublin to view the place, which they vouchſafed together with the Deane and Chapter to doe. And doe humbly offer to your Grace their opinions herein, which I beſeech Your pious conſideration of, and that you will be pleaſed to returne me ſuch an anſwer, as may encourage me to proceed herein, and in other like building and charitable workes, wherein I ſpend a great part of my eſtate and time, as all that know me and my actions, …an teſtifie. The great God of Heaven bleſſe Your Grace with a long and happie life in this world, and everlaſting glory in the world to come, vvhichwhich is, and ever ſhall be the prayer of
Your Graces moſt humble and faithfull Servant, R. Ca…he. Dublin 20. Febr. 1633.