He translated with extraordinary eloquence many of Galen's
works into Latin; and published, a little before his death, at the
request of his friends, a very valuable book on the correct
structure of the Latin tongue. He founded in perpetuity in favour
of students in physick, two public lectures at Oxford, and one at
Cambridge. In this city he brought about, by his own industry, the
establishing of a College of Physicians, of which he was elected the
first president. He was a detester of all fraud and deceit, and
faithful in his friendships; equally dear to men of all ranks: he
went into orders a few years before his death, and quitted this life
full of years, and much lamented, A.D. 1524, on the 29th of October.
There are many tombs in this church, but without any inscriptions.
It has a very fine organ, which, at evening prayer, accompanied with
other instruments, is delightful.
In the suburb to the west, joined to the city by a continual row of
palaces belonging to the chief nobility, of a mile in length, and
lying on the side next the Thames, is the small town of Westminster;
originally called Thorney, from its thorn bushes, but now
Westminster, from its aspect and its monastery. The church is
remarkable for the coronation and burial of the Kings of England.
Upon this spot is said formerly to have stood a temple of Apollo,
which was thrown down by an earthquake in the time of Antoninus
Pius; from the ruins of which Sebert, King of the East Saxons,
erected another to St. Peter: this was subverted by the Danes, and
again renewed by Bishop Dunstan, who gave it to a few monks.
Afterwards, King Edward the Confessor built it entirely new, with
the tenth of his whole revenue, to be the place of his own burial,
and a convent of Benedictine monks; and enriched it with estates
dispersed all over England.
In this church the following things are worthy of notice:
In the first choir, the tomb of Anne of Cleves, wife of Henry VIII.,
without any inscription.
On the opposite side are two stone sepulchres:
(1) Edward, Earl of Lancaster, brother of Edward I.; (2) Ademar of
Valence, Earl of Pembroke, son of Ademar of Valence. Joining to
these is (3) that of Aveline, Countess of Lancaster.
In the second choir is the chair on which the kings are seated when
they are crowned; in it is enclosed a stone, said to be that on
which the patriarch Jacob slept when he dreamed he saw a ladder
reaching quite up into heaven. Some Latin verses are written upon a
tablet hanging near it; the sense of which is:
