No doubt he would have liked to be assured of so conspicuous
a place. There is one monument to a native American, "Charles Wragg,
Esq., of South Carolina,"--the only one, I suspect, in Westminster Abbey,
and he acquired this memorial by the most un-American of qualities, his
loyalty to his king. He was one of the refugees leaving America in 1777,
and being shipwrecked on his passage the monument was put up by his
sister. It is a small tablet with a representation of Mr. Wragg's
shipwreck at the base. Next to it is the large monument of Sir
Cloudesley Shovel, which I think Addison ridicules,--the Admiral, in a
full-bottomed wig and Roman dress, but with a broad English face,
reclining with his head on his hand, and looking at you with great
placidity. I stood at either end of the nave, and endeavored to take in
the full beauty and majesty of the edifice; but apparently was not in a
proper state of mind, for nothing came of it. It is singular how like an
avenue of overarching trees are these lofty aisles of a cathedral.
Leaving the Abbey about one o'clock, I walked into the city as far
as Grace Church Street, and there called on the American Consul,
General ------, who had been warmly introduced to me last year by a
letter from the President. I like the General; a kindly and honorable
man, of simple manners and large experience of life. Afterwards I called
on Mr. Oakford, an American connected in business with Mr.
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