Near this, there was a Saxon
monument of the date 870, with sculpture in relief upon it,--the memorial
of an Abbot Hedda, who was killed by the Danes when they destroyed the
monastery that preceded the abbey and church. I remember, likewise, the
recumbent figure of the prelate, whose face has been quite obliterated by
Puritanic violence; and I think that there is not a single tomb older
than the parliamentary wars, which has not been in like manner battered
and shattered, except the Saxon abbot's just mentioned. The most
pretentious monument remaining is that of a Mr. Deacon, a gentleman of
George I.'s time, in wig and breeches, leaning on his elbow, and resting
one hand upon a skull. In the north aisle, precisely opposite to that of
Queen Mary, the attendant pointed out to us the slab beneath which lie
the ashes of Catharine of Aragon, the divorced queen of Henry VIII.
In the nave there was an ancient font, a venerable and beautiful relic,
which has been repaired not long ago, but in such a way as not to lessen
its individuality. This sacred vessel suffered especial indignity from
Cromwell's soldiers; insomuch that if anything could possibly destroy its
sanctity, they would have effected that bad end. On the eastern wall of
the nave, and near the entrance, hangs the picture of old Scarlet, the
sexton who buried both Mary of Scotland and Catharine of Aragon, and not
only these two queens, but everybody else in Peterborough, twice over.
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