Note 641 — Chapter XXIII
Reading edition
The funeral of the Earl of Essex, on the 22nd of October, 1646, presented a grand display of military pomp. The Speaker, many Aldermen of the City, and Assembly of Divines also followed in the procession to the grave. "When they came to the Abbey Church, the effigy of the Earl was carried in and laid upon the standing hearse, where it was to remain during the pleasure of the House, or as many days as intervened between his death and burial. The effigy was roughly handled one night. The Abbey being broken into, the head of the image was broken, the buff coat was slit, the scarlet breeches were cut, the boots were slashed, the bands were torn, and the sword broken."—See Perfect Relation of the Funeral.
Mr. Vines, in his sermon at the interment, compared Essex to Abner, and observed: "The funeral, for the state of it, overmatches the pattern. Here are the two Houses of Parliament, the map of all England in two globes, pouring out their sorrows, and paying their kisses of honourable farewell to his tutelar sword."