Classified_ad

This ancient pile of historie buildings was originally founded by Edward the Uonfessor about A. D. 1060. A building on the same site is said to have been erected by Seberl, king of the East Saxons, in the beginning of the seventh century. Of this early structure, however, there are no remains. The pyxhouse, which lies to the south of the present Abjey, adjoining the chapter house, and that part of the duister which Westminster bos now use asa gymnasium, is the only portion ot Edward's work remaining to the present time. For the most part his building was destroyed by Henry III., who erected the greater part of the present edifice. The finest portion of the whole structure is the gothic chapel joining the east end of the Abbey erected by Henry VIL, whose name it bears. It is an "architectural gem unequalled in England." Henry erecied the chapel as a place of sepulture for himself and the royal blood of England ; and till the reign of Charles I., no person but those of royal blood was suffered to be interred there. It was commenced in 1503. The first stone having been laid by John Islip, Abbot of Westminster, in the presence of that monarch, and completed in 1512, and is one of the most exquisite specimens of florid gothic in the world. The exterior is adorned wnn iourteen uia%vua towers, jutting from the building in different angles.andornamented with a profusión of sculpture. Among the honored dead who lie buried in this elegant chapel are Henry VIL, Edward VI., the famous Queen Elizabeth, and the illstarred Mary Queen of Scots, together with Africa's greatest explorer, David Livingstone, and Westminster's most illustrious dean, the late A. P. Stanley, by whose side also repose the remains ot his justly honored wife, Lady Augusta. The chapel of Edward the Confessor contains the shrine of that monarch, beside which devout persons used to sit in order to cure themselves of earthly disorders. The remains of Henry III. are also supposed to rest here; also those ofEdward L.Edward Ill.,and Henry V.,whose saddle and heimet, used at Agincourt, are fixed to a rail over the gallant monarch's tomb. Against the altar screen stand the coronation chairs. Under the seat of the king's chair is the identical stone which Edward I. brought from Scone, and on which the Scottish kings were crowned. The second chair was made for the coronation of Mary, the much beloved consort of William III. Round the Confessor's i n _ n chapel are a numDer oí smanei chapéis, filled with the tombs, and emblazoned eulogies of by-gone peers and peeresses. We will pass by the chapéis of St. Benedict, St. Edmund, St. Nicholas, St. Paul, St. John the Baptist, Si. Erasmus, St. John the Evangelist, St. Michael, and St. Andrew, which are simply elegant sepulchres. The cloisters on the south side of the Abbey contain man intt-resting monuments. Washington Irving thus beautifully describes them: "The cloisters still retain something of the quiet and seclusion of former days. The gray walls are discolored by damps and crumbling with age; a coat of heavy moss has gathered over the inscriptions of the mural monumenis and obscured the death's heads and other funereal emblems. The sharp touches of the chisel are gone from the rich tracery of the arches; the roses which adorned the key-stones have lost their leafy beauty; everything bears marks ol the gradual dilapidaron of time, which yet, has something touching and pleasing in its very decay." I suppose the most interesting spot within the sacred enclosure of Westminster Abbey is the south transept, known as the "Poets' Corner." I cannot describe my teelings as I walked about reading the inscriptions engraved in the marble floor, every slab of which covered the silent dust of some noted poet. From the walls looked down upon you beautiful monuments of many whose remains have been interred elsewhere. Who could help a feeling of inspiration vvhen standing in the presence ot even marble representations of John Dryden, and Southey, and Campbell, and Chaucer, and Milton, and Grey, and Ben Jonson.and Samuel Butler, and a hundred others? The inscripüons on the monuments in many cases are quaint and characteristic. I will meniion two in which I was specially interested. John Milton, though buried in Cripplegate church, has here a beautiful bust with the lollowing lines inscribed : "Three poets in three distant ages Greece, Italy, and England didadorn; The flrst in loftiness of thought surpassed, The next in majesty- in both the last; Theforce of Nature could no farther To rnake the third, she joined the former two. Thomas Grey, the author of the "Elegy in a Country Churchyard," is represented by a medallion proflle. The folio win g lines are inscribed: "No more the Giecian muse unrivaled reigns. To Britain let the nations hoinage pay ; She feit a Homei's flre in Miltons strains, ,_ „ A Pindar's rapture in the lyre of Grey. The admission to Westminster Abbey, including the chapel of Henry VII., is sixpence. But it would be very unsatisfactory to go through this intricate mass o' buildings without the aid of an expert guide. Such a guide cannot be obtained except lor a party ot a dozen without considerable expense, as it requires no less than four hours of systematic work to "do" the place. This fact suggests one of the many advantages of visiting Europe in company with an excursión party. Dr.Tourjee's party for the season of 1881, of which the writer was a member, nutnbered not far from two hundred. Immediately on reaching the oíd world it was divided into five sections, each section making the tour independently, under the management of a competent conductor. When the section with which 1 was traveling reached Westminster Abbey, we found not only our admission to the building paid,but also a government guide placed at our disposal whose knowledge of the most minute details of the place proved replete beyond comparison.