Western courier. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1837-08-03


that is felt as we gaze upon it, is the very
effect Rou5lliac designed to produce.
In my opinion, this monumental group,
is poetry itself transferred to marble. 1t
made an impression on my memory that
time will not readily efface; which i'm
preston will, | trust, plead successfully
my excuse for dwelling thus long upon
the subject.
There is fiattery-man-worship, even
in death: and nowhere is this more con-
spicuous, than in the gigantic size of
some of the altar tombs erected over the
remains Of the ancient British Kings
History does not inform US that they were
moro colossal than other men-yet 10
Judge from their ton1bs. you would sup
pose some Of them at least seven or eight
feet high. Thus, as they We're greater
than other men in life, the parasite cour-
tiers and architects, sought even after
death, to fatter their families and de-
sccndants, by inducing posterity to be-
lieve that they We're endowed with SUPER
human strength and stature, Alas! Vain
Mockery.
But truly, the coup dell presented
by that part Of the Abbey, where the re-
mains of long line of Britain's early
kings rePose, is not only awful from the
lesson it conveys, and venerable from as
sociations of antiquity, but touching and
affecting from the legends Of love, war and
ambition that invountarily arise to the
mind, both as connected with their pri-
vate story and their public life. This SOL
emn scene too. is Illuminated by the ''dim
religious light" which have before no.
ticod, and which is so peculiar to Gothic
Cathedra|s, with their stained glass win
dows. = Sarcophagi, altar-tombs, shrines
which thousands Of pilgrims visited in by
gone days, marble and granite slabs, with
Royal names sculptured thereon-here
form dusty, moulderng palace ofDeath
"a Court, as it were, of the grisly King,
of peculiar grandeur, antiquity and inter-
est. 1t is like nothing | ever saw before
like nothing probably to be seen any
where but within the walls of this Abbey.
In such fanes as this, how forcibly do the
sentiments Of the immortal Shakespcar
recur to the mind
"Let': !. talk sofgrayes' Of worms, and epitaPhs"
! And tell sad stories of the death OF Kings:-
How some have been depos'd, some slain in
| war,
Some haunted by the gho they have depos'd,
Some prisoned by their wives, some sleeping
| kill'di
| All murder'd.-For within the hollow crown,
That rounds the murtal temples of King,
Keeps Death his court, and there the antc sits,
Scotins bis stale, and gr nAng at his penp,
| Allow him breath lrtt!e space
| Ie monaI chlze, be feared, ,aGd kill with looks
ihfusing him with self ard vain coDceit,-
! As il 'tis aesh, which walls about our life,
We're brass ilnpre gnable and humour'd thus,
Comes at the last, and with 4 little pin
Bores through his castle wall, aid farewell
King"
Cover yoar heads and motk not aesh and
blood,
Forgive this long quotation, but every
line, every word of it tells, within the
Royal and holy fame of Westminster. -.
and had you stood like NE, in this noble
mausoEeuln OF Danish, Gothic, Saxon,
Norman and other Kings-with the en-
blems and regaia of Royalty, death and
resurrection, all around-while the SUBJ
lime notes of the organ did
"Up the lofty diapasion roll"
and the chorlsters chaunted, with their
angel voices, Handl's anthem i know
that my Rcdeemer liveth, and hatthough
worms destroy his body, yet in flesh shall
see God,'-why, l think that you would
likewise have left an irresistible desire to
quote funeral poetry.
Amongst the parties who walk round
the curoSties of this Abbey, there are
always some who must have their jole;
men whom Death himself could scarce
restrain from the enjoyment of laughter
One of these worthless pointed my attention
to mural monument, SACRED to the
memory of Lord -- of - in In
dia.' (I insert the blanks instead Of his
Lordship's name, because it is Of recent
date.)
There said this gent to me, that is
the monument upon which the famous joke
was made
What joke,' | asked.
why he replied, that Lord ---
was ---- in linda; s. and | should also
tell you, that he was one Of the most SAN
culinary tyrants that ever lived. Mon
strous crimes against the native kings and
people are laid to his charge for the pur-
pose of securing their domain und money.
You see that he is represented in vig-
nette on the face Of the slab, and rising
again from the grave, and going up to
hon ,trb, orols 1unifinnr