The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-10-23
FOREIGN SKETCHES.
Westminster Abbey Courts of Lnp--Iiouses
Of Pariidment-Styie Of Debafe-iScene IN
he House Of Comnions-The Peers.


No Englishman can contemplate Westminster
Abbey containing the remains OF so many oil
the most illustrious OF his countrymen, and the
monuments which record their great deeds, and
the dates Of their dissolution, without the deep
est emotions. Very few Americans, we ina
CINE, can visit il without experiencing sensa-
tons equally strong-perhaps much stronger.
For we go from country possessing lew re-
cords recollections OF the past, to spot teem-
ing with memorials Of our British ancestry, and
OF those periods of history which were illustrated
by their achievements, and are forever associated
with their names.
The cathedrals and castles are the most strik
ing objects TO an American in England. The
great works Of art and science, the innumerable
eegancies and embellishments Of life, he sees
and enjoys at home. But we have no edifices
in which the spirit of antiquity is enshrined-no
Wondering ruins telling of the battle and the
siege--none OF those imposing and gigantic fab
rics with which the piety OF the Catholics cover
ed Europe. Our first visit to Westminster Alb
hey was made on Sunday, and we well remem-
Der our feelings as we entered by Poets Corner,
and proceeded into the aisle. Beneath lay the
dust of Spencer, Dryden, and Prior, and around
were their monuments and those of many other
bards, who,
On the steady breeze of honor sail
In long possession, calm and beautiful
We were never more deeply touched than upon
this occasion with the solemnity and grandeur of
the Episcopal church service; and the strains of
sacred music resoundng through the long aisles
had an effect upon our imagination never to be
forgotten. We afterwards spent several hours
in the chapels, Of which there are eight or nine,
and in the cloisters, among the numerous tombs
and monuments. With what pathetic and
powerful eoquence do those cold stones address
q 1.h 4 har Snrtt
in arms and arts, and beside them, only few
years afterwards have been laid the relics Of the
very persons whose affection and gratitude
raised the stone and inscribed the eulogy. How
vain, how illusory, how truly the shadow of a
shade is human life The fond memory which
will be cherished Of US by our friends cannot
long survive our dissolution. The heart in
which our image is engraven is like the object
of which il retains the features, -perishable
clay ?
Next to the cathedrals, perhaps not surpassed
by them, in point Of interest, to the majority Of
educated Americans, are the Houses Of Parlia-
ment, and courts of law, at Westminster. We
shall describe them as they existed previous to
the late fire. They occupied the site Of the old
palace of Westminster, which was built in the
time of Edward the Confessor Some parts of
these buildings were far from being deficient in
architectural merit, but they bore marks of hav-
ing been erected at different periods, and their
general character was great heaviness and want
of uniformity What is called distinctively
Westminster Hall is room of immense size
and admirable proportions, originally built by
William Rufus, and intended as the banquet
ing-room Of royalty. The most remarkable
thing aboutit is the roof, which is really mag
ni6cent, made of chestnut wood, of fine old
gothic construction. The main entrance pos
sesses unequalled grandeur-opening from a
recessed arch-way, on each side of which
towers superbly sculptured, and adorned with
inches capable of containing full sized statues.
Formerly the courts of Chancery, Exchequer,
Kings Bench, and Common Pleas, held their
sttings in different compartments of this Hall
but they now occupy range Of new buildings
contiguous to and communicating with it, which
though in themselves not devoid Of elegance,
possess no sort of harmony with the venerable
structure, beside which they have been stuck
up Ii is difficult 10 describe the sensations
with which an American lawyer enters West
minister Hall for the first time His thoughts
are of the past-the mighty dead-and his feel
ings the reverential feelings Of pilgrim. The
place cannot fail to be associated in his mind
with the names of Hardwicke, Somers, Mans
field, and other great men, whose talents and
learning, and incredible exertions, conferred the
highest lustre upon their profession. How many
of the elaborate opinions, the skilful debates,
"The logic, and the wisdom, and the wit
upon which he has mediated in solitude and
silence, We're pronounced, and discussed within
these walls Here occurred those affecting in
cidents-here were exhibited those touching
displays of imprisoned feeling-and those
scenes of irresistible humor, the records of
which have frequently refreshed and animated
the mind of the student amidst severe and ex-
hausting tolls, with the vivid pictures they pre-
sent Of the life, manners, and habits of the times
TO which they refer.
| From the centre of Westminster hall, a fight
of low, mean-ooking steps led to a gloomy pas
sage, whence, after a dozen Of turnings and
twistings, you might emerge al last into lobby
opposite the room in which the commons Of
Great Britain assembled This was formerly,
as is well known, the chapel of st. Stephen,
but, after the reformation, was used as legis-
lative hail. If we may judge from part Of a
closter below the Hobbies, and some other re-
mains, this chapel must have possessed extraor-
binary richness and beauty but the alterations
which had been made to adapt il to the uses of
the commons, left scarcely trace of what il
once was. Some years ago, when considerable
change was made in the interior, many of the
old decorations were discovered IN state
of perfect preservation, consisting chiefly of
paintings, in fine style, Of sacred subjects,
such as the Roman Catholic religion is accus-
toned to address to the imaginations of its vo-
taries. All these remains of ancient art and
pfety were, at the time we visited parliament,
cffectually concealed by demure-looking brown
wainscoat, with which the whole of the interior
was lined. The appearance Of the house alto
gether was humble to meanness-oblong in form,
lighted by three dismally ugly windows, with a
roof so low as almost to press upon the heads of
the people in the gallery, which was itself con
fined and supported by thin pillars of plain iron,
with small brass capitals. Altogether devoid Of
dignity or beauty, it had not even convenience