New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1842-06-02
From BlarAwDOi for VI
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

THERE are one or two northumberland it j
hardly respectful To call them by that shilllng-as.
sociatcd titic-wiiich We nave postponed, for I'M
purp..c Of irving 10 do Justice 20 The great name
with which they associated. and the historical
clas.ical, AMI personal recolectioas 10 which u
y,i, 10 either of ihem-the ABBEY and the
TowFR-gye rise. But We fad, with regret, ;hc
more wc ponder and reflect upon all those roper
tories OF national monuments-wheihcr the bones
of the mighty dead in the one or their irophie. 3D.
the othcr--wheiher We coDtemplatethe scene OF
tears. groans, signs and weary nights and days OF
captivity in the Tower, or tread lightly over the
hallowed spot
"whcro even the great find rect,
And blended lie the oppressor and the Oppressed"
we feel more and more incapable of treating these
memorable places IN the WAY and with that high
tone they merit
There is something in the system by which one
i- compelled tn visit both the Abbey and the Tow
er-lriveu in "a crowd. like flock of sheep. be-
fore the warlcr or ranger who acts shepherd.
which is death to all romance ans a. Burns ha.
1T, "hardcn~ ~ within and pcfric, the feeling;
then the telling down of sixpeuccs upon the nail,
rs if we were gong into " bus, has something
in il. We know not what. that reduces the cGrrcn;
of your thoughts into siXpcunv Level. AID effect
uallv puts an end To ali the pleasure you proposed
to Yourself to derive from meditation. Your idea
of the place becomes degraded into that ci ,iN-
penny show; and when you ale busted by crowd
of curious experiments, cockucys, private soldiers
who get ia for nothing--ab0riglnog from the
provinces, and the like. We deiy the utmost pow
crs of abstraction 10 carry YOU beyond the notion
that YOU are merely going through the vulgar Iou-
tine of Sightseeing; killing, in snort, one OF tn
lioS.
If we could choose our ,imc--if the Abbey and
the Power, instead of being let small parties at
siNpence a.hcal, could be- hired los the day or
hour. like one of Sealc- eight cared ,uiicr-.
would we not have a mca. oi them Yea, even
a banquet; would feast, rcycl in rccollecton, and
the reader should have our tediousre willingly
bestowed upon him. even nj the ri.k of stT.ci'.
For a visit to the TOwer. We should choose tic
early dawn of a cold. gray. autumnal morning,
when the signing wind. dctnching the yellow leaf.
should gently lay II at our feet emblem OF the fate
of all thing. human--ong ere the sir Of busy foot
abroad. AID while yot the even Tread Of the
sentinel CA the baiilcmenis, and the answering
echo Of his football, were the ony sounds that met
the ear would wc seat ourselves pensivcy ia the
melancholy prison-chamDar. or spell over and over
again the rudr memorial. OF thsir CAPTIVITY in.
scrbed by the ialtcrng hands of hopclc,, captive,
writing their own cpitaph,
The Abbey We should visit Ia a mild evening IN
spring. when the warm sun-emblcm Of kiudns
hle-strAms hi, declining rays through the trace
red window. and when all the world without i,
spriuging into renewed existence. How awful the
thought that here. within these walls. there Is no
spring;-