Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1840-1842, 1842-09-01
Ffor. n aelessd for Nay.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

FSe~s n aeiwssd for May.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY
| "sunr lying In the Abbey.-RNALs.
| The Abbey We should visit ia q mild evening u
Spring, when the WARM sun-enbem Of kindin.
lie-SireaEns his declining rays through the trace
ried window, and when oil the world without j
spsinsing into renewed existence. How awfi
the thought that hare within these walls there
spring.
"The spring returns but not to them the spring,
| Dayot the sweet approach OF even morn,
W ssht OF Nernsl bloom. OF sninmerssun.
| ornoeks Of herbs, OF human face Divine"
Here is perpetual winter-here the cold hand o.
death keeps down rebellious spirits tina, brooke
not the supremacy Of kings, and lotbds alike mo
narehs further 10 Cypress. or slaves longer TO
cnmo- all base earth, royal, noble, gentle and sim
pie. KINGS. warriors. what are they here bu, COW
ards and slavesi What is all that 10 left of the
greatest, mightest, and best Of them worth OLE
bones, hvc pounds for two pence. Above these
bones what remains TO do them honor1 cold ston,
a noiseless block; a cherub blubbering, fame blow
ing no.seless trumpet, on eptaph recording every
vrtuc-they had MOI.
And after all, was il not for the honor OF bsing
deposited in the lofty aud we'll proportioned bone
house. that the crumblins dust below these marbles
kept the world in hot waterf We stamp upon the
wall where lies all that the rats have len Of Eliza
beth queen, and the reverberaied sound quivers
around the tomb of her sister and her victim, Mary
OF Scotland. Did the heatiless old woman dream
that she would rot in the next cellaI5
"Drop upon Fox's tomb atcar,
Twill trcklc 10 hs riNaps bcr,'
an it il it will, where was the use of those men
keeping at such q mortal distance, and interchang-
ing words Of high defiance through life, when death
lays them here, at heads and tails, like beggars in
st. Giles's7 We are here, and we tell you, Ed.
ward the Confessor; Richard the Second, Elizabeth,
aud the rest OF tho royal skeetons-and you, mean
or phrospha,os of dukes, princes, hedmarshals, OF
the red courters, ministers OF statc-and you, also,
erackskus Of Poets Corner-thnt the humble in
Hail - - L.
even VIC, the warm blood careering merrly through
the blue vein'; our osteology kept together by
sinevy lgau entr, wrapt IN warn surtouts, OF good
stout muscle, and covered with its appropriate cut
tee; able to move about and go wi,her We list, take
the air, hear the lark CAROL and look the sunbeams
dancing on the ripping waters; yea, we consider
ourself worthier, greater, mishtier than ye all
Hatk in your ear, Bcss, down below-can you
sign our death warrant We should rather think
not, old lady. Where are your lying poets, idoa-
trous eourtiers. your PCT dogs Of humanity, your
two legged poodle, yes, and your wise men-where
is that old muff, BurIeigh; where honest Wasins-
ham, where courtly Leicester; where gallant Essex,
and still moro gallan, Raleigh Where is Anthony
"age had furrowed your face, and besprnkcd your
hair w,hits mea7' Where are oil the poor wretches
you put TO death, o'ye heart
No answer.
Lie still, ye unimporant, useless dcad-what
we now more than meanest dust1 The present
critr Of the court at Westminster hall over the way
is of moro moment in the eyes Of men than the
whole lot of ye-yes, even the live beadle OF Pam
cras parish Is more gorgeous, and Coroner Walkey
oitener in the mouth OF men. What had you in life
more than am now1 power 10 abuse it-hattery 10
be befooled in the ear with-and pomp to contrast,
with the dark, dark hole wherein are slowed away
your miserable relics. Bah let me iipe-as long
as can, as well as can; and ms con,enled as
can; let me thank God for what have, which is
better 10 me than all your subterraneous mniesties
and gtaces ever had be yours the preterite mine
the present and the future lenses; and when death
comes for his debt, what befal me worse than
| TO be like you-buried and forgotten2 Where will
be then, in brief, the difference between us7 no
more than ths-you rot within, and | without,
Westminster Abbey.
! To come down peg or two, leaving meditalions
to Hsrvey, who understood tina, sort Of thing, the
Abbey, is pleasant lounge in warm, or we should
rather say very hot weather. then il is Of the TEN.
peTature OF an ordinary ice house, and with Sair
| OF cork soles, mufher, and a scull-cap--wi.h
ont which no one who does not wish to join compa>
ny with the iustrious dead should enter III. fame,
we can get on very pleasantly; Geposng your hat
and cane with foolish faced whisker.frineed man
| IN back gown in Poets Corner, You danse A.
bout, looking at the tomb Of John Dryden observ-
ing 10y the way, that the nob,eman who had the
honor OF contributing the slone-a Duke Of Buck.
! lnsham, We believe, has had his own name cut in
letters as large as those Of the great lie proes
ses TO commemorate this is like the picture Of Jacky
Tar going 10 heaven holding on bishops tail
| Whitehead, the brewer, pu. up bust OF Milton
IN Crpplegate Church, but he had the good taste
not to inscribe beneath ii "put up here by White
bread the brewer" however, when q duk. does q
handsome thing, he has right to take care that
his merits shall be handsomely acknowledged.
In that corner behold the chasiesi abet and Les!
inscription in the church.
| RARE BEN Johnson
There is the tablet 10 the memory OF poor Gold
smith, the profile OF the poet, true Hbernian pro.
HE, by the way, with the inscription from the per
o! the great Sam johnson; them there i, the mo
nument to Shakespeare, and Prior, and Gay, and
but a batch has by this time been collected, anc
you are desired to move onward, stopping only u
deposit your 'tizzy" on the tomb OF some defnnct
Abb {, who has the perpetual chink of silver rat.
ing IN his car-pltty the good old soul cannot hear
t-and you are free OF the house. The guides
as we nave SAID, conduc, you at such rapid
ras, mat you have no time 10 admire or think over
what you see: in fact, each Chapel would occupy
with pleasure an entire day, ana that OF Henry
VII, you would hardly thoroughly exhaust in two;
when the guides leave you. however, you can
sro more al leisure through the body Of the church,
and you have sentimental fellow-mediin,or, one
who will not talk but who will think with you,
there IS no greater pleasure Of the calm, contem
pia'ive kind, than fitting from tomb to tomb ard
pausing TO recall wandering recoeetions OF the do
ing in TO The flesh of the moulderine tenants below
As the effect Of CONTRAST you cannot do better than
spend the fore part Of your day in Westminster
nan, amid the rush Of witnesses and clients but
hustle oil attorneys.
The tedious form the solemn pste,
The pert dispute, the dull debate,
Inc drowsy bench, the babbling hall
and then walk across the way to the Abbey. Tho
vanity OF all human ambitions cnnno, be more for
e,oiy illustrated 10 the Hall, you see learned GEN
Yemen IN wigs, Growing, arguing and combating
IKE Ti7nl baniamsfor fame. You see hordes-per-
ieei swarms Of the breAess, condemned for life 10
ook on while other men are eating; or. what
Is an hundred fold worse, to listen, while other
men sre speaking, for the hopeless thirst Of fame
GU Oenold awful, eminent Judges on the bench,
representing years Of midnight anxiety and toll
employed in reaching that enved elevation, for the
| hope off Half minutes walk brings you Il
silen, city, where kings, heroes, bsau.ies titles
fortunes, sleep neglected-the Ell ep OF deith-nr
one remembering, caring fos or lroub inz their head
a'out them. We behold in their tom6i how pc.
tyis grandeur-beau,y, how unsishty-fame, hov
obscure-fortune, how mainland IT, after This. W.,
return to the legal arena, so far from seeing an,
thing admirable, or mighty, or great, we behold
little busy hive OF singing, improbable creatures
hummng and dTouing away ihsir little lives, ant
leaving no mole lasting memories behind item thai
the drones Of the hives Of lesser insects.
Fanny ELsler and The Chsralier Yen Gen=
At this party enjoyed another long conversation