The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1873-10-14
Phent1 Earopean correspondence.

try. "saH
Phent1 Earopcan Correspondence.
LONDON. September 90, 1873.
as you will perceive by the heading
OF this letter. 1 am once again in Lon
don. In comparison with the principal
continental cities, especially Paris, Lon
don appears squalid end dirty. But,
for all that, it il dearer to us than all OF
them. One of the chief monuments of
it's past is tho old Westminster Abbey, O
description Of which I have 80 long
promised you. Hlstoi.ans, agreeable
to that effect, have fixed the era of its
foundation in the sixth century, during
the reign OF Sebert, King of the Anglo
Sa1ons.: The legend further relates
that Sebert ordered Melitus, Bishop of
London, to perform the ceremony of
oonsecration, but that, on the night
previous to the day fixed upon by the
King, ST. Peter, accompanied by host
OF angels, descended from Heaven, and,
amid glorious lights and re- -echoing hal.
ieIu5ahs, himself performed the cere-
mony. Several times since then it has
been destroyed and rebuilt. but, during
the reign of Henry VIII, it suffered it's
greatest injuries; nor did it attain it's
present appearance until it came under
the hands OF Sir Christopher Wren,
who, IN addition to repairing the main
building, added two new towers. Open
ing into the main church are nine
smaller chapels. The first of these,
that OF st. Benedict, contains the tomb
OF King Sebert, over which, enclosed
In glass case, is an old relic of oak
carving. with strips of parchment glued
upon 1t, supposed to have originally
formed part Of M altar decoration OF
the fourteenth century. The next two
ohapels, st. Edmund's and St. Nicho.
las. nre not of any particular interest
Ihe deeds OF their dead, like their
names, hive been washed from the eands
OF memory by the receding tides of
time. The handsomest and the largest
of them all is the chapel OF Henry VII,
the nave of which is over 100 feet in
length. Seats are arranged on each
side for members of the most honorable
Order Of Bath, which were engraved
With the name and coat of arms of the
knights. Over them hang the old flags,
now mouldy aud rotten, under which
they fought. What is chiefly to be ad
mired, as we'll for fine workmanship as
for it's antiquity, ia the monument of
Henry VII and his Queen Elizabeth,
the last roigning monarch of The house
OF York. On tomb of black marble,
with red dragon-the ensign of Cad
walader, the last King Of the Britons,
to whom Henry was fond of tracing his
llneage--supporting their heads, are re-
Ginning the efigies OF the King and his
wife. &n the tomb are six compars-
ments-three on the North and three on
the South side Of its base The first,
on the North, contains o figure repre-.
senting Mary Magdalene. holding q box
OF ointment; also, one of st. Barbara, o
martyr under the Roman Empire. A
legend tells us that her father, being
about to. undertake journey. gave or
ders that bath should be built in tho
garden adjoining the tower in which
they lived. and that it should only have
two windows. On his return, he found
that. instead of two, three had been
made by the order OF his daughter, in
allusion to the three persons of the
blessed Trinity. This 80 exasperated
him, that he induced the Em.
peror to declare persecution, in
which his daughter perished. In the
second compartment are two figures.
one OF St. Christopher, bearing the
body Of our Lord on his shoulders; the
other of st. Amo. The figures of
Edward, the Confessor, aud Bsnedic.
tine monk, oocupy the third. The
figures in the frat or South side are
those OF the Blessed Virgin, holding in
her arms the infant jesus, and st.
Michael. weighing in the scales (uow mu-
:i!ited,) representing good and evil; the
evil being the lighteat, the Devil, under
tho Saint'sfeet, is reaching up with one Of
his clawed feet to add his weight to his
own to fill the balance. In the third, is
st. John the Evangelist, holding in his
hand book with the Agnus Del im.
pressed upon it; in the second, is st.