The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-10-29


I'M. d, Conway In Cincinnati Commercially
In London city, included in an area
that may be traversed in one hour, is the
battlefield upon which the great con-
fiicts OF religious and civil liberty were
fought and won, and where its monu-
ments now stand, but the Americans j
meet in London seem generally to think
they have "done" our metropolis suffi-
GENTLY when they have visited West
minister abbey, st. PauPs, and. the mu-
seums. Yesterday, in company of some
Hicksite Quakcrs from Maryland, and
some Unitarians from Cincinnati, made
little pilgrimage through the part Of
London to which / refer. We read the
inscriptions and records of many ages.
In the Guildhall we saw Cog and Magog,
whose gigantic forms and barbaric cos
tunes carried us back to the primitive
paganism of England. They stand hard
by the old temple of Diana, which was
turned into the Christian church which
Wren converted into the cathedral of st.
PauPs.
A few steps more and we stand on the
spot in Smithfield where the martyrs of
conscience were burned-a spot long used
by the atheists and infidels for their
open-air meetings, but now covered by
the finest meat market i'm London. We
pass thence by the house, now being de-
molished, where John Milton was born,
through the street where he wrote Para
disc Lost and sold it to publisher for
five pounds, and on to Crosby Hall, one
of the finest mansions in London. Here
we have the best preserved relic of me-
dieval England; the house repeatedly
mentioned by Shakespeare (see Richard
lily; the house where Queen Elizabeth
was entertained by the Lord Mayor of
London; the house where Erasmus visited
Sir Thomas Moore, of whose home he gave
such paradisaical picture. Thence our
pilgrim path leads us to the smart Wes-
leyan Chapel in the city road, in front of
which is the tomb of the mother of the
Wesleys, and behind it the monument
which rises above the dust of John Wes-
ley himself
We have only to cross the street to en-
ter Bunhill (BonehilD Fields Cemetery,
where the bones of many Cromwellian
and other revolutionists and refoimers
have founda repose, which the CONNER
cial progress of the city has long but
vainly tried to invade. The huge fac
tories and warehouses wall in these two
consecrated acres, and millions have been
offered for the privilege of building over
them; but the venelation of nOn-con-
formist England for this sacred dust is
too strong fol the shop-keeping interest,
and it will be many day before the dust
of Richard and Henry Cromwell, Isaac
Watts, Daniel DeFOe and John Bunyan
is disturbed. Here the two tOmbs which
are first sought out are those of the au-
thors of the Pilgrims Progress" and
Robinson Crusoe." The greatness Of
each is described by the simple inscrip-
tions, which, with the dates Of birth and
death, say one that he who rests beneath
was author of the "Pilgrim's Progress"
the other that he was the author of Rob
stated that though the shop-keeping in
terest has not availed to overrun Bunhill
Fields with shops, it has been strong
enough to mar both of these two most
interesting tombs which the cemetery
contains. The inscription on the monu-
ment of DeFoe, while stating that it was
erected by the contributions of nineteen
thousand English boys and girls, is care
full to add that this was in response to an
appeal in the Christian World newspaper;
the tomb of Bunyan advertises equally
the nobility by informing us that the
committee which repaired it was under
the presidency of Lord SALISBURY.
But the most impressive grave that we
visited was that of George Fox, founder
of the society of Friends. Passing down
Coleman street, we turn aside into what
appears to be simple square covered
with greensward, and about an acre and
a half in extent. No mound even is
seen, and yet every sod covers the dead.
In America, believe, the Quakers, while
eschewing grave-stones, at least leave a
little mound of earth over their dead,
but here the ground is altogether un-
marked, and the graveyard is simply a
lawn. But one exception is made in the
Quaker burial-grounds of the country.
Near the center of this one is a small,
plain slab on which are the words
"George Fox; born 18th day of the
eleventh month, 1874. Died 1890. When
we consider the towering monuments we
have passed, the columns raised to SOL
diers, great and small; to saints like
George Ill, and slayers like the Duke of
Wellington, this little solitary stone,
about foot high, marking the spot
where great religious genius was laid
to rest, is exceptionally sublime. One
end of the ground is occupied by large
tent, in which the Quakers are now hold
ing nightly meetings for preaching the
Gospel" On the gateway outside there
is hand-bill which shows us how much
harder II is for n sect to stick to the
principles of its founder than to rever-
ence his dust. If there was one prin-
ciple that was sacred in the time of Fox,
it was that the preacher should preach
only as he was moved at the moment by
the spirit, and, if not moved, he was to
sit in silence. But there is big placard
advertising that on Sunday certain Mr..
Grubb will preach, and on Monday one
Pomphrey Il think that is the name
and there appears no intimation that it
will be under any condition that the
spirit will move them. In these days of
spirit manifestations the spirits, sup
pose, have become more pronounced and
definite than they were in the old days
when the great heart of George Fox was
inspired to life and work which, it is to
be feared, can be little interpreted by
Messrs. Grubb and Pomphrey.
Hence our way lies back through the
street where the Artful Dodger encoun-
tered Oliver Twist, and past the den
where Fagin trained his pupils to the art
of pocket-picking, and we are again in
the whirl of Holborn, passing over its
grand new viaduct, and conscious that
these days are different from those.