Knoxville Whig and chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1875-1882, 1875-09-01
OUR EUROPEAN LETTER.
a visit 90 Westminster Abbcy-what
KnoNViiI" Mans Impressions
wcro-FunernI of . Bishop-The Rs.
mains Of Major Andre.

Special Correspondence ofthe Wig 4 Chronicle
LONDON, ENG, Aug. 0, 1875.
II has been my intention in writing
to ava Is a. far rs poss ble being guide
bpoky.' All the places of importance
have been described toy tourists over
aud over again, until, really, scarcely
anything remains to be said about
them. They have been minutey dis
sected, and seutimentalized, and gush.
Ell over, till anything new said about
them would hardly lie within the con-
fines Of truth. Who would attempt
description OF st. Pau's after Bayard
Tay lor's, or OF Westminster Abbey af-
ter Washington Irving had recorded
bis feelings on visiting this sacred spot
When, therefore, ( speak of my own
experiences and feelings, when roam
ing through the latter place, it is not
with the expectation of rivaling r.
Wings beautiful description, or with the
hope Of giving your readers an adequate
idea of the true greatness and grandeur
of the place, but l spoke of it because
it is the only place have yet visited
which came up to my expectations. 1t
not only equaled but far surpassed
what I had hoped to sec. 1t is the
most hallowed spot in the world To all
English speaking people, and is the
greatest moment of England's glory As
well as of England's shame. The his
tory of her struggles towards, and her
achievements in civilization are there
recorded in enduring brass and marble.
Here her Kings and Queens and mobiles
lie mouldered to dust, and her great
men in art, in letters, in science and
in war, have recorded by grateful
aud appreciative nation its estimate of
their worth. | never wanted to be
British subject till / went through
Westminster Abbey. No service, by
whomsoever rendered, to the State
or the people seems to have been
passed by unnoticed. True, and
worthy labor in science will ensure a
tablet in company with Newton, Watt
and Young; in medicine with the
great John Hunter; in letters with
Addison, and Congreve, and johnson;
in poetry with that glorious galaxy,
which fills the poets corner" while
in theology and war, with numberless
well known names that have served
the church with honor, or given their
lives IN the cause of their king aud
country. No young Britton visiting
Westminster Abbey can fail To- feel
thai, when he shall have done deserv-
ing work, the fact that he did it, will
be here recorded. What greater in
centive can there he to noble labor? In
this think see one of the secrets of
highlands greatness. We were therein
the afternoon and the three O'Clock SER
vices Were Just beginning as we entered
the door. Though not veryifar distant
from the reader of the service we were
utterly unable to distinguish word
he said These large buildings are
most wretched, acoustically. We had
the same experience at st. Paul's-a
drawing hum was all of the service
that reached US sitting under that lofty
dome. By the way, that dome is a
disappointing affair. 1t looks quite
Insignificant to one who has looked on
the dome of the capitol at Washington.
At Westminster we saw the new
made grave of Bishop Thirlwall, whose
funeral had taken place only that
morning. 1t was in the choir, was
still open, and the coffin was covered
with flowers, 1t seems to me that
death and the grave would be less
! lonely and dark if after lifes ftful
fever we could rest under those tall
silent arches, and in such close proX-
unity to those master spirits who have
| filled the world with light and beauty.
harH n raali1a that
| standing above the bones of 90 rare
Ben Jonson," and that beneath the
stone over which you heedlessly
walked, was all that was mortal of the
gentle Addison. You felt guilty of
/ impiety in rushing with a molly crowd
after q parrot of a guide who mouths
indistinctly and must unsatisfactory
about all the unimportant persOnages,
and leaves untouched those whom you
most desire to know about. A week
is little time to devote to the Abbey
and do it justice, and to have a guide
pulling you from chapel to chapel and
giving you information you care moth
ing about, while you want to stop be-
fore the grave of favorite author or
poet, and in your humble way do hom-
age to his memory, is, to say the least
of it, trying to the temper. Therefore,
We European tourists, take our advice,
and go through the chapels with no
guide but your promptings and the
six penny pamphlet you get at the en-
trance.
1t may not be without interest in
these centennial times, tOmentiGn that
the remains of Major Andre have
found Judgement in the Abbey. They
are enclosed in a sarcOphagus ur-
mounted with Britannia weeping; on
the side is a base relief, representing
the flag of truce being conveyed To
General Washington. The inscription
says the remains were placed there by
order of the sovereign.
/ wrote you i'm regard to the assault
of "A Colonel of the 10th Hussars Oh a
young lady of one of the first families
of the country, while travelling in u
first-class carriage. He was
Immediately arrested, and
prophesied that in the trial he would
come clear 1t appears, however, thai
| was mistaken to some extent. He
was found guilty of common assault
-hued $500 with a years imprison-
ment and costs. Much indignation is