Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-12-07
VOL. l.. NEW SERIES. VOL. XIII.

a good deal worn and you, sir, are stand
ing on the grave of Charles James Fox.
found a very good place here the other day
nobody suspected it-heen curiously over
looked somehow bpt it is a very nice place
indeed, and very comfortable" (holding hi
bulls eye to the pavement and searching
around) All, here it is this Is the ston
nothing under here nothing at all a yer
nice place. indeed very comfortable
| Presently. in little chapel we were looklnl
at the sarcophagus, let into the wall, whicl
contains the bones of the infant Princes VIII
were mo.hared in the Tower Behind u
was the stately monument of Queen ElZa
beth, with her effigy dressed in the roya
robes, lying as If at rest. When we turne'
around, the cat. with stupendous simplicity
was coiled up and sound asleep upon the fee
of the Great Queen Truly this was reach
ing far toward tine millennium, when the llor
and the lamb shall lie down together. The
murderer of Mary and Essex. the conquerol
of the Armada, the imperious ruler of tur
| bulent empire, become at last u couch for I
tired kitten 1t was the most eloquent ser
mon upon tho vanity Of human pride am
| grandeur that inspired Westminster preached
| to us that night.
We would have turned puss out of the Alb
hey, but for the fact that her small body
have come straight back again. We walked
up flight of half dozen steps, and stop
ping upon pavement laid down in l26o,
| stood in the core of English history, as II
were upon the holest ground in the British
Empire, If profusion of kinGly bones aud
kingly names of old renown make holy
ground. For here in this little space were
the ashes. the monuments, and the gilded
effigies OF ten of the most illustrious person
ages who have worr. crowns and borne scep-
tiers in this realm. This royal dust was the
slow accumulation of 400 years. The latest
conner entered into his rest 400 years ago,
and since the earliest was sepulchred. more
than eight centuries have drifted by. Ed
ward the Confessor, Henry the Fifth, Edward
the First, Edward the Third. Richard the
Second, Henry the Third, the Queens Eleanor
and Philippa, it was like'bringing the colos-
sal myths of history out of the forgotten
ages and speaking to them face to face. The
girded effigies were scarcely marred-the
faces were comely and majestic old Edward
the First looked the kinG-one had no i'm
pulse to be familiar with him. While We
were contemplating the figure of Queen
Eleanor lying in state, and calling to mind
how like an ordinary human being the great
King mourned for her GOO years ago, We saw
the vast Illuminated clock of Parliament
House tower glowerlng at us through a WIN
dow of the Abbey and pointing with both
hands to midnight. 1t was n derisive re
minder that we were II part of this present
sordid, plodding commonplace time, and
not august relies of a by-eone age and the
comrades of Kings and then the booming
of the great bell tolled twelve, and with the
last stroke the mCcking clock-face vanished
in sudden darkness and left us with the past
and its CrandeurS again.
We descended, and entered the nave Of the
noble chapel of Henry VII. Mr., W
said
Here is where the order of knighthood
was conferred for centuries the candidates
sat in these seats these brasses bear their
coats OF arms these are their banners over
head tom and dusty, poor old things, for
they have hung there many and many long
year. In tine door You see inscription
Kings and Queens that lie in that vault below.
When this vault was opened in our time they
found them lying there in beautiful order,
all quiet and comfortable, the red velvet on
the coffins hardly faded any. And the bodies
were sound, saw them myself They were
embalmed, and looked natural. although
they had been there such an awful time
One of them, though, was in bad condition,
he burst open and fell ont on the floor
Just a mess OF stuff that looked like pitch. as
you may say. Now in this place here. which
is called the Chantry. is curious old group
of statuary, the figures are mourning over
George Nillers. Duke of buckingham, who
was assassinated by FELTON, i'll Charles l. S
time Yonder. Cromwell and his family
used To lie Now we come to the south aisle,
and this is the grand monument TO Mary,
Queen of Scots, and her efigy y-you easily
see they get all the portraits from this efigy.
Here in the wall OF the aisle is bit of
curiosity pretty roughly carved
=. William West, tomb-shewer, 1898.
That fellow carved his name around in seve-
raj places in the Abbey
This WAS a sort of revelation 90 me- had
been wandering through the Abbey never i'm
aglning but that its shows wero created only
for us the people of the nineteenth century.
But here is n man (become a show himself,
now, and curiosity to whom all these
things were sights and wonders Ia years
ago. When curious iders from the country
and from foreign lands came here to look, he
showed them old Sebert's tomb. and those
of the other old WORTHLESS | have been speak
ing of, and called them ancient and venera-
BILE and he showed them Charles ii. S tomb
as the newest and latest thing he had and
he was doubtless present at the funeral.
Three hundred years before his time some
ancestors of his, perchance, used to point
out the ancient maryels i'll the immemorial
way and then say, This, gentlemen, is the
tomb of his late Majesty Edward Ill. and
| wish | could see him alive ndhearty again,
as | saw him twanty years ago yonder is
the tomb of Sebert the Saxon King he has
been lying there we'll on to 500 years, they
say" And three hundred years before this
party, Westminster was still show, and
Edward the Ccniessors grave WAS "A novelty
OF some thirty years standing,-but old
''Sebert' was hoary and ancient still, and
people who spoke of Alfred the Great rs Il
comparatively recent man, pondered over
Sebert's grave and tired TO take in all the
tremendous meaning of it when the tomb
shower" said, This man hath lain here nigh
five hundred years" 1t does seem as if all
the generations that have lived and died
since the world was created have visited
Westminster to stare and wonder, and still
found ancient things there. And some day
a curiously clad company may arrive here III
a halloon-ship from some remote corner Of
the globe, and as they follow the verger
among the monuments they may hear him
say This is the tomb of Victoria, the
Good Queen battered and unc"uth as II
looks. it once was wonder of magnifcence,
but ], 200 years work IA deal OF damage to
these things" :"
As We turned toward the door, the MOON
light was beaminc in at the windows and
1t gave to the sacred place such an air oi rest
fulness and peace, that Westminster WAS no
longer grisly museum of molderng vani-
ties, bu- her better and worihier self the
deathless mentor of great nation, the guide
and encouragor of right ambitions. the pre-
server OF fame, and the home and refuge Tor
the nations best and brayest when their work
is done