New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-08-17
THE TRIP TO ENGLAND.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

OF TgR PoRTs-sTORIED SPOTS IN L0NDON-I1T-
yRARY AND HISTORICAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ITY OF ENGLISH INTELLECTUAL LIFE.
II is strange that the life of the past in It's unfa-
milar remains and fading traces, should 80 far sur
mass the life of the present. in impressive force and
influence Human characteristics. although mani
tested under widely different conditions, were the
aame In old times that they are now. 1t is not III
them surely that we are to seek for the mysterious
charm which hallows ancient objects aud the hstor-
ical antiquities of the world. There is many ven
cradle. weather-stained church in London at
sight of which your steps falter and your
thoughts take a wlstful, melancholy turn
though then you may not know either VINO
built it, OF who has wOrshipped IN it, or what dust
of the dead is Wondering in its vaults The sphlt
which thus instantly possesses and controls you is
not one of association, but is inherent IN the place,
Times shadow on the works Of man. like moonlight
ON a landscape gives only graces to the view
tingine Them the while, with sOmbre sheen -and
leaves all bemishes in darkness. This may sug-
rest the reason that relics of the bygOne years so
sadly please and strangely awe us IN the passing
moment; or, it may be that we Involuntary con-
trast their apparent permanence win our own
evanescent mortality, and so are detected with
sentiment of dazed helplessness and solemn grief.
This sentiment it is-allied to bereaved love and
natural wish for remembrance after death-that
has filled Westminster Abbey, and many another
holy mausolenm with scuptured men orials OF the
departed and this perhaps is the subtle power that
makes us linger beside them, with thoughts be-
yond the reaches of our souls"
When the gentle old angler Izaak Walton went
into Westminster Abbey to visit the grave OF Ca
saubOn he scratched his initials on his friends mon
ument-where the record, 81. W., 1853" may stu
be read by the stroller in Poets Corner One mlght
well wish TO follow that example and even thus to
no cathedral. Not
in pride either, but in humble reverence Here.
If anywhere on EARTH selfassertiOn is rebuked and
human eminence set at naught Among all the I'M
pressions that crowd upon the mind in this wonder
full place that which Oftenest recurs and longest re-
mains is the impression of mans individual nslg-
nifeance This is salutaTy, but it is also dark.
There can be no enjoyment of the Abbey TILL AFTER
much communion with the spirit of the place. your
soul is soOthed by its beauty rather than over
whelmed by ITS majesty, and your mind ceases from
the vain effort to grasp and interpret Its ire
nendous meaning. You cannot long endure,
and YOU never can express, the sense
of grandeur that Is inspired by Westminster Alb
bey; but when at length its shrnes and tombs ana
statues become familiar when its chapels and aisles
and arches and closters are grown cOmpanonable,
and YOU can stroll and dream undismayed through
rows of warriors and through walks of kings"
there is no limit to the penslve memories they ava
ken and the poetic fancies they prompt. In tins
church are buried. amidst generations of their no
bles and eourtiers, fourteen mOnarchs of England
beginning with the Saxon SebeTt and ending with
George the Second Fourteen queens rest here. and
many children of the rOval blood who never came
TO the throne. Here, confronted in naughty
rivalry of solemn pOmp rise the equal tOmbs OF Ez-
abeth Tudor and Mary Stuart. Queen Eleanors
dust Is here who still Stays Fair ROsamund in the
ancient BALLAD, and here too. is the dust OF the
cruel Queen Mary. In one little nook you may pace
with but haf-a-dOzen steps across the graves
of Charles the Second, William and Mary, and
Oneen Anne and her c6nsort, Prince George.
At the tomb of Henry the Fifth you
NAV see the helmet, shield and saddle
which were worn by that valiant young king at
Aqineourt and close by-on the tomb of Margaret
WOodcville daughter of Edward the FOurth-the
sword and shield that were borne, in royal state,
before the great Edward the Third, 500 years ago.
The princes whom Richard murdered in the Tower
are duly COMMUNICATED here by au altar, set up by
Charles the Second, whereOn the inscription
biandly and almost humorously Oblivious of the in
eident of Cromwell-states that it was erected In
the thirtieth year Of Charless reign. Richard the
Second depOsed and assassinated. here entOmbed
and within few feet of him are the relics OF his
uncle, the able and powerful Duke of Gloucester,
whom so treacherOusly he eDsnared and betrayed
TO DEATH Here also, huge, rough, aud gray, is the
marble sarcophagus of Edward the First, which,
when opened. more than hundred years ago, dis
closed the skeleton of departed majesty, still per-
feet wearing robes of gold tissue and crimson vel
set and having crown on the head and sceptre
in the hand so sleep. in Iewelled darkness and
gaudy decay, what were mOnarchs And all
around are great lords, sainted prelates famous
statesmen renowned soldiers, and illustrious poets
Burleigh, Pitt Fox, Burke, Canning, Newton, Bar
row, WHberforce-names forever glOriousl-are here
enshrined in the grandest sepulchre on earth.
The interments that have been effected in and
around the Abbey since the remote age OF Edward
the COnfessor must number thousands; but only
about 600 are named in the guide-b0Oks. In the
south transept, which is Poets Corner rest Chau-
Ger, Spencer Drayton, COwley, Dryden, Beaumont,
Davenant Prior Gay, COngreve, Rowe, DR.. johnson,
Campbell. Maeaulay and Dickens. Memorials to
many other poets and writer's have been ranged on
the adjacent walls and pillars bat these are among
the authors that were actually buried in this place.
Ben johnson is not here, but under the north side
of the Abbey; Addison is in the Chapel of Henry the
Seventh at the foot Of the monument of the great
Earl of Halifax; and Bulwer is in the chapel Of
Saint Edmund. Garick, Sheridan, Henderson,
Cumberland Handel, Parr, Sir Archibald Campbell,
and the once SO mighty Duke of Argyle, are almost
side by side; and at little distance, sleep Anne of
Cleyes the divorced wife of Henry the Eighth, and
Anne Neville the murdered Queen of Richard the
Third. BettertOn and Sprangor Barry are IN the
cIoisters. There are monuments to either Byron,
Shelley, Swift, Pope, BOlingbroke, Keats, Cowper,
Moore Young, Coleridge; but Mason and Shad-
well are COMMUNICATED; and Barton Booth is splen-
didly inurnod; while hard by in the clOisters. a
place was found for both Anne BTacegirdle and
Aphra Behn. The destinies have not always been
stringently fastdOus as to the admission of dodgers
to this sacred ground The pilgrim Is startled by