Morning journal and courier., 1881-08-23
Westminster Abbey.
Room Needed for British Worthies of
 the Next Thousand Years.

Room Needed for British WOrthies of the Next Thousand Years. LFrom the London Times.l
 Fol two generations it may be truly said I Westn inster Abbey has been continually, year after ye ar, adding new interest of every kind and acc lmulating memories all more or less
 dear to ;he country, till the edifice is less and less oIal to the monumental crowd. We may feel fiat we are all drawn closer to the abbey l ths1 we were then and that it comes more to tt.e idea of common shrine and sacred cen- Ire for the British people. But its whole his- i tory, covering a period of eight centuries and more, has been diversified with all the features that make romance. The lamented dean very carefully classified his subjects, and showed that many histories might be written of the abbey, as one subject might give the cue or another. Kings, royal per-
 sonages, courtiers, great statesmen, soldiers,
 sailors, divines, poets, historians essayists
 mathematicians, all have been borne into this
 holy ground, which is, in truth, part of the
 presence of the British throne. The abbey is
 inseparable from the palace of Westminster
 For centuries, indeed, it had certain nomi-
 nal independence, at least for it's internal dis
 cipline and administration, but the crown all
 ways did what it pleased with the abbey
 made what use 1t pleased of it, and appropri-
 ated what 1t thought fit for the abbey reven-
 ues. On the other hand it lavished immense
 sums and taxed the nation for it's new build
 ings. -..-~~-z-----sz -..-.-~
 It Is the monuments that are really the his-
 tory of the abbey, and as the late dean more
 than once pointed out, the history of the na-
 tion. This conception of abbey proved constant source of anxiety, and involved him in some trouble. The dean has the invidious
 office of deciding who shall be admitted, who excluded from a building which all claim, In some sort for home. No dou bt the late dean would have been much more ready to admit had there been more room. But room there is not. They who deplored the state of things they knew in their youth cannot now visit the abbey without noticing still offences to taste and propriety. The statue of Peel. for example, is so oddly place as hardlyto seem to have found 8 place at alL He looks as if he had his position still to seek in the abbey. The only suggestion made for the intended statue of Lord Beaconsfeld is that it shall be few yards from Peel, and in much the same sort of indecisive position. Now tbe late dean recorded his opinion strongly against any moving of the existing monuments. Leave them all where they are They have been generally placed with care full regard to their surroundings and in the midst of their proper associations. Moreov- CT, their situation itself has become histori- cal.
 What we want IS room for the British worthies of the next thousand years. Where are they to be placed His idea, indeed there is no other conceivable, is that worked out by Sir Gilbert Scott of large quadrangle and covered cloister communicating with the ab- bey and filling up the space between Dean's yard and Palace yard. The dean said that much as he should wish to see the north en- trance made equal to it's character as practi- cally the main entrance from the metropolis, and much as he would like to see the west tower harmonized with the rest of the edifce, the thing to be done first of all was to enlarge the monumental capacity of the abbey in the way just described.