The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-05-05
Disraeli ana Westminster Abbey.

II will not be buried in Westminster
Abbey, because they do bury fools
there" wns the blunt language in which
honest Sir Godfrey Kneller refused TO
make his last bed with royalty. So, in
less emphatic terms, but with no less
distinctness, the late Lord Beaconsfield
declined in advance the anticipated hon
or of tomb in Westminster Abbey, and
desired and directed" that he might be
buried in :he same vault, "in the church
yard ut Hughenden, in which the re-
mains of my late dear wife, Mary Anne
Disraeli, created in her own right Wis
countess Beaconsfield, were placed" His
choice, however, was not based upon the
ground on which the sturdy old painter
80 fatty dec!;aed to roPose in tho oiur OF
kingly greatness, for, as has been we'll
said, he must have recognized the fact
that the plebeians who lie there had wit
and wisdom enough to compensate for
the uncongenial presence of ten thou
sand princely blockheads." Considera.
tions of an altogether different and ten
derer character appealed to his heart and
led him to prefer resting place "in the
churchyard at Hughendcn" to the storied
urn and monumental marble with which
England is accustomed to reward those
who have served her we'll or added to her
greatness and glory. The deep devotion
of Lord Beaconsfield for his wife accom-
panied him to the tomb, and his last in.
strnctions contain touch of nature
which brings the whole world in kinship
and sympathy about his grave. After
all, it would seem that even ambition,
the master passion of such lives as Dis
re ellis, fees away at the approach of the
"inexorable democrat" death, and that
those men who have moved the world
prefer for their last slumbers some SPOT
hallowed by affection or association to
all the pomp and glory of loftier and
prouder sepulture.
Since the time when Edward the Con
fessOr founded to the honor of his patron
saint the collegiate Church or Abbey OF
st. Peter" the flower of British manhood
and intellect have been accustomed to
find their way to tho silent but eloquent
aristocracy of genius and worth which
has slowly been gathering within the
precincts of this temple of fame through
go many generations. The old manu-.
scripts which recount the story of the
foundation of Westminster Abbey tells
ua that "the devout King destined To
God that place, both for that i: was near
unto the famous and wealthy city OF
London, and also had a pleasant situa.
ton amongst fruitful fields lying round
about 1t, with the principal river run.
ming hard by, bringing in from all parta
OF the world great variety Of wares and
merchandise of all sorts to the CITY ad.
joining. but chiefly for the love Of the
chief Apostle, whom he reyersnced with
special and singular Affection" Dean
Stanley gives similar account of It's
foundation, and relates that "while in
Normandy, and casting about for help
the exiled prince had thrown himself
upon the protection of st. Peter, and
vowed that if he returned, in safety he
would make pilgrimage to the Apostles
grave at Romen From this vow the Pooe
however, released him "on condition thai
he should found or restore a monastery
of ST. Peter, of which the. King should
be the especial patron.n The result was
the erection of Westminster Abbey
which was fifteen years in building, and
which was consecrated on the 28th ol
December, 1865. 1t was subsequently
restored or rebuilt nearly in it's epresenl
form by Henry III in 1916. Its honorf
we're originally reserved for members oil
the royal family, but in course of time
It's portals were opened to all who cculd
earn the right TO a place there, until ev.
cry foot Of its long aisles has become
| hallowed ground, aud almost every stone
in the venerable pile ia associated will
the names which have made England
what it is. And yet Disraeli % not the
only illnstsians exile from this gsand
assembly, which isalmost as Conspicuous
for the absence rs for the presence oi
greatness. For it misses not only such
men as Fielding, Smollett, Defoe, Shell.
ley, Keais, Gray and Pope, butts alsc
forbidden to cornt in its membership
either Wordsworth, Coleridge, Lamb
Thackesay. Bnrns,7 Byron or Milton
Even Shakespeare himselfis among those
who do not ansWer to the roll-call al
Westminster. Abbey, but sleeps quietly
by the side Of the Avon, with only tb1
prayer that he may be left undisturbed
in his peaceful solitude.-BdIfinlore SIN