New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-10-08
A RAMBLE IN ENGLAND.
BY WILLIAM WINTER.
VII.
A BORROWER OF THE NIGHT.

Midnight has just sounded from the tower Oh oI'
Martins Church 1t is peaceful night, family III
with stars and in the region round about trafalgar
snore = dreau-ixe stiffness broods over the lark
ened city, now slowly hushlng ITSELF to ITS oFie1 ana
troubled rest This is the centre of the heart OF
modern civilization the very middle OF the greatest
city in the world-the vast, seething alemblc OF
a GRAND future the stately monument OF deafness
mast Here. alone in my quiet room OF TINS ola
rnyl,sb inn let me mediate awhile on some OF the
scenes that are near me-the strange romantic sau'
Grand objects that have seem the memorable Hg-
,res Of beauty genius and Tenown that haunt thiS
classic land
How solemn and awful now must be the gloom
Nithin the walls of the Abbey. A walk OF only
few minutes would bring me to Its gates-the gates
Of the most renowned mausoleum On earth. No
human foot tonight invades It's sacred precincts
The dead alone possess 1t. l see, upon It's gray
Ills the marble figures, white and spectral,
staring through the darkness. l hear the night
wind moaning around Its lofty towers ana 1alhlIy
sobbing in the dim, mysterious spaces benealh lts
fretted roof Here and there ray OF starilsh''
streaming through the sumptuous rose WINDOW
falls and fingers, IN ruby or emerald gle"ll vi
ton,b or pillar or dusky pavement Rushing
noises varue and fearful. float from those DIM
channels where the great kings lie In state Win
marble effigies recumbeut above their oones' Al
such an hour as this in such place 90 Tue oo"u
co,oe ont of their graves2 The resoure, implaca-
bic Queen Elizabeth, the beautiful. wretcheo queen
of scots the two royal boys murdered III the lower
charles the Merry and William the Silent-are
these and such as these among the phdntOms that
an the ha, lted aisles What a wonderful COM
many II would be- for human eyes TO behold! ana
with what passionate love or hatred, what amaze
,nent. or what naughty scOrn, It's members woulu
loos mon each others faces. in this miraculous
meeting! Here through the gmmerng ICY waste
would pass before the watcher the august
shades OF the poets OF 1--WE nuudIeu
eors Now would glide the ghosts of Chau cer
Speuser. JOnsOn, Beaumont DIyuen' Wv"
lev Congreve Addison, Prior. Campbell
Garrick. Burke. sheridan, Newton and Macaulay-
children of divine genius, that here mingled WIN
The earth The grim Edward, who so long ravaged
sco,laDd: the blunt, chivaltous Henry VINO con-
crerrJ France the lovely, lamentable victim at
Pomfret and the harsh. naughty, astute victor at
Ellsworth James with his babbilng tongue ana
William with his impassive, predominant Vlsagc-
tbey would all mngle with the spectral multitude
and vanish into the gloom. Center faces 100
might here once more reveal their loNellhesS anu
their grel-EleanOr de Bohun, broken-nearted Tor
her murdered lord Elizabeth Caypoie. the gentle
and beloved daughter of Cromwell; Matilda queen
to Henry L. and model of every grace aud virtue
and poor Anne Nevil destroyed by the baleful pas
sion of Gloster Strange sights. truly, III the lone
some Abbey tonight!
In the sonbre crypt beneath St PauPs Cathedral
how thrilling now must be the heavy Stiffness
No sound can enter there. No breeze from the
upper world can stir the dust upon those massive
sepulchres Even in daytime that shadowy VISTA
with its groined arches, and the black toinOs Oh
Wellington and Nelson, and she popderous lunera-
car of the Iron Duke Is seen with snndder' no"
strangely, how fearfully the mind would De I'M
pressed. OF him who should wander there tonight
What sublime reflections would be MS, sIaholhg
beside the ashes of the great Admiral and thinking
of that fiery dauGtless spirlt-5o simple, resolute
and true-who made the earth and the seas alike
resound with the splendid tumult of his deeds.
Somewhere beneath this pavement Is the dust OF
Sir Philip Sidney-buried here before the destruc-
tion of the old cathedral in the great fire of 1866
a 4 here too is the namelesS grave of the mighty
Duke of Lancaster John Of Gaunt Shakespeare
,vas only TWENTY-FIVE years old when Sidney fell, a
the battle of Zutphen and, being then resident IL
Lo.don he might readily have seen, ana dOuoIlea
did see the splendid funeral procession with "hlci
the bo1v OF that heroic gentleman-radlant an'
immortal example of perfect chivalry-Was porn'
70 the tonh. Hither came Henry of Hereford-re
turning from exile and deposing the handsome
visionary useless RIchard-to mourn over TIKI
relic. # his father dead of sorrow for has SON
absence and his cOuntrys shame. Here at TN
venerable age of ninety-One, the glorious Dram
Wren fouud rest at last beneath the stipend
Gus temple that himself had reared In
watcher in the crypt tonight would see, per
chance or fancy that he saw, these figures from TN
stored past Beneath this roOi-the soul ana IN
perfect symbol of sub1uity are ranged more thai
four-score monuments TO heroic martial person
who have died for England, by land or sea. Here
too are gathered in everlasting reposc the honore'
relics Of men who were famous in the arts of peace
REYNOLDS aud Opie. Lawrence and West, Landseer
Turner. Crdkshank, aud many more, sleep unde
tie scuptured pavement where now the pilgrim
walks For fifteen centuries a Christian chufci
has stood upon this spot and through II has poured
with organ strains and CHANGING lights, an endless
procession of prelates and statesmen, OF poets ah'
warriors and kin9s. Surely tins is hallowed ant
haunted ground surely TO him the spirits OF TN
mighty dead would be very near, whO-aone II
the darlness-shOud stand tonight within thos
sacred walls aud near. beneath that awful dome
the mellow thunder of the bells OF God.
How looks, tonight, the interior of the chapel 0
the Founding Hosptalf Dark and lonesome, NJ
doubt with it's heavy galleries and sombre pewS
aud the great organ-ilandels gtft-standing there
mute and GRIM between the ascending tiers
empty seats. But never, in my remembrance VIII
II cease to present "a picture more Impressive AM
touching than words can say. Al least ON
children rescued from shame and penury py 'hi
pOble benevOence, were ranged around that organ
when saw it, and. in their artless, frail httl