New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-11-01
IN 1uERICIN WESTMINSTER 4

IN AMERICAN WESIMINSTER ABBEY.
Canon Farrar assures ia, with great many
kind EXPRESSIONS, that it is time for us to have
Westminster Abbey; and although we may
hesitate about taking his advice we cannot be
inscnsblc Of the genial and complimentary
shirt in which it il given. Our diStin guishcd
visitor believes that were i. once known that
Am, RIGA contemplated the erection Of such
building a fame of ideal magniiccncc enriched
with precious stones, malachltc. and laps
lazuli and agate. and carncllan, and crystal
and every native gem" an intense stimulus
would be given to the toll and to the gifts Of
every native artist and he is sure likewise that
the roll of our illustrious dcfunct is already
long enough to start the abbey with very re-
spectacle assortment of monuments and moral
lessons Both these opinions arc doubtless cor
rect; and yet they do not cover the whole case.
The real Westminster Abbey was not built in
any such of. hand fashion. Ii was not built at
all; il grew under the pous hands Ol nearly
seven hundred years, and when IFS towers were
finished it was already venerable with age,
with sacred associations, and with the master
work of n long succession ot men OF genius. IL
WAS an expression of the Artistic taste and ieel-
ing. not of any one time but OF more than hali
the splendid life of the English Nation. Nor
was there ever a set purpose to make 1t the
museum of illustriOuS characters Tllch 1t has
gradually become. The Use To which 1t has
been put was suggested by the peculiar sanctity
of the church itself; and by the time the Eng
lish people ceased to attribute sanctty to build
ings the practice of rcserNing this ancient
shrine for the scpultuTc Of the distinguished
dead had DEVELOPED into a national custom, and
the Abbey was conSccratcd anew by the most
imposng of historical associations. All this
happened by natural process of growth,
growth out of religious ideas which have no
longer any hold upon Protestant communities;
and it could have happened in no other way.
Religious sentiment, historical associations and
4 boar antiquity cannot be made TO order.
If by any chance We had an abbey. the sclcc
ton o. candidates for admission would offer IN
insuperab!c difficulty. Who should decide upon
the claims for space Certainly we would not
trust Congress to Judge of heroes, of poets, of
historians, of philanthropiSts, of painters,
scuptors, and musicians and it not Congress,
what other national authority is there In
England the ecclesiastical authority which
opens and shuts the gates of the church is So far
in accord with the governing section OF English
society that serious differences on the propriety
of any interment in the Abbey are rare. But in
this country opinions are not SD well settled.
There is 10 leading class upon whose judgment
the majority relies there are no recognized
standards of merit in literature notions of art
are extremely crude and yet the habit Of hero
Worship is developed to a degree which has
never been known in the old country. Even
there. Westminster Abbey is instructive as II
| memorial oil contemporary mlsludgmcnts ;
Poets Corner has inches for rhymsters whose
very names are now unfamiliar, but none for
! Sir Philip Sidney, Messenger, llcrrick, Waller
! Burns Keats, C0lerdge, Walter Scott, Shelley
or Landor How would it be here ? Imagine
what collection of immortals might have
| exhibited If we had opened the show at any
! time before Bryant was ready TO lend it dignity
Joel Barlow, heading u row of colonial verse
makers and n +. Willis pTecning himself in
the van of the Broadway school Is it certain
that, execution being made for our revolution
ary heroes and for a score or so of great men
! belonging to the generation jdst closed, pos
! tcrity will have any more respect for our esti-
mates than we have for the opinions of our
grandfathers A? The plain truth is that the pro-
posal of an American Valhalla is premature for
| this reason, above I'LL others, that American
public opniOn-we mean that part of it which
governs-is not yet enlightened enough to decide
who ought 10 DO in it.
ART And DETOTION.