The herald., 1896-10-16
QUEER WAX EEFiGIES.
The Grotesque Images Of Heroes Stored
Away In Westminster Abbey.


Years ago aifight of narrow stone steps
led to thesoratory above the chapel, but
these have long since been covered with
wood, and the oratory' Is used as storage
place for the famous wax effigies, the least
grotesque and best preserved of which may
still be seen there. These wax statues are
the mementos of a strange old time cere-
mony. Long ago, when q great man or
woman died, it was the custom to model a
representation Of the deceased, dressed as
in life, which was carried in the funeral
procession. After the Burial the effigy was
set up in church as temporary monu-
ment. One odd feature of the practice was
that during the time that the efigy was
on exhibition it was customary to aff1x to
1t, by means of paste or pins, short poems
or epitaphs complimentary to the person
represented. In the case Of a sovereign tho
statue was usually left in position for
month only, though after Charles II died
his wax figure stood for two centuries over
his tomb in the chapel of Henry VII and
was the only monument he had.
The royal effigies here in Westminster
date back to the fourteenth century, but
all of the Oldest ones are so mutilated and
defaced that they are not shown. Many
Of them were Of wood and have been wan
tonly stripped of the rich garments which
they wore. About dozen of the later fig
ures are still preserved, each standing
stif1ly In glass case by ITSELF and decked,
as they are in faded silk and tarnished
tinsel, they form SO startling contrast to
their stately marble successors on the
tombs below that it seems as if tho COM
ing up of this one short flight of steps had
translated the visitor from the consecrated
atmosphere Of the abbey into the vulgar
air of Mime. Tussaud's establishment.
The Oldest figure here Is that of Charles
III. 1t is dressed in the blue and red velvet
robes of the Garter, trimmed with superb
cid point lace By his side in another
case, is figure Of General Monk clad in
armor. The head Of the figure is now bare,
but 1t originally wore the famous cap men,
toned in tho "Ingoldsby Legends"
/ thought on Naseby, Mnrston Moor, and
Worcester's crowning fight,
When on mine ear n sound there fell, it filled
me with alright,
As thus in low, unearth1y tones, heard u
voice begin:
ssThis here's tse cap Of Central Monki Sir,
please put sUmnlet in."
In the last century the vergers, when
showing these figures to visitors, came to
use this cap as gentle hint that their
none too large wages might be acceptably
Increased by small coin dropped into it.
Goldsmith, who has recorded an account
of his visit to the abbey, says of this cap,
In an account Of conversation with the
vergor who was his guide: "Prsy, friend,
what might this cap have cost originality"
"That, SIR" says he; "I dom t know, but
this cap is all the wages have for my
trouble"
The two latest figures, those of the Earl
Of Chatham and Admiral Nelson, were un-
questionably put in by the officers Of the
abbey merely for show purposes, to in
crease the attractiveness of the exhibit.
That Of Lord Nelson is interesting from
the fact that it Is dressed in q suit of
clothes which the admiral once wore
There seems good reason to believe this to
be true, since, when Maclise borrowed the
figure as model while he was painting
his famous painting, Death of Nelson"
he found attached to the lining of tho hat
the eye patch without which the admiral,
who was blind in one eye, never appeared.
Nelson is buried in ST. Paul's in spite of
his famous exhortation to his men at the
battle Of Cape st. Vincent, where he cried,
Westminster abbey or glorious victory!'
Max Bennett Thrasher in ST. Nicholas.