The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-01-31
Written for the Enquirer.
TO EUROPE AND BACK.
HOTEL VICTORIA,
LONDON, ENG, !
September 10th. 1895. \

LONDON, Eng.
September 10th, 1895.
Mr.. EDITOR-We next visit tina
part Of Westminster Abbey which i
the growing part of England's glory
Poets corner. | hold that there mus
be poetry as we'll as music in the sou
of every man no matter how little edu
catlonal advantage have tended to de
velope it; and he who has made stud,
of English verse may here revel in tn,
most delicious sentiment aud feel /;
flood ofsoul with the purest Of delight
The first tomb approached is that o.
John Dryden, which is plain marble
pedestal surmounted by bust of the
poet. The Duke OF Buckingham
erected the memorial but thong hit Dry
den too we'll known to add any in.
scription other thar the name, date Of
birth and death Of the poet. Dryden
was the poet Of the revolutionary per.
iod, and Poet Laureate to Charles III
aud James II. At one time he was an
ardent admirer of Cromwell, but he
afterwards became an enthusiastic roy
alist. The poet suffered much during
the revolutionary changes of 1858, and
died in great poverty in 100. His
fame was made on the publication OF
"Absalom and Achitophel," the great
est English satire, and 1.-The Hind and
Panther" though he is probably
more widely known as the author OF
"Alexander's Feast" an ode in honor
Of st. Cecilia's Day, one of the Hottest
and noblest odes in the English Ian
guage. Next to Dryden is bust OF
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the
American poet, whose name is house
hold word on both sides of the Allan
tic. This bust was erected by his
English admirers in 1884; and surely
greater honor hath no American than
this-that his bust is among the me-
MORALS to the greatest masters Of prose
and verse in Westminster Abbey. A
chaplet of laurel about an urn on rails
ed pedestal commentaries Abraham
Cowley, the most popular poet of his
time. He early gave promise of poetic
talent and at sixteen was the author OF
"Poetic Blossoms" Cowley was an
unusually well-informed man in his
day, and his writings abound with evil
dences of much culture. After the
execution of Charlt S l., Cowley fled to
Paris, where he acted as confidential
secretary to Henrietta Maria, but re.
turned to England alter the restora-
ton hoping for reward from theStuarts
but 1t never came. As a poet Cowley
will probably longest survive as the
inventor of the Pindaric Ode, a form
of verse which Dryden and, later on,
Gray used to such great advantage.
We now come to the tomb from which
'sPoet's Corner" derives its nane-that
Of Geoffrey CHANGER, the author of the
immortal ''Canterbury Tales. Chau-
Ger was the first great poet of Eng land.
lie was learned in advance of his time,
and has appropriately been styled
the ''Father of English Poetry" He
began his career in the service of the
third son of Edward I'LL, and was sent
on several diplomatic missions, one OF
which took him to Italy; remaining
there for year he returned to Eng
land imbued with the italian spirit Of
verse and its influence is noticeable in
his writings. Chaucer's staunch friend
was John of Gaunt, whose first wife's
death was the occasion of the poem,
"The Dethe of Blanche the Duchesse."
In spite of the favor of Kings Edward
Ill, Richard II. and Henry ". Chau-
Ger tasted of extreme poverty in his old
age and the last year of his life was
passed in one of the monastery houses
about the Abbey. The tomb is ofmau-
solemn shape above which is canopy,
both Of gray marble. Its beauty has
been somewhat lessened by being sown
through to make room for the Dryden
monument. The memorial window
above this old Gothic tomb is worthy
of notice. At its base are the Canter-
bury Pilgrims. setting out from Lon
don and their arrival at Canter-
bury. Medallions above represent
Chaucer and Others receiving commits
sions from Edward III. to the Doge
of Genoa, and his reception by the lat
ter. At the apex the subjects are ia
ken from the poem 1.-The Floure
and the Leafe." There are also the
arms of the Chaucer family while at
the base is the name of the poet, the date
of his death, and Jour lines from his
''Balade of Code Counsaile." This
window was erected in 1868, four hun.
bred and slxty-eight years after Chau-
GERS death, alongside the "MorniLg
Star of Song" repose the remains of
John Phillips, a poet of forgotten fame,
the author of ''a Splendid Shilling"
By him rests Barton Booth, the ia
nous English actor who died in 1888.
The tablet erected recites that 'his de-
scendents emigrated to America where
one is the inheritor of his ancestors
dramatic talent Another, Wilkes
Booth, was the assassin of President
Lincoln. The author of ''Polyolbion"
is now little read. As | approached
his tomb | recalled Addison-"There,"
says the gentleman, pointing with his
finger, "that is Poets Corner; there
you see the monuments of Shakespeare
ard Milton, and Prior and Dravton."
"Drayton!'' l replied; 81 never heard
Of him before" And while we can
hardly believe that Addison had not
heard of Drayton we must concur that
he left little which challenges the adj
miration of posterity. "Polyolb1on'
is poem of 10000 lines in Alexan-
drian rhymlng couplets giving topo-
delineation of England. No