The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-05-01
r CALIFORNIAN
ABROAD.
By Thomas Fitch
luEeTMlNSTEp ARpEv
WESTMINSTER ABBEY
copyright 1901


| my lord and in the kindest spirit in
| the world / will see him essentially and
thoroughly and continentaily blessed
with a big, big D, before will call
| him so.
We went TO Regents Park. and
watched the cricketers play, and the
seals founder, and heard the tigers
roar, and made merry with sociable
deer who came to the wire fence TO beg
cake, and we beheId an intensely in
| terested American lady tourist, stand
| ing in front OF the monkeys cages,
studying human nature.
Then we proceeded to Hyde Park,
| dismissed our cab.-which was not al
lowed to enter it's aristocratic precincts
hired a landaulet with a liveried driv-
er and having thus fraudulently simu-
lated private carriage. with a driver
in private livery, we drove the dismal
round OF that CHASTITY pleasure garden.
where the aristocracy, and p1utocracy
and snobocracy indulge in a drive
around and walk around, each fair day,
from eleven until four O'Clock. The
climate of London was not unlike that
of San Francisco without the winds.
AAA
Returning from Hyde Park by
somewhat circuitous route, L first
caught a glimpse % Westminster Pal
ace, with its giIded turrets, its glitter
ing domes, its clusters, and arches, and
spires, each wearing a crown of regal
renown, even to the gateway and rail-
ways. and remembering the aphorisrn
of Socrates that mo man is great until
he is dead" made a visit the next
morning to Westminster Abbey
A 4 A
Opposite the abbey is the palace
where the Parliament houses and courts
meet. In the street or court between
is gigantic bronze equestrian figure
of Richard of the Lion Heart, so ex-
quisitely wrought that you can almost
see the mighty muscles of the man
swelling under his mail. We learned
that the Lord Chancellor was sitting
that morning, a.-d therefore the House
of Lords was open free to the public.
We presented ourselves at the gateway
of the Chapter House (restored some
thirty-five years ago., in which the
first Parliament of England was held
and were soon after traversing cor
ridors lined with statues. lit with the |
living fire of such names as Pitt and |
Burke and Fox and Grattan and-near-
er the doors of the Peers Chamber |
Hampden and Charles, Rupert and |
Cromwell. The walls were paneled with
historical paintings, and the achieve |
ments of Puritan and Cavalier seem to |
BE- alternately and inlpartially chroni-
cled, both on canvass and in marble
fancied that in one painting |
the departure of the train bands from |
London-the artist had caricatured the
Puritans a little.
We entered the house of Lords. It is |
more deliberately ornamental in the |
matter of woodwork and gliding than
the United States Senate Chambers. /
but it is neither so large, SO stately.
50 shapely, nor so well furnished. There /
were benches covered with red leather
Tor the Peers, there was q pulpit far the |
Speakers chair, and generally it looked /
ike a compromise between an Epis- I
;opalian church and a banking house
IN the space allotted to the public and
he reporters, perhaps forty people
'ould stand. There were four or five
gentlemen seated inside the bar, listen
ng to a man in a black silk night
INC hors.s hair wig. who (the man,
lot the wig was standing at the bar
outside speaking snuffily and prosily
This latter party was surrounded by +
bout dozen wigged and gowned in
lvlduais, who We're crowded on the
anne little scaffold with himself. Which
vas the Lord Chancellor. and which
be barristers; and whether it was law
ers who were listening and the Cham
ellor who was speaking. or vice versa.
flf I'm = {.
o money and took no pick / did
OF think it was much of a court any
ow. For unearthly dignity, suavity of
tanner and venerable aristocratic glare
{ eye. win match Judge James
eilly, OF Tombstone, Arizona, against
II the Lord Chancellors that ever
raddled a wool sack. For emphatic
sciamation, for strength of lung, for
xpressiveness of gesture, I will put
Their Frank Heney or Col Zabriski
salnst the British bar. in go-as-you-
and money ready at
~ time at the Fashion saloon in Tue
T--but digress. The House of Lords
as not a lively scene that morning,
Id we preferred the graveyard
A A
Crossing the court to the Abbey we
ssed under low narrow door. and
tered between the dusky walls. seam
with the crumbling traceries of time,
d stood in the presence of dead kings
d chieftains: of allegory, and en-
I'm, and types. and hieroglyphs. But
owe them alb few simple fnscrip-
MS, a few names glorious if not self
'ried. such as have burned upon the
ars of our homes, and have fingered
put us like a living presence. glance
yn from the Wondering walls with |
mysterious meaning that sends the
cd hot to the brain, and we shiver
lie we look. and even listen, for who
not felt .sHark the lark at heavens
e sings while standing in reverence
forgetfulness in the poets corner I
1t there be those resting here who &
-e never earned their burial place is
eed true. For such there might not
unfitness in the words of the Duke
Argyle in his address to death i 8