New-York tribune., 1920-08-01

Il
Abbey Which no
Argyll, best known to most as Jeanie
Deans Duke in The Heart of Mid
lothian; Chatham, Pitt, Fox, Henry
Grattan, Castlereach, Canning, Pal
merston, Gladstone-so comes the
long line down to our own day.
"Not less splendid is the array Of
poets and of men of letters, from
Chaucer to Browning and Tennyson.
Spenser and Dryden, Beaumont and
Ben Jonson, Prior and Gay, DR..
Johnson; Macaulay, who has written
so finely of the great temple and has
painted with stangely heightened
lights and darkened shadows so
many of its denizens, are among
them. There. too, with a popularity
probably the widest, if not the most
enduring, of all, is Charles Dickens,
over whose pages two generations
have already laughed and wept"
The Abbey and the War
A chapter of war history is told
in "The Times" by the Dean of
Westminster, who relates the vicissi-
tudes Of the abbey during the period
of air raids. He writes:
"When the war broke out it was
hardly believed that London was
likely to be assailed from the air.
But as time went on the menace be-
came evident. The counsels Of those
who at first had said, 'Oh, there is
no practical danger; they will never
get as far as London, and if they do,
you can safely take the risk Of not
being HIT could not possibly be fol-
lowed by those on whom the chief
responsibility rested. We decided to
do all that was possible for the pro
lection Of the chief treasures of the
abbey and to give assurance to the
public that nothing had been neg
lected.
Needless to say. many interesting
and fantastic suggestions reached
me, displaying more sympathy with
the security of the building than
practical knowledge Of the cost or
Of the feasibility of the rccommen-
dations. What we did may be
grouped under three heads-CD The
removal of treasures to safe place;
~ The protection Of certain con-
spicuous monuments, and (3) The
substitution of wood for glass in
four of our most ancient stained
glass windows.
"I) The following objects were
removed to the crypt under the
c ter house: The coronation
ch;--r; the old professional shield
and sword; the saddle, shield and
helmet associated with King Henry
V; the five full size bronze eAigies
of King Henry III, King Edward
III, King Richard II, Queen Anne Of
Bohemia, Queen Eleanor of Castillo
and the effigy Of William de Valence
and two or three score Of stone
statuettes in the inches Of King
Henry VS. chantry, which, not hav-
ing any structural fastening, were
liable by conclusion to be shaken
down and cplintered to fragments
on the pavement below; the wooden
top of the Confessor's tomb, made
by Abbot Feckenham; the picture Of
King Richard II; the tapestry hang
ings, the banners of the knights of
the Bath and the old altar frontal.
Protected by Bags
"(2) A strong protective structure
consisting of balks Of timber and
sandbags was erected over the Con-
fessor's tomb. No less than LOO
sandbags were used for this purpose.
A similar erection was raised over
the beautiful tomb of King Henry
III. Sufficiently substantial shields
Of timber and many sandbags were
placed over the marble etfigy of
Queen Philippa. Queen Elizabeth
and Mary Queen of Scots disap-
peared from view under small noun
tains Of sandbags. The Lady Mar
garet received similar attention. And
a particularly substantial breast
work and covering of timber and
sandbags formed a solid protection
for the glorious monument of King
Henry VII and his queen at the
east end Of Henry Wis chapel.