fect thing we ever saw. Every thing in it, like the works - of Nature, admits closer and closer inspection all is more than it assumes to be more than it first appears. "In elder days of art, Builders wrought with nicest care For the gods are everywhere." The fretted vault-work over head, the close array of saints beneath the upper windows, partially concealed by the banners of the Knights of the Bath, whose emblazoned stalls occupy full lines of both sides of the room thing is most noble and real! every In the centre of the terminating sweep, stands the chantry inclosure of brass, still more richly wrought; and again, within that, yet richer than anything else, the tomb of King Henry VII. and his Queen. Nothing can exceed this in rich splendor. In his will he ordered that prayers should be offered at this shrine as long as the world stands, for the salvation of his soul; but it has fallen into Protestant hands, and this item in his will is not now regarded. This splendid room is where the Westminster Assembly of Divines sat and framed the Assembly's Shorter Catechism, when Cromwell had kicked over the throne, beheaded the King, and set up for Republicanism and Congregationalism. When we entered the edifice and advanced to the principal nave, religious service was being conducted in one of the transepts. No other part of the building can be visited till this service is over; and so, making a virtue of necessity, we took a seat and witnessed the ceremony. The Congregation was large, but it consisted of people who came to visit the Abbey, and were caught like our self. The interior of the principal nave which is first entered, is of cruciform shape. The service was in the right arm of the crucifix, which is a splendid room, entered by arches and itself a combination of arches all contributing to a still larger arch. It is finished in the proudest style. The real congregation who came for the use of the service, appeared to be two hired priests and a dozen or two of hired chanters. The rest were all spectators, waiting for the other doors to be opened, so they could go about the building. The priest was a young man who read, or rather sang, tolerably well-for all the service was chanted. He kept his key note, and when his voice should fall at the close of a period, the choir sung "Amen," as a harmonious terminal. This was about all the singers had to do. Those who, at any time repeated the service with him, chanted as he did. I suppose it would be unlawful for any worshipper to pray, who could not pray in accordance with the musical notes before him. It would be decidedly vulgar to pray in the style of an address. Oh! Lord - what has pride done to corrupt and deaden the lively spirit of Christianity. We verily believe such proud and ceremonious mummery as we witnessed in Westminister Abbey has done more to make infidels than all the cavils of Hume and Voltaire. No religion but a humble one ever did any good; and none but such a religion will ever silence the objections of infidels. But how much humility is there in the English Church? It is the very highest point of fashion and of pride, that sets example for the proud and fashion-loving people of England and of some in America. It seems to me there is something revolting in converting a place erected for the living worship of God into a gloomy and offensive sepulchre for the putrefying bodies of the dead. Is there any reason any suitableness in such a strange arrangement? If we are to have tombs and sepulchres, let us have them; but if we are to have. houses and churches, let us have them, and each in its proper place. But to combine both in one is revolting— to my mind at least. More than all, it seems to me decidedly in bad taste, that in a national mausoleum, monuments of family vanity, even in royal blood, should be allowed. Monuments are records to be examined, not advertisments for fame. Returning from the Abbey I strolled into the burying grounds outside of the building next the street, where the common dead repose in the sweet bosom of the earth. This is made accessible by gates; all the grave-stones are slabs lying on the ground and are so worn by human feet walking over them that in many cases the inscriptions are actually worn out, and to preserve others, surviving friends have resorted to the expedient of drilling holes in the slabs, a few inches apart, all over the surface, and inserting short iron pins that project an inch or two so as to prevent people stepping upon them. I was curious to look amongst the stones and read the inscriptions with a view to see the names of our New England ancestry, and notice how far they differed from an American church yard. I felt quite at home here; more at home in holy communion with the humble, silent dead, than amongst the noisy things of the equally unknown living that crowd the gay streets around me. The names were as familiar as in a Yankee burying ground. With my pencil I took down some of them, which I insert here that my readers of the same names may conjecture where their own families sprang from. The grave yard is on the north side of the Abbey, and consists perhaps of one or two acres. It is full of bodies. Such names as the following are in it: Munroe, Miller, Barrett, Cross, Hawkins, Marsh, Harris, Andrews, Edwards, Cox, Thompson, Briggs, Hatch, Henderson, King, Moody, Johnson, Randall, Smith, Page, Bancroft, Cook, Weston, Golding, Baker, Wilson, Townsend, Field, Maddock, Chamberlain, Hamilton, Rice, Rust, Walker, Moore, Evans, Chapman, Sparks, Taylor, Harding, Mitchell, Simpson, Hawes, Badger, Allen, Burr, Pratt, Clark, Ball, Nash, Wright, Robinson, Crocker, Webb, Morris, Brown, Cooper, Stone, Lee, Wood, Jones, Scott, Gray, Burton. These are all familiar names in Maine and other parts of New England, and it is very likely the original ancestors of those who now bear them amongst us lie in the Church Yard of Westminster Abbey, whose graves I stood over. Oh! that the departed spirits of the dead, by all the solemn realities of what they know, might ever be around and amongst their earthly posterity to influence their hearts to all holy affections, and their lives to every deed of duty. 17 LETTER XVIII. APPROACHING THE CRYSTAL PALACE. London itself a Grand Fair-Army of Police-Politeness-Systematic Charities--Begging forbidden-Brief description of the Crystal Palace -The American Department-Gathering Stock to work up at HomeHyde Park-Tardy progress of Republican ideas in England. LONDON, August 7, 1851. THE world is here to see the Crystal Palace and its contents; but spacious as is the edifice, and magnificent as is the Exhibition in it, there are whole streets in London, which, if possible, are equally gorgeous and beautiful. Indeed, this vast city is at the present season, almost itself one grand Fair. So numerous are the objects of interest on all sides, that strangers, during the first stages of their visit here, are hardly able to get as far as Hyde Park, on which the Crystal Palace is situated, for some time. I have been in London a week, and yet, must confess, I have spent but one day in the Great Exhibition; first, I desired to get the lay of the land, take an outside look, and avail myself of opportunities that might not later occur, of seeing certain matters and things interesting in the past and present history of the city and kingdom. A person might spend six months here as a constant observer, and find enough to do without reaching the Crystal Palace. |