The traveller who approaches Westminster from this direction has a fine
view of the whole extent of the Abbey from east to west. St.
Margaret's Church, while it certainly somewhat hides the more ancient
building, adds to the impression of size. The statues of statesmen on
the green in front prepare the minds of those who enter the north
transept by the triple doorway, which we have already seen in the
frontispiece, for the galaxy of politicians within, and when we stand
beneath the lantern we can realise the plan of the whole far better
after this general view than we could if we had entered immediately by
the west door at the farther end.
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Below the offending towers is the west front, which was finished as far
as the roof in the first years of Henry VII.'s reign, under those two
indefatigable abbots, Esteney and Islip. Tudor badges are visible in
the last bays of the nave vaulting: the great west window with its fine
Perpendicular tracery probably belongs to Esteney's time (the last few
years of the fifteenth century); and to Islip, who is often credited
with the whole, we now attribute only the finishing touches which
completed the west end. Henry and Islip were so beguiled by their
fascinating plans for a new chapel at the east end, that they could
spare neither money nor attention to the fact that towers were a
practical artistic necessity at the west, and those begun by Islip were
left unfinished for two centuries, when Wren took the matter up. A
central tower was also contemplated by Islip, who never carried out his
project. Wren went so far as to design one, but the apparently massive
thirteenth-century {12} piers were found too weak to support its
weight, and the idea had to be abandoned. Outside the west front, in
the richly canopied niches, were formerly the statues of such kings and
abbots "as had been benefactors," headed by Edward the Confessor, to
whose piety we owe the very existence of the West Minster, and
including Henry III. and Edward I. Amongst them were the great
builders, Esteney and Islip, with, no doubt, Henry VII. himself.
The exterior of the church has suffered much from the ravages of time
and of smoke. Before entering, it is well to take a survey of the
outside, and so prepare ourselves for a more exhaustive ramble round
the interior.
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[Illustration: The West Front]
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