WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
"Now, Rollo," said Mr. George, after they had finished breakfast, "the
great church of the city is St. Paul's, and that of the West End is
Westminster Abbey. I have an idea of going to church this morning at the
Abbey, and this afternoon at St. Paul's."
Rollo was well pleased with this arrangement; and soon afterwards he and
his uncle sallied forth, and took their way along Whitehall.
Whitehall is a sort of continuation of the Strand, leading, as it does,
along the Thames, at a little distance from the bank of the river. It is
bordered on both sides by magnificent public edifices, such as the Horse
Guards, the Admiralty, Westminster Hall, the Houses of Parliament, and
the Treasury. Conspicuous among these and other similar edifices, and in
the midst of paved courts and green gardens, stands the venerable group
of buildings famed through all the world as Westminster Abbey.
Mr. George and Rollo, when they approached the abbey, saw a current of
people moving towards the building. These people turned off from the
sidewalk to a paved alley, which led along a sort of court. This court
was bounded by a range of ordinary, but ancient-looking, houses on one
side, and a very remarkable mass of richly-carved and ornamented Gothic
architecture, which evidently pertained to the abbey, on the other. On
the wall of the row of houses was a sign, on which were inscribed the
words, "TO THE POET'S CORNER."
"This must be the way," said Mr. George to Rollo.
So Mr. George and Rollo fell into the current, and walked up the alley.
They came, at length, to a low-arched door in the wall of a building,
which, from the massive stone buttresses that supported it, and the rich
carvings and sculptures which were seen about the doors and windows, and
the antique and timeworn appearance which was exhibited in every feature
of it, was evidently a part of the abbey.
"This is the place," said Mr. George to Rollo, "there is no doubt."
Mr. George entered at the door, followed by Rollo, and they were ushered
at once into a scene of the most extraordinary and impressive character.
They found themselves in the midst of a splendid panorama of columns,
statues, monuments, galleries, and ranges of arches and colonnades,
which seemed to extend interminably in every direction, and to rise to
so vast a height that the eye seemed to be lost in attempting to reach
the groins and arches in which they terminated above. Here and there, at
various places more or less remote, were to be seen windows of stained
glass, through which beams of colored light streamed down through groups
of columns, and over the carved and sculptured ornaments of screens and
stalls, and among innumerable groups and figures of monumental marble.
The place where Mr. George and Rollo entered the church was in the south
transept, as it is called; that is, in the southern arm of the cross
which is formed by the ground plan of the church. Almost all the
cathedral churches of Europe are built in the general form of a cross,
the length of which lies always to the east and west.
The main body of the church is called the nave; the head of the cross is
the chancel; the two arms are the north and south transepts; and the
space formed by the intersection of the cross is called the choir. It is
in the choir, usually, that congregations assemble and the service is
performed, the whole church being usually too large for this purpose.
The space necessary for the use of the congregations is separated from
the rest of the floor by splendidly-carved and ornamented partitions,
which rise to a height of twenty or thirty feet above the floor--the
whole height of the church being often more than one hundred. These
partitions are called screens. But in order that the reader may
understand all this more perfectly, and also obtain a more full and
correct idea of the interior of the abbey, I give, on the adjoining
page, a ground plan of the edifice, which shows very distinctly its
general form, and the relative position of the various parts of it above
referred to. Near the margin of the drawing, on the right-hand side of
it, is seen the passage way leading to the Poet's Corner, where Mr.
George and Rollo came in. On the side which was upon their right hand as
they came in you see the ground plan of the great buttresses which
stand here against the wall of the church. On their left hand is the
octagon-shaped building, called the Chapter House. This building was
originally designed for the meetings of the body of ecclesiastics
connected with the cathedral.[C] In the corner between the Chapter House
and the church you can see the door opening into the church, where Mr.
George and Rollo came in. On entering they found themselves at A, which
is called the Poet's Corner, from the fact that the monuments of
Shakspeare, Dryden, Thomson, Goldsmith, and most of the other poets that
are interred or commemorated in the abbey, are placed here.
[C] Such a body of ecclesiastics is called a _chapter_.
The part A, as you see from the plan, is separated from the main portion
of the south transept by a range of columns. These columns rise to a
vast height in reaching the ceiling above. Of course only the places
where the columns stand, and the forms of the bases of them, are marked
on the plan. In other parts of the floor of the church, as, for example,
in the north transept, and along each side of the nave and choir, are
other ranges of columns, some square at the base, and others round. You
will observe, too, that the rows of columns which stand on each side of
the nave and choir separate the central part of the church from what are
called the aisles; for the word _aisle_, as applied to a European
cathedral, does not denote, as in America, a passage way between two
rows of seats, or pews, but the spaces outside of the ranges of columns,
which extend up and down the body of the church, on each side of the
nave and choir.
The aisles, as may be seen by the plan, are not so wide as the nave and
choir. There is another thing also to be noted respecting them that is
quite important, though it cannot be seen in the plan--and that is, that
they are not so high, the roof being carried up to a greater height in
the centre of the church--that is, over the nave and choir--than it is
at the sides over the aisles. Thus these ranges of columns not only
divide different portions of the floor from each other below, but they
also separate roofs of different altitudes above.
But let us return to Mr. George and Rollo. We left them in the Poet's
Corner, at A. As they looked through the columns near them, they saw the
congregation filling the whole central part of the church.
"Let us go up and find a seat," said Mr. George.
So Mr. George led the way between the columns into the south transept.
You can see exactly where they went by looking at the plan. This
transept was filled with settees, which were placed in two ranges, with
a passage way in the middle between them. The front settees were filled
with people, and over the heads of them Mr. George could see that there
were other ranges of settees in the north transept and the choir. There
were various desks, and pulpits, and oratories, and carved stalls, and
canopies to be seen in the interior, and many separate compartments of
seats, some enclosed by ancient carved oak railings, and others with
large worsted ropes, of a dark-brown color, drawn across the entrance to
them. Above, clusters of columns and tall pinnacles, rising from
canopies and screens, ascended high into the air; and between and beyond
them were to be seen gorgeous windows of colored glass, of the most
antique and timeworn appearance, and of enormous size. Over the heads,
too, of the congregation of living worshippers, and mingled with them in
various recesses and corners, were to be seen numberless groups and
statues of marble. These statues were, in fact, so mingled with the
worshippers, that, in surveying the assemblage, it seemed, in some
cases, difficult for a moment to distinguish the living forms of the
real men from cold and lifeless effigies of the dead.
Rollo and Mr. George advanced up the passage way as far as they could;
and then, Mr. George making a signal for Rollo to follow him, they sat
down on one of the benches where there was a vacancy, and began to
listen to the music. This music came from an immense organ which was
placed over the screen marked S on the plan, which, as you see,
separates the nave from the choir. The tones of the organ were very deep
and loud, and the sound reverberated from the arches and columns, and
from the vaulted roofs above, in a very sublime and impressive manner.
"Can't we go up a little nearer?" said Rollo.
"We cannot get _seats_ any nearer," said Mr. George.
The seats, in fact, that were in front appeared to be entirely full, and
several persons were standing in the passage way. Just then a gentleman
and lady came up the passage way to the end of the seat where Mr. George
and Rollo were sitting. Mr. George and Rollo moved in to make room. They
sat down in the space which was thus made for them, without, however,
acknowledging Mr. George's politeness even by a look.
"Cannot we go up a little nearer?" said the lady.
"We cannot get _seats_ any nearer," said the gentleman. "The seats above
here seem to be all full."
The lady did not appear, however, to be satisfied, but began to look
anxiously about among the benches nearer to the choir in search of some
vacant seat. The choir itself appeared to be full, and the entrance to
it was closed by one of the worsted ropes above referred to, and was
guarded, moreover, by two vergers, dressed in an antique and picturesque
costume.
"Edward," said the lady in a moment to the gentleman by her side, who
appeared to be her husband, "I see a place where I can get a seat."
So she rose and walked up the passage way, followed by the gentleman.
She went to one of the forward settees, where there were some ladies
sitting who were not very close together, and asked them to move in, so
as to make room for her. She then crowded into the space which was thus
made, and looked up to her husband with an expression of great
satisfaction on her countenance.
"Yes," said Mr. George, "now she is satisfied. A woman never cares how
long her husband stands in aisles and passages, so long as she has a
good seat herself."
Mr. George was not a great admirer of the ladies, and he often
expressed his opinion of them in a very ungallant and in quite too
summary a manner. What he said in this case is undoubtedly true of some
ladies, as every one who has had occasion to witness their demeanor in
public places must have observed. But it is by no means true of all.
In this particular instance, however, it must be confessed that Mr.
George was in the right. The gentleman looked round, when he found his
wife was seated, to see whether the place he had left was still vacant;
but it was occupied; and so he remained standing in the passage way, by
the side of his wife, during all the service. It was very plain,
however, that this circumstance gave his wife no concern whatever. She
seemed to consider it a matter of course that, provided the lady in such
cases was seated, the gentleman might stand.
In the mean time, Mr. George and Rollo remained in the seat they had
taken. The service appeared to them very complicated. The different
portions of it were performed by different clergymen, who were dressed
in white robes, and adorned with the various other insignia of
sacerdotal rank. The places, too, in which they stood, in performing
their ministrations, were continually changed, each clergyman being
escorted with great ceremony to the desk or pulpit at which he was to
perform his part by a verger, who was clothed in an antique dress, and
bore an ornamented rod in his hand--the emblem of his office.
In one place there was a choir of singing boys, all dressed in white,
who chanted the responses and anthems. The other parts of the service
were cantilated, or _intoned_, as it is called, in a manner which seemed
to Mr. George and Rollo very extraordinary. In fact, the whole scene
produced upon the minds of our travellers the effect, not of a religious
service for the worship of God, but of a gorgeous, though solemn,
dramatic spectacle.
When, at length, the service was ended and the benediction was
pronounced, the congregation rose; but Mr. George perceived that those
who were in the part of the church near them did not turn and go back
towards the Poet's Corner, where they had come in, but stood and looked
forward towards the choir, as if they were expecting to advance in that
direction.
"Let us wait a minute," said Mr. George, "and see what they will do."
In a few minutes the verger removed the worsted cords by which the
passage ways in and through the choirs had been closed, and then there
commenced a general movement of the congregation in that direction. The
people, as they walked along, paused to look at the monuments that were
built in the walls; at the statues and groups of allegorical figures
that were placed here and there in niches and recesses; at the oak
carvings in the screens; the canopies and the stalls; at the
stained-glass windows, with the gorgeous representations which they
contained of apostles and saints; and at all the other architectural and
sculptured wonders of the place.
The congregation passed out from the choir into the nave through a sort
of gateway in the screen beneath the organ, at the place marked O in the
plan; and then, spreading out on each side, they passed between the
columns into the aisles, and thus moved slowly down the nave and the
aisles, surveying the monuments and sculptures as they proceeded. They
did not stop long at any place, but moved on continually, though slowly,
as if it were not the custom to walk about much for the purpose of
viewing the abbey on Sunday.
All this part of the church was entirely open, there being no pews or
seats, nor any fixtures of any kind, except the sepulchral monuments at
the sides. The floor was of stone, the pavement being composed, in a
great measure, of slabs carved with obituary inscriptions, some of which
were very ancient, while others were quite modern. The whole atmosphere
of the church seemed cold and damp, as if it were a tomb.
Rollo's attention was strongly attracted by the monuments that they
passed by in their walk. Many of the sculptures were larger than life,
and they were represented in various attitudes, and with various
accompanying symbols, according to the character or position in life of
the men whose exploits were commemorated by them. There were effigies of
modern men, studying books, or working with mathematical instruments, or
looking attentively at globes. There were rude sculptures of crusaders,
lying upon their backs on slabs of stone, their faces and forms
blackened by time, their noses and ears broken off, and sometimes with
an arm or a foot wanting. Then, as a contrast to these, there were
beautiful representations of ships and sea fights, all exquisitely
chiselled in the whitest of marble. There were angels and cherubs in
every imaginable form and position, and countless other varieties of
statues, bas reliefs, and inscriptions, which excited in Rollo, as he
walked among them, a perpetual sentiment of wonder.
"Cannot we walk about here a little while," said Rollo, "and look at
these images more?"
"No," said Mr. George, "not to-day. It seems not to be the usage."
"I do not see any harm in it," said Rollo. "It is just like walking in a
burying ground."
"True," said Mr. George; "but it seems not to be the usage. We will come
some other day."
* * * * *
Rollo and Mr. George did come another day, and then they walked about
entirely at their ease, and examined as many of the monuments, and
deciphered as many of the ancient inscriptions, as they pleased. They
also walked about to visit what are called the chapels. The chapels in a
European cathedral are small recesses, opening from the main church, and
separated from it by an iron railing, or a screen, or something of that
sort. They are ornamented in various ways, and contain various
monuments, and in Catholic cathedrals are used often for special
services of religious worship. You will see the places of the chapels in
Westminster Abbey by referring again to the plan on page 82. Most of
them are built around the head of the cross. There are six small
ones,--three on each side,--marked B, C, D, F, G, I, and another at the
head--the largest and most splendid of all. This last is called Henry
VII.'s Chapel. The tombs of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth are in this
chapel, one on each side of it, as marked in the plan. The names of the
other chapels are as follows: B, St. Benedict's; C, St. Edmond's; D,
St. Nicholas's; F, St. Paul's; G, St. John the Baptist's.
There is also another chapel in the centre, which is, in some respects,
the most interesting of all. It is marked H on the plan. Here the bodies
of a great number of the ancient kings of England are interred.
* * * * *
As Rollo and Mr. George walked about among these monuments and
tombstones, now that there was no congregation of worshippers present to
give a living character to the scene, the whole aspect and feeling of
the chapels and aisles through which they wandered seemed cold, and
damp, and subterranean, so as to impress them continually with the idea
that they were in chambers consecrated, not to the living, but to the
dead. In fact, Westminster Abbey, whatever may have been its original
design, is now little else than a tomb--a grand and imposing, but damp
and gloomy, tomb. It is so completely filled in every part with funeral
monuments that the whole aspect and character of it are entirely
changed; so that, from being a temple consecrated to the service of God,
it has become a vast sepulchre, devoted almost wholly to commemorating
the glory of man.
Mr. George did not go to St. Paul's that afternoon to church, as he had
at first intended. He said that one such display as he had witnessed at
Westminster Abbey was spectacle enough for one Sunday. He accordingly
determined to postpone his visit to the great cathedral of the city till
the next day; and on that afternoon he took Rollo to a small dissenting
chapel in the vicinity of their lodgings, where the service consisted of
simple prayers offered by the pastor as the organ of the assembled
worshippers, of hymns sung in concert by all the congregation, and of a
plain and practical sermon, urging upon the hearers the duty of
penitence for sin, and of seeking pardon and salvation through a
spiritual union with Jesus the Redeemer.
"Well," said Mr. George to Rollo, as he came out of the chapel when the
congregation was dismissed, "the service at the abbey, with all those
chantings and intonations of the performers, and all the ceremonies, and
dresses, and solemn paradings, makes a more imposing spectacle, I grant;
but it seems to me that the service that we have heard this afternoon is
modelled much more closely after the pattern of the meeting which Jesus
held with his disciples the night before he was betrayed. At any rate,
it satisfies much more fully, as it seems to me, the spiritual
hungerings and thirstings of the human soul."