Of the three cathedrals in London, Westminster Abbey may be said to
possess the greatest charms. Compared to it St. Paul's is a new church,
whilst St. Saviour's, Southwark, is little known. It is true that the
foundation of St. Paul's is coeval with that of the Abbey, and St.
Saviour's is an old church, but St. Paul's dates from the Great Fire of
London, and the merit of its architecture is the wonderful genius of
Wren. In more ways than one Westminster is bound up with the history of
the great empire. Within her precincts repose the greater number of
reigning heads who inaugurated their reigns in the sacred interior with
the coronation, a ceremony which was last performed when our present
king came to the throne, though the last monarch to be laid to rest in
the venerable pile ceased with the interment of King George II. in 1760.
The Abbey is also the favourite sepulture for eminent statesmen, poets,
authors, and great travellers,--men whose intellects have done far more
for the wonderful rise of Great Britain than the average crowned head,
men whose ability and personality in many cases were little understood
during life, preyed upon, as is often the case, by others who could turn
it to good pecuniary account. But when death claims them, the nation,
sensible of their loss, pay homage by interring the remains in the noble
sepulchre of a cathedral, or perpetuate the memory by an epitaph on the
wall.
To wander around the Poets' Corner along the echoing aisles, and stand
in front of each memorial and read off the few cold lines that seem a
mockery to regard as a record of some mighty intellect, serve only to
awaken the imagination and to recall their sad biographies read at one
time or another. Were Chaucer, Shakespeare, Spenser, Dryden, Milton,
Oliver Goldsmith, Handel, Thackeray, David Garrick, to mention only a
few, ever made peers, much less knights? No; yet many of their
contemporaries of inferior intellect enjoyed such worldly distinction.
To stand in the presence of the great dead, or in lieu to read their
epitaphs, casts a great fascination over the mind, and makes one linger
within the precincts of the historic abbey till a rude awakening comes
from the verger that it is closing-time. With a sigh we emerge from the
great mausoleum into the hard, glaring daylight, for a few seconds
dazed. The fascination still clings to us, and when we get home we are
eager to consult authorities and learn more of the beautiful church at
Westminster.
The Abbey, like nearly all our great cathedrals, is the growth of
centuries. Looking at it under present-day conditions, we can hardly
realise that in the dim past the site was an island of dry sand and
gravel, bound on the one side by the river Thames, and on the other by
marshes watered by the little stream called the Eye. This stream still
runs, though out of sight, under New Bond Street, the Green Park, and
Buckingham Palace, to empty itself into the Thames near Vauxhall Bridge,
and has lent its name to Tyburn (Th' Eye Burn). In the early years of
the seventh century, possibly within a few months of his restoring the
church on the site of St. Paul's, which would take us back to about the
year 610, Sebert, the King of the East Saxons, decided to build a church
to the honour of St. Peter on this Isle of Thorns, or, as it is
sometimes called, Thorney Island. The fact of the vicinity being
westward of the neighbouring hill of St. Paul's eventually gave rise to
the name of Westminster. According to tradition, on the eve of the new
church being consecrated by Bishop Mellitus, the boatman Edric, whilst
attending to his nets by the bank of the island, was attracted by a
gleaming light on the opposite shore. Rowing across, he found a
venerable man, who desired to be ferried over. On landing at the island,
the mysterious stranger proceeded towards the church, accompanied by a
host of angels, who gave him light by candles as he went through the
forms of church consecration. On his return to the boat, the old man
bade Edric tell Mellitus that St. Peter had come in person to consecrate
the church, and promised him that fish would always come plentifully to
his nets, provided he did not work on a Sunday and did not forget to
offer a tithe of that which he caught to the Abbey of Westminster. On
the morrow, Mellitus, hearing the fisherman's story, confirmed by the
marks of consecration in the chrism, the crosses on the doors, and the
droppings from the candles of the angels, acknowledged the work of St.
Peter as sufficient consecration, and changed the name from Thorney
Island to Westminster, to distinguish it as being to the west of the
city of London and to the Church of St. Paul's on the neighbouring hill.
However incredible Edric's story may be it bore fruit, in that till 1382
a tithe of fish was paid by the Thames fisherman to the Abbey, in
exchange for which the bearer had the privilege to sit, on that day, at
the Abbot's table, and to ask for bread and ale from the cellarman. By
degrees the neighbourhood became peopled, partly on account of the
church and partly from the erection of a palace close to it, which led
the nobility to build houses in the vicinity. The Abbey, becoming
ruinous through the Danes, was rebuilt by Edward the Confessor as the
"Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster." In fact this monarch is
usually regarded as the founder of the Church. According to Matthew
Paris, it was the first cruciform church erected in England, the immense
size and beauty of which can be seen in the Bayeux tapestry. The
foundation was laid somewhere about 1052, and the church was consecrated
in 1065, a few days prior to the Confessor's death. The monastery was
filled with monks from Exeter, whilst Pope Nicholas II. constituted the
Abbey for the inauguration of the kings of England. Throughout the
succession of reigning heads, Edward V., who died uncrowned, was the
only exception.
Of the Confessor's church and monastery the only remains appear to be
the Chapel of the Pyx, the lower part of the refectory below the
Westminster schoolroom, a portion of the dormitory, and the walls of
the south cloister.
[Illustration: LONDON