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Other documents randomly have
different content
many of Caxton’s books were printed under the shadow of the
Benedictine Abbey of Westminster.
Again, when St. Benedict built his great monastery at Monte
Cassino, he built it on the site of a Temple of Apollo, just as King
Lucius is said to have done in those far-off days at “Thorney,” or
Westminster.
St. Benedict directed that the monks of his order should divide
their time between the services in the church, study, and manual
work of some kind. It should never be forgotten that it is largely to
the monasteries that we owe the preservation of learning, and our
inheritance of the great writings of the Greek and Roman world.
The idea of making monasteries places of study and learning did
not begin with St. Benedict, but Western Europe owes him a great
debt for having insisted that study should be an important part of a
monk’s work. This was a great service to mankind and to civilisation
in those wild days of barbarian invasion and almost constant war.
It should be remembered, too, that the clergy and monks were
the chief, if not the only, teachers during several centuries. If we
want to see and understand this we can find an example in what our
own countryman, Alcuin of York, did for education under the
patronage and with the help of Charlemagne.
The Chapel dedicated to St. Benedict in the Abbey has already
been mentioned two or three times. This Chapel is just at the
entrance of the South Ambulatory.
On the south side of the Abbey Church, and protected by it from
the cold north, lies the beautiful cloister where the monks and their
pupils spent a great deal of their time. The Cloister-walks form a
quadrangle, with a large grass plot in the middle. Under that
peaceful grass plot many of the Westminster monks are resting, and
many people are buried in the Cloister itself.
The present Cloister is of different dates. Parts of the East and
North Walks are of the time of Henry III and Edward I. Another part
of the East Walk was built in the reign of Edward III, and the South
and West Walks were built some years later by Abbot Litlington. It is
said that every style of English architecture can be seen in the
Westminster Cloisters; and this is true, because, as we shall see,
some of the old Norman Cloister remains, and in the great Cloister
we can find the Early English, the Decorated, and the Perpendicular
styles.
The Cloister was not a burial-place only. It was a very important
part of the monastery, as much of the daily life went on there.
In those days the windows had glass in them; the floor and
benches were strewn with straw and hay in summer, and with
rushes in winter. The walls were decorated with frescoes, and lamps
hung from the vaulting.
The East Cloister was given up to the Abbot, who was a great
personage. Whenever he passed, every one rose and bowed and
kept silence. The monks themselves used the North Cloister, where
the Prior also sate. The novices and pupils worked at their lessons in
the West Cloister. The pupils sate one behind the other; they were
not allowed to make jokes or to make signals to one another. They
had to talk always in French. They were to take great care about
their writing and illuminations, and no doubt many beautiful old
illuminated missals and other books came forth from those Cloister
walks at Westminster.
In the South Cloister is a very large bluish gravestone, reminding
us of the terrible plague which visited most of Europe about the
middle of the fourteenth century, and which was called “The Black
Death.” Twenty-six of the Westminster monks, including the Abbot,
died of the Black Death in 1348–49, and the monks are supposed to
have been buried beneath this huge gravestone, which used to be
called “Long Meg.” The Abbot, Byrcheston, was buried near the
Chapter-House entrance, in the part of the Cloister which was built
in his time.
Close to “Long Meg” are the graves of several of the Abbots of
Norman and early Plantagenet times. Three of the figures still
remain close to the wall, but the names are not carved over the right
gravestones. After 1220 it became the custom to bury the Abbots in
the church itself.
In the East Cloister there is a beautiful carved archway, which
forms the entrance to a lovely little passage with very sharply
pointed arches. This passage leads into the Chapter-House, one of
the finest parts of the Abbey buildings. The “incomparable Chapter-
House,” as an old chronicler calls it, was begun by Henry III in 1250.
It is eight-sided, and the vault springs from a tall and graceful
central pillar, just as the branches spring from a palm tree. The
windows are very famous for their beautiful tracery. The stained
glass in them is modern, and is a memorial to the late Dean Stanley.
The walls were once covered with paintings, but these have been
sadly destroyed, and only very few have been preserved. In the
glass cases which are now placed in the Chapter-House are many
most interesting and valuable things, such as the great illuminated
missal presented to the Abbey by Abbot Litlington, and charters
granted to the Abbey by various Kings, from the Saxon times
onward.
There is also a splendidly bound book of Henry VII’s time,
concerning certain arrangements between the King and the Abbey of
Westminster, and the Liber Regalis, or Coronation book of Richard II.
In another case will be found an interesting collection of old seals.
The Westminster Chapter-House has had a very varied and rather
exciting history. In the old days the Chapter-House was the meeting-
place of the convent. There the affairs of the monastery used to be
discussed; there complaints might be made; there the monks might
confess their faults; and there, usually, they were punished. The
Consistory Court of the convent used to be held in the South-West
Tower. The seats for the judge and his assessors are still to be seen
against the south wall, below the monument to Henry Fawcett. A
Consistory Court was the place where trials which had to do with
church matters were held.
 [G. A.
Dunn.

THE CHAPTER-HOUSE.

About thirty years after the Chapter-House was first built it began
to be used as the meeting-place of the House of Commons, at the
time when the Commons were separated from the Lords. The last
time that the Commons sate in the Westminster Chapter-House was
on the last day of Henry VIII’s reign, and the last act passed there
was the attainder of the Duke of Norfolk (1546). In 1547 the House
of Commons moved to the Chapel of St. Stephen in the Palace of
Westminster, and the Chapter-House began to be used as the
Record Office. It is curious, when we look at the Chapter-House as it
is now, to think that it was once all lined round with galleries and
cupboards, and that the Records of the kingdom were kept here
until 1864. Soon afterwards the Chapter-House was restored to its
present state, and is no doubt very like what it was in Henry III’s
time. While it was the Record Office, Domesday Book and many
other most precious books and documents had their home at
Westminster.
Under the Chapter-House is a crypt, of which the walls are
eighteen feet thick, and which, long centuries ago, was used as the
Royal Treasury. The Regalia and stores of money were kept there. In
1303 a terrible thing happened. There was a great robbery of the
Royal Treasure; the money which Edward I had collected for the
Scottish wars was stolen, as well as part of the Regalia. It is sad to
think that some of the Westminster monks had to do with this
disgraceful robbery, but they were found out and punished.
Below the pavement of the entrance to the Chapter-House are
buried (1) Abbot Edwyn, the friend and adviser of Edward the
Confessor, and the first Abbot of his new monastery; (2) Hugolin,
who was Chamberlain and Treasurer to the Confessor; and (3)
Sulcard, a monk, who wrote the first history of the Abbey. In the
vestibule, close to the Chapter-House, are the modern window and
tablet in memory of James Russell Lowell, the well-known American
poet and prose writer. Lowell was for many years the United States
Minister in London, and was much beloved, both in this country and
his own.
The Chapel of the Pyx, close by the Chapter-House, was formerly
the monastic Treasury. At one time the Regalia were kept there. The
Chapel is so called from the “pyx,” or box, which contained the
standard coins of the realm, used for testing our current coinage.
The pyx has now been moved to the Mint, but the Chapel still keeps
its ancient name. The Chapel of the Pyx, and the buildings next to it,
belong to the Norman time, and over them the monks’ Dormitory
was built. Part of the old Dormitory is now used as the Chapter
Library, and part as the Great School.
Most of the treasures in the old monastic library were destroyed in
the time of Edward VI; and unfortunately, many of the books
collected by the earlier Deans were destroyed in a fire in 1694.
Another very interesting part of the monastic buildings was the
Refectory, or dining-hall of the monks. The first Refectory was built,
probably, in the early Norman times, and was a stately room. It was
rebuilt in the reign of Edward III, when it was made still larger, and
only the lower part of the old Norman walls was kept. Some of this
Norman wall can still be seen.
 In the book of the “Customs” of the monastery, or
“Consuetudines,” as the long Latin name goes, are very strict rules
about behaviour at meals. No monk might speak at all, and even the
guests might only whisper. No one was to sit with his hand on his
chin, or with his hand over his head, because that might look as if
he were in pain. No one might lean on his elbows, or stare, or crack
nuts with his teeth. All these old rules seem to be very good ones,
and might be useful to some people in the twentieth century.
But the Refectory is interesting for many historical reasons. Here,
in 1252, Henry III swore to observe Magna Charta. Henry, standing
with the Book of the Gospels in one hand and a lighted taper in the
other, and surrounded by the Archbishops and other great clergy,
took his solemn oath. Upon this they all dashed their tapers on the
ground, saying “So go out, with smoke and stench, the accursed
souls of those who break or pervert the Charter.”
In 1294, Edward I held a great council of clergy and laity in the
Refectory at Westminster. On this occasion the King was demanding
a subsidy of half their possessions, to the consternation of the
assembled council. The Dean of St. Paul’s was trying to persuade the
King not to ask so much, and in his anxiety and excitement the poor
man fell dead at Edward’s feet. The old history says that Edward
took very little notice,—“passed over this event with indifferent
eyes,” and insisted on having what he asked.
It was in the Refectory that the Commons impeached Piers
Gaveston, the favourite and bad adviser of Edward II. And besides
this, the Commons met here several times during the reigns of
Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V, so we see that this great hall has
been very closely connected with the history of England.
It is supposed that part of the large quantity of stone granted to
Protector Somerset was taken from the Refectory. This stone was
used by him in the building of Somerset House.
Another important part of the monastery was the Infirmary, the
place where the old and infirm monks lived in their old age. It stood
on the site of what is now called the Little Cloister, but the present
Little Cloister is much more modern, and belongs to what is called
the “Jacobean” time.
The low, barrel-vaulted passages which lead from the Great
Cloister to the site of the old Infirmary are some of the very oldest
parts of the Abbey buildings, as they were built, if not actually
during the Confessor’s lifetime, at any rate by the first Norman
Kings. They are therefore more than 800 years old. In one of the
ancient Norman rooms, below the former Dormitory of the monks,
the Dean and Chapter have lately arranged a very interesting kind of
museum, containing various fragments of old carving and other
valuable relics of former times. There, too, have been placed the
very oldest of the wax effigies, which are too battered and ragged to
be shown with the others in the Islip Chantry. Here are the rather
ghastly remains of the effigies of Edward III and Philippa, Henry V
and Katherine de Valois, of Mary Tudor and some others.
Round to the left, through an even darker bit of Cloister, was the
Infirmary, of which we were just now speaking. The Infirmary was
almost a monastery in itself, having a cloister, a garden, and a very
beautiful chapel of its own. This chapel was built in the twelfth
century, and was dedicated to St. Katherine. Some of its arches still
remain in the garden of one of the modern houses. Many interesting
things took place in St. Katherine’s Chapel. One of these was a
famous struggle between the Archbishops of Canterbury and York as
to which was to sit in the chief place on the right hand of the Papal
Legate. It was settled that the Archbishop of Canterbury was to have
the precedence, and be called “Primate of all England.” Another
interesting event connected with St. Katherine’s Chapel, and a
pleasanter one to think of, is the consecration of St. Hugh of Lincoln
in 1186. St. Hugh was a pupil and disciple of St. Bruno, and came to
his northern bishopric from the famous monastery of the Grande
Chartreuse in the south of France. The old garden of the Infirmary is
still the Abbey garden, and lies just beyond the Little Cloister. Close
to it is the ancient Jewel House, where the King’s jewels used to be
kept. It was built by Richard II on a piece of ground which was
bought from the Abbey by Edward III in the last year of his reign.
 Other parts of the monastery, such as the granary, the malt-
house, brew-house, and bake-house, stood in the square or court
which is now called Dean’s Yard. Parts of some of these ancient
buildings still remain below the modern houses. We shall hear of the
granary again, in another chapter.
In former days Dean’s Yard used to be known as “The Elms,” and
was enclosed by the old monastery walls.
The Almonry, or place where the alms of the monastery used to
be given to the poor, was on the south-west side of Broad Sanctuary.
It was close to the Almonry that Caxton set up his printing-press.
We can easily see what an important place a great monastery
must have been, when we think of all its different parts, and of the
work of various kinds that went on in it.
But we must not take leave of the old monastic buildings and life
without saying a few words about the Sanctuary, which played an
important part in the Abbey history, and even in the history of
England. It has already been told how Queen Elizabeth Woodville
“took Sanctuary,” as they said in those days, and how Edward V was
born while she was at Westminster. The Abbey, like many other
great religious houses, had the right of Sanctuary. That is to say,
people who took refuge there could not be carried off to prison, or
injured in any way. It was considered an awful thing to kill any one
who was in Sanctuary. In the rough and cruel times of the Middle
Ages it was perhaps a good thing for people to have such a refuge,
and no doubt many helpless and innocent persons were then saved
from violence and injustice. But, as might be expected, many bad
people used to fly into Sanctuary, and as time went on this became
a great abuse. Queen Elizabeth took away some of the privileges of
Sanctuary, and in James I’s reign it was done away with altogether.
The actual Sanctuary Tower, which was a square Norman fortress,
stood very much where Westminster Hospital now stands. Close to
this tower there was a belfry, where some famous bells used to
hang.
 Near the Sanctuary Tower was the old Gatehouse, or prison, of
the monastery. It was in this Gatehouse that Sir Walter Raleigh
spent the last night of his life, and other well-known people were
imprisoned there, such as John Hampden, and Richard Lovelace, the
Cavalier poet.
 CHAPTER XII
SOME OF THE ABBOTS

“It is no small thing to dwell in monasteries, or in a congregation, and to live

there without complaint, and to persevere faithfully even unto death.”
(The Imitation of Christ.)

The name of Abbot Edwyn, who was the first Abbot to rule over
the Confessor’s newly founded monastery, leads us on to think of
some few others among the Abbots who played a part in English
history. We may begin by mentioning the name of Abbot Gilbert
Crispin, a Norman, who was Abbot during the time of the Norman
Kings, from 1085 to 1117. He had been a monk at the famous
monastery of Bec in Normandy, and was a pupil of St. Anselm and of
Lanfranc. Crispin was a learned man, and ruled the Abbey during a
stormy time in English history. William Rufus seems to have had a
great regard for him, and for the love he bore him he was kinder to
the Westminster monks than to many others. It was while Crispin
was Abbot that the Confessor’s tomb was first opened.
In his time, too, Henry I’s marriage with the Saxon princess,
Matilda, took place, and on the same day, 11th November 1100,
Matilda’s Coronation by Archbishop Anselm.
Two of the Abbots in the early Plantagenet times obtained from
the Pope the right to wear a mitre and other outward marks of
dignity. In later days the “mitred Abbot” of Westminster sate in the
House of Lords, next after the Bishops. In Henry III’s reign the Abbey
was made independent of the Bishop of London, and it keeps that
independent position down to our own day.
 Abbot Berkyng, who was a great friend and adviser of Henry III,
was one of the people who signed Magna Charta. He was a Privy
Councillor, and finally Lord Treasurer. He was also one of the Lords
Justices of the kingdom while Henry III was away at the Welsh wars
in 1245. This shows us what important men the Abbots were in
those days. Abbot Berkyng died in 1246, and was first buried in front
of the altar of Henry III’s Lady Chapel. His body now lies in the South
Ambulatory, close to the steps of Henry VII’s Chapel.
The next Abbot we will mention is Abbot Ware. His name is
interesting because in 1267, while Henry III was building his new
Abbey Church, Abbot Ware went on a visit to Rome, and brought
back with him the materials for the wonderful mosaic pavement in
the Sacrarium, and the materials for the decoration of the
Confessor’s shrine. He also brought with him the Italian workmen
who laid the pavement, and who made the lovely glass and gold
mosaics for the shrine. It was Abbot Ware who drew up the
“customs” of which we have just heard, with all kinds of rules and
directions for behaviour.
We must now pass over nearly a century, and speak of one very
able and energetic Abbot who did a great deal of building in the
Nave, the cloisters, and elsewhere in the monastery. This was
Nicholas Litlington, who was made Abbot in 1362, in succession to
Abbot Langham. Abbot Langham, who was made a Cardinal by the
Pope, is buried in a very fine tomb in St. Benedict’s Chapel. He left a
large sum of money to the Abbey, and this money was used by
Abbot Litlington for building. Litlington died in 1386, and is buried in
the South Transept.
The fine rooms known as the College Hall and Jerusalem Chamber
were built by Abbot Litlington somewhere about the end of Edward
III’s reign, when he rebuilt the Abbot’s house. It is thought that there
had probably been an earlier Jerusalem Chamber on the same site
as the present one. The name is said to have been given to the
room because the tapestries which hung on the walls represented
scenes from the history of Jerusalem.
 It has already been told how Henry IV died in this famous room,
and how Shakspeare describes the scene in his play.
Another interesting bit of English history to be remembered in the
Jerusalem Chamber is the banquet given to the French Ambassadors
in 1624, by Lord Keeper Williams, then Dean of Westminster, in
honour of Charles I’s marriage with Henrietta Maria of France. Dean
Williams restored and decorated the room for this occasion, and on
the cedarwood mantelpiece are small carved heads representing
Charles I and his French bride.
Much important work of various kinds has been done in the
Jerusalem Chamber. The Assembly of Divines held its meetings here
in 1643, during the time of the Commonwealth, and drew up the
Longer and Shorter Catechism, and the Confession of Faith, known
as the “Westminster Confession.”
Here, too, the Revisors of the Old and New Testaments used to
meet for their great work, which began in 1870.

[D. Weller.

THE JERUSALEM
CHAMBER.
 The Jerusalem Chamber is now used as the Chapter-House,
because the actual Chapter-House still belongs to the Government,
and not to the Abbey.
The College Hall, which was built by Abbot Litlington to be his
refectory or dining-hall, is now used as the dining-hall for the
Westminster scholars. It is a beautiful room, with long windows in
the Early Perpendicular style, and a minstrels’ gallery at one end.
The fireplace, or stove, is in the middle of the room, and gives it a
very old-world look. The long tables in the hall are said to be made
of chestnut wood from the wrecked ships of the Spanish Armada,
and to have been given to the school by Queen Elizabeth.
The College Hall forms one side of the old courtyard of the
“Abbot’s place” (or palace) as it was called, part of which house is
now the Deanery.
Litlington’s successor, Abbot Colchester, is said to have joined in a
conspiracy against Henry IV. This story was evidently accepted by
Shakspeare, for in his play, King Richard II, he writes—
“The grand Conspirator, Abbot of Westminster,
With clog of conscience and sour melancholy,
Hath yielded up his body to the grave.”

There is, however, no good foundation for the story of Abbot

Colchester’s conspiracy, and he lived on quietly until 1420.
Two of the Abbots of Henry VII’s reign, Abbot Esteney and Abbot
Islip, did a good deal of building in the church and precincts. The
great West Window was set up in Abbot Esteney’s time, and the
tracery shows how entirely different the Perpendicular style of
architecture is from the Early English, in which the rest of the Abbey
is built. The glass of the West Window was put in much later, during
the reign of George II.
In Abbot Islip’s time Henry VII’s Chapel was built, the Abbot
himself laying the foundation-stone. The western towers were
carried up as far as the roof, and some rooms were added to the
Abbot’s house. One of these is the charming panelled room known
as the Jericho Parlour.
 In the Nave, just over the Dean’s entrance, is a wooden gallery,
which is called the “Abbot’s Pew.” This, too, was put up by Abbot
Islip. Islip also fitted up the beautiful little Chapel which is named
after him, and in which he is buried. On the frieze of the Chapel are
curious little carvings, representing the Abbot’s name. One is an eye,
with a hand holding a branch, or slip: I-slip. Another is a man
slipping from the branch of a tree: “I slip.” A little design like this is
properly called a “rebus,” and there are many of them to be found
on tombs erected about that time.
In the Chantry above Islip’s Chapel are the wax effigies, about
which we have already read.
The last Abbot, John Feckenham, who was appointed in Mary
Tudor’s time, had suffered much for his religion during the reign of
Edward VI. But in spite of having himself been persecuted he was a
kind and tolerant man, and was good to the Protestants who were
persecuted in Queen Mary’s time.
Abbot Feckenham went to visit Lady Jane Grey in prison, and was
with her on the scaffold, but he could not persuade her to give up
her Protestant form of faith.
It was Abbot Feckenham who restored the Confessor’s shrine after
it had been all dismantled and partially destroyed in the reign of
Henry VIII.
The funeral of Anne of Cleves took place in Feckenham’s time.
Anne had become a Roman Catholic. She died at Chelsea in 1557,
and was buried with great state by Queen Mary’s order.
On 24th December 1558, Abbot Feckenham must have taken part
in the last royal funeral service held in the Abbey according to the
Roman Catholic rite. This was the service ordered by Queen
Elizabeth on the death of the Emperor Charles V, who was Queen
Mary’s father-in-law.
Feckenham quite refused to obey Queen Elizabeth’s laws
concerning Church matters, although Elizabeth seems to have been
very kindly disposed towards him.
 When the monastery was dissolved in 1559 the Abbot and some
of the monks were sent to the Tower, and Feckenham lived on for
twenty-five years in a kind of captivity, though he did not remain at
the Tower. He was a very good man: kind to the poor and suffering,
and steadfast to what he believed to be right. Since his day the
Abbey has been governed by a Dean and Chapter, and the monastic
life has ended.
 CHAPTER XIII
WESTMINSTER SCHOOL

“Enflamed with the study of learning, and the admiration of virtue; stirred up
with high hopes of living to be brave men and worthy patriots, dear to God, and
famous to all ages.”
Milton (Tract on Education).

Before we say farewell to the Abbey and its story altogether we

must speak of one very important part of it, and one that ought to
be specially interesting to all English children, namely, the ancient
and famous Westminster School.
The history of the School takes us back really to Saxon times, as
we know that there was a school belonging to the monastery in the
Confessor’s days, and it may have been there even earlier than that.
There is a charming little story of that old convent school in the
eleventh century. The Abbot of Croyland used to tell of the kindness
he received from the Lady Editha, wife of the Confessor, when he
was a boy at the monk’s school in the cloisters. When she met him
coming from school, Editha would question him about his studies,
and then, he says: “She would always present me with three or four
pieces of money, which were counted out to me by her handmaiden,
and then send me to the royal larder to refresh myself.”
The School seems to have been what was called a “Grammar
School,” which really meant that Latin was taught there, for in those
old days they used to speak of Latin as “grammar.” The school was
probably a place of general education, and not intended only for
boys who were going to become monks. But, of course, when
speaking of Westminster School it must be remembered that it owes
its present form, and its wide influence and prosperity, to its
foundation by two of the Tudor sovereigns, King Henry VIII and
Queen Elizabeth.
In 1540, Henry VIII established the School with two masters and
forty scholars. There were probably other boys as well. The School
went on and flourished during the reigns of Edward VI and Mary, and
then, when the monastery was finally dissolved, it was re-
established by Queen Elizabeth in 1560. Queen Elizabeth kept very
much to her father’s plan, and arranged for a Headmaster, an
undermaster, and forty scholars, who are called “King’s scholars” or
“Queen’s scholars,” according to whether the sovereign is a King or a
Queen. It was settled that the School was to be part of the
Collegiate Foundation of St. Peter in Westminster, and the Dean was
to be head of the school, just as he was of the rest of the College.
As we already know, the boys dined, as now, in Abbot Litlington’s
Refectory, the present College Hall. The old granary of the
monastery, which stood in the middle of what is now Dean’s Yard,
was fitted up as their dormitory, and there also they used to do what
a modern boy would call his “home-work.” This arrangement was
made for them by the first Dean of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, Dr.
William Bill.
In those old days there must have been a good deal of what we
should call hardship, for nearly every one now lives a much more
comfortable life than people did in the Elizabethan times.
The Great School is part of what used to be the monks’ dormitory.
It is a splendid room, first built in the Norman days, and then altered
or rebuilt in the fourteenth century. It stands on a lower storey
which is part of the Norman buildings. The School was very well
restored not many years ago. Besides the Great School there are, of
course, many class-rooms.
The King’s scholars now live in a fine building which was begun in
Dean Atterbury’s time, and designed by Sir Christopher Wren. It is
here that the famous “Westminster Play” is acted every year, about
Christmas time. The performance of this Latin play is a very old
custom, and probably began in the time of Queen Elizabeth. If any
member of the Royal Family has died during the year the play is not
given.
Another curious old custom in the school is the tossing of the
pancake on Shrove Tuesday. This takes place in the Great School. In
former days, when classes were held in the Great School, there used
to be a curtain hung right across, to divide the upper and lower
schools. This curtain hung from an iron rod, which still remains,
although the curtain has gone. Every Shrove Tuesday the college
cook has to bring a very solid sort of pancake and throw it over this
high bar. No doubt he has to practise a good deal before he can do it
properly, and he does not always throw it over the first time. The
boys scramble to catch it, and if any boy gets the whole pancake the
Dean’s Verger leads him to the Dean, who gives him a guinea.

[W. Rice, F.R.P.S.

LITTLE DEAN’S YARD—ENTRANCE TO GREAT

SCHOOL.

In old days the whole school might join in the scramble, and
rather a dangerous one it was. Now it has been arranged that only a
certain number of boys may struggle for the pancake, these boys
being chosen from various forms.
 Some of the most celebrated of the Westminster scholars have
graves or monuments in the Abbey, and thus are doubly connected
with Westminster. A few of these have already been mentioned, as,
for example, Ben Jonson, the famous poet and dramatist, and the
poets Abraham Cowley, George Herbert, John Dryden, William
Cowper, and Robert Southey.
Matthew Prior, a poet much admired in his own day, was also a
Westminster scholar. He died in 1721, and was buried near Spenser.
His monument is near Poets’ Corner door.
Barton Booth, a well-known actor in the eighteenth century, was
at Westminster school. He died in 1733, and his widow put up a
monument to him in Poets’ Corner many years afterwards. Two
streets in Westminster are named in memory of him. One of these is
Barton street, and the other is Cowley street, called after Booth’s
burial-place at Cowley, in Middlesex. Both these streets are close to
the Abbey precincts.
Most people have heard of the famous Headmaster of
Westminster in the seventeenth century, Dr. Richard Busby. He was
Headmaster during the troublous times of the Civil War and the
Commonwealth, and was still headmaster in the reigns of Charles II
and James II. He was a very remarkable man, and had many
distinguished pupils. He was celebrated both for scholarship and for
severity.
It is told of Dr. Busby that on one occasion, when Charles II paid
an unexpected visit to the School, he would not take off his hat in
the King’s presence, for fear that if he did so the boys might think
less of his authority.
Dr. Busby died in 1695, and was buried in the South Transept. His
monument is very interesting, partly on account of the pathetic
figure of Busby and the fine expression of the face.
One of his remarkable pupils is buried near him, and the
monuments are quite close to one another. This pupil was Dr. Robert
South, a great preacher, and Prebendary of Westminster. South
could remember seeing Cromwell when he first appeared in
Parliament, and heard Charles I prayed for in the Abbey on the very
day of his death, “that black and eternally infamous day of the King’s
murder.” Dr. South died in 1716.
There was always a great deal of Royalist feeling in the School,
even all through the Commonwealth time, and a leading
Independent went so far as to say that it would never be well with
the nation until the School was suppressed, so strongly did the boys
take the Royalist side.
Dean Atterbury, of whom we have already heard, was a
Westminster scholar, and a pupil of Dr. Busby. As we know, he took a
great part in the plots to bring back James II’s son, some of which
plots went on in a secret chamber in the Deanery itself.
Richard Hakluyt, author of the Voyages and Travels; Warren
Hastings, of Indian fame; and the well-known statesman, Lord John
Russell, all formerly Westminster boys, have already been
mentioned. In Statesmen’s Corner is the large monument of Lord
Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice of England in 1756. He was also a
Westminster scholar, and desired to be buried in the Abbey, “from
the love which he bore to the place of his early education.” He died
in 1793.
Charles Wesley and his elder brother Samuel were both educated
at Westminster School. The memorial to John and Charles Wesley in
the South Choir aisle has already been described. It is interesting to
remember that Westminster School was in this way directly
connected with one of the most important religious movements in
England during the eighteenth century.
Among the great soldiers who were at Westminster School were
Lord Lucan, the Marquis of Anglesey, and Lord Raglan. John Locke,
the philosopher, Sir Christopher Wren, the great architect, and
Edward Gibbon, author of the famous Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire, were also Westminster boys.
And now our travels through the centuries and round the Abbey,
with all its memories, must end. We have seen how that little Church
on Thorney Isle has gradually grown into this stately Abbey, the
home of all the great Anglo-Saxon race. We have seen too, at the
same time, how the little English kingdom of the early Saxon days
has expanded into a world-wide empire. It is for the children of
Great Britain to see that the Abbey shall stand, not only for noble
memories, but also for high hopes,—hopes, not only of riches and
worldly success, but of the righteousness that exalteth a nation.

Printed by Morrison & Gibb Limited, Edinburgh

 TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in
spelling.
2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained
as printed.
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