en, although {112} twenty-five years have elapsed since his death.
Beaconsfield's statue stands by the next pillar, and, if it be a day in
late April, we should see primrose wreaths arranged around the feet, a
homage from those who cherish the imperialist ideas which were
inaugurated by Disraeli. Before very long a memorial, also voted by
Parliament, to Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury, Beaconsfield's
successor as head of the Tory party, is also to be placed with his
compeers in this temple of silence and reconciliation.

* * * * * *

[Illustration: Interior of the North Transept]

* * * *

INTERIOR OF THE NORTH TRANSEPT

The north transept is called the Statesman's Aisle, and is filled with
the statues of ministers of State and of other politicians; besides these
we find lawyers, soldiers, and sailors. From this point there is a good
view of Sir Robert Peel's statue in the right foreground, with Gladstone
and Beaconsfield prominent behind him. We look down the aisle and see
the rose window, which was filled with painted glass in the eighteenth
century under Dean Atterbury's rule, and the fine early wall arcadings
below. In the spandrels are two beautiful stone angels, which are just
visible in the illustration.

* * * * * *

Beyond are the tombs of the first and third Dukes of Newcastle. The
first, William Cavendish, was a loyal supporter of Charles I., in whose
service he lost his estates and fortune, but he returned to prosperity
after the Restoration. His wife shared his troubles and his rewards.
Her reputation as a literary woman and an authoress is marked by the pen
and inkhorn beside her effigy; in her hands is an open book. The third
Duke, John Holles, married their grand-daughter, and was reputed the
richest subject in the kingdom by his contemporaries. He lived in the
reign of Queen Anne, when the standard of wealth was far less high than
it is in these days. One of the slender columns in St. Michael's Chapel
behind still {113} retains the original polish, and gives us some idea
what the whole church looked like before our London atmosphere had
corroded and blurred the surface of the Purbeck marble. Statues of the
three Cannings stand between these two tombs. The nearest to our
generation, he died in 1880, is Stratford Canning, better known by his
title of the Viscount de Redcliffe, who was for fi