earth where we now stand. Shakespeare has made the scene of
Henry the Fourth's death very familiar, and we remember the King's words
when he recovered consciousness after his swoon. Henry was taken ill
when praying at St. Edward's shrine, before starting for the Holy Land;
the dying man asked the name of the room into which he was carried from
the church, and receiving the reply "Hierusalem," he broke out into
thanksgiving:--

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Laud be to God! even there my life must end.
It hath been prophesied to me many years
I should not die but in Jerusalem;
Which vainly I suppos'd the Holy Land.
But bear me to that chamber; there I'll lie;
In that Jerusalem shall Harry die.

* * * * * *

[Illustration: The Abbot's Courtyard and the Entrance to the Jerusalem
Chamber]

* * * *

THE ABBOT'S COURTYARD AND THE ENTRANCE TO THE JERUSALEM CHAMBER

This little paved yard has borne its present name ever since the days of
the Westminster abbots, for the buildings all round belonged to the
Abbot's lodgings. Here, for instance, is the fine hall where the Abbot
used to dine, and where the Westminster scholars still have their meals.
We cannot see this in the picture, but immediately facing us is the
entrance to the Jerusalem Chamber and Jericho parlour, the Abbot's
guest-rooms. The old bedrooms above also formed part of the Abbot's
house, and are now used by the Dean. The whole of this, including the
Jericho parlour, the windows of which we can see below, was probably
built, in the reign of King Henry VII., by Abbot Islip. The Jerusalem
Chamber dates from an earlier period, the fourteenth century.

* * * * * *

Many and diverse are the purposes for which the Abbot's withdrawing-room
has been utilised since the dissolution of the monastery. More than one
coffin has rested here before the interment; the most notable was that of
Sir Isaac Newton, when the Chamber was thronged with distinguished men
from all parts of Europe. The least reputable was the famous occasion
when the painted, bedizened body of a notorious actress, whose charms
were extolled by Horace Walpole and sneered at by Alexander Pope, was
brought into these monastic precincts, and afterwards buried inside the
church itself. Wedding as well as funeral parties assemble in this room
from time to time, and the Chamber is occasionally lent by the Dean for