und that venerable pile. I
don't envy the man who can point a sneer at Westminster Abbey; how placid
and beautiful is the outside, how eloquently it speaks to the ambitious
lawyer, the busy merchant, the statesman bent on fame, the beauty armed
for conquest; what a testimony it bears to the religious spirit of the
age which witnessed its erection, and of the brain or brains which
conceived its magnificent design.

The Abbey is open to public inspection between the hours of eleven and
three daily, and also in the summer months between four and six in the
afternoon. The public are not admitted to view the monuments on Good
Friday, Christmas Day, or fast days, or during the hours of Divine
Service. The nave, transept, and cloisters are entirely free. The
charge for admission to the rest of the Abbey, through which you are
accompanied by a guide, is sixpence each person. The entrance is at the
south transept, better known as Poet's Corner. It will do you good to
walk in there any Sunday during Divine Service. The appearance of the
place is singularly striking. The white-robed choristers; the benches
filled with well-dressed people the dark religious columns; the lofty and
fretted roof; the marble monuments and busts looking down on you from
every wall and corner; the gleams of mellow sunlight streaming in from
richly painted windows--all tend to produce an effect such as you can
find nowhere else--an effect of which you must be sensible if you care
not for the rich notes of the organ, or sleep while the parson preaches.

The Abbey, originally a Benedictine monastery--the Minster west of St.
Paul's London--was founded originally in what was called Thorney Island,
by Sebert, King of the East Saxons, 616. The patron Saint, Peter
himself, is said to have consecrated it by night, and in a most
miraculous manner. Till the time of Edward the Confessor the Abbey does
not seem to have made much way; but the meek-minded Prince was led to
give the Abbey a patronage which led to the building becoming what it is.
It seems the Prince had been ill, and vowed to take a journey to the Holy
Land if he should recover. But, as often is the case with vows made in
sickness, the Prince, when well, found it exceedingly inconvenient to
fulfil his vow. The only course left for him was to appeal to the Pope.
The Holy Father, of course, was appealed to, and freed the pious king
from his vow on one condition--that he should spend the money