scores of England's
kings and queens and princes.

[Illustration: CLOISTERS OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY.]

[Illustration: WESTMINSTER ABBEY, INTERIOR OF THE CHOIR.]

The abbey's ground-plan has the form of a Latin cross, which is apsidal,
having radiating chapels. Henry VII.'s Chapel prolongs the building
eastward from the transept almost as much as the nave extends westward.
Cloisters adjoin the nave, and the western towers, built by Wren, rise
two hundred and twenty-five feet, with a grand window beneath them. The
church is five hundred and thirty feet long. The nave is one hundred and
sixty-six feet long and one hundred and two feet high; the choir, one
hundred and fifty-five long; the transept, two hundred and three feet
long, and on the south arm one hundred and sixty-five feet high. A great
rose-window, thirty feet in diameter, is in the north end of the
transept, with a fine portico, beneath which is the beautiful gateway of
the abbey. In the interior the height of the roof is remarkable, and
also the vast number of monuments, there being hundreds of them.
Magnificent woodwork in carving and tracery adorns the choir, and its
mosaic pavement comes down to us from the thirteenth century, the stones
and workmen to construct it having been brought from Rome. The fine
stained-glass windows are chiefly modern. But the grand contemplation in
Westminster Abbey is the graves of the famous dead that have been
gathering there for nearly eight centuries. No temple in the world can
present anything like it. Wordsworth has written:

----"Be mine in hours of fear
Or grovelling thought to find a refuge here,
Or through the aisles of Westminster to roam,
Where bubbles burst, and folly's dancing foam
Melts if it cross the threshold--where the wreath
Of awestruck wisdom droops."

[Illustration: KING HENRY VII.'S CHAPEL.]

Of the nine chapels surrounding the east end of the abbey, the most
interesting are those of Edward the Confessor, beyond the altar, and of
Henry VII., at the extreme eastern end. The shrine of King Edward above
referred to occupies the centre of his chapel, and was formerly richly
inlaid with mosaics and precious stones, which, however, have been
carried off. Henry VII.'s Chapel is a fine specimen of the architecture
of his time, and the monuments of Queens Elizabeth and Mary of Scotland
are in the north and south aisles. In the south transept is the Poets'
Corner, with monuments to all