dilly without any
thing remarkable or particular to record, where we shall for the present
leave them to their enjoyments among the able writers with which Tom's
bookcase was well stored.

CHAPTER VI

Hail! venerable pile! with awe I tread
The sacred mansion of th' illustrious dead!
Where rise, o'er forms now mould'ring into dust,
The "storied urn" and "animated West."--
Beneath the fretted dome, aspiring high,
Here monarchs, heroes, poets, sages, lie!
"Deaf the prais'd ear, and mute the tuneful tongue,"
Here sleeps the bard with those whom erst he sung;
And all consigned to one impartial doom,
Lo! kings and subjects levelled in the tomb!

IN a perambulation westward, our friends shortly reached the precinct
of Westminster Abbey, or the collegiate Church of Saint Peter; the most
ancient religious structure in the metropolis.

Divested of fabulous narration, its history is briefly as follows. Its
name is obviously derived from its situation, in the west, and from its
original destination as the church of a monastery. It was founded by
Sebert, king of the East Saxons; was destroyed afterwards by the Danes;
was subsequently re-built by king Edgar in 958; the church was again
re-built by Edward the Confessor in 1065; and by Pope Nicholas II. it
was constituted a place of inauguration of the English Monarchs. Henry
III. re-built it from the ground, and Henry VII. added a magnificent
chapel at the east end of it. The monastery was surrendered by the
abbot and monks to Henry VIII. who first converted it into a college of
secular canons, and afterwards into a cathedral, of which the county of
Middlesex was the see. His successor, Edward VI. dissolved the see, and
restored the college, which was again converted by Mary into an abbey.
That institution was dissolved by Elizabeth in 1560; she founded the
present establishment, which is a college consisting of a dean, 12
secular canons, and 30 petty canons; to which is attached a school of
40 boys, denominated the Queen's or King's scholars, with a master and
usher; and also twelve alms-men, an organist, and choristers.

Its greatest length is 489 feet; the breadth of the west front 66 feet;
the length of the cross aisle 189 feet; and the height of the roof 92
feet; the west end is adorned with two towers, which were built by Sir
Christopher Wren. The nave and cross ais