530 TJie Dean of Westvmister [April 29, 



commanded the Subdean of Westminster to bring him to the place in which they 

 were kept, made himself Cluster of the Spoil. And having forced open a great 

 Iron Chest, took out the Crowns, the Robes, the Swords and Sceptre, belonging 

 anciently to K. EDAVARD the Confessor, and used by all our Kings at their 

 Inaugurations. "With a scorn gi-eater than his lusts, and the rest of his Vices, 

 hi' openly declares, That there icould he 710 further use of those Toys and Trifles. 

 And in the jollity of that humour invests George Withers (an old Puritan Satyristj 

 in the Royal Habiliments. Who being thus Crown'd and RoN^ally array'd (as 

 right well' became him) first marcht about the Room with a stately Garb, and 

 afterwards with a thousand Apish and Ridiculous actions exposed those Sacred 

 Ornaments to contempt and laughter. Had the Abuse been stri2)t and whipt, as 

 it should have been, the foolish Fellow might possibly have passed for a Prophet, 

 though he could not be reckoned for a Poet. 



The earliest history of this Eoyal Treasury is obscure, and a 

 recent controversy of the antiquaries has cast uncertainty on part of 

 what we thought we knew. For it has been strongly argued that the 

 Treasury which was robbed in the reign of Edward I. was not this 

 chapel in the cloisters, but the vault beneath the chapter-house. I 

 cannot now discuss the matter ; but it remains certain that since the 

 days of Edward III. certain royal treasures were kept in this little 

 chapel. Portions of the Kegalia were also there, though others were 

 in the monastic Treasury in St. Faith's Chapel. Since the Restora- 

 tion the Regalia have been in the Tower, and have only been 

 deposited with the Dean and Chapter on the eve of a coronation. 

 The old chapel was still used as a Treasury of treaties and records ; 

 Exchequer tallies w^ere kept there, and also the Pyx, or ' box ' con- 

 taining the standards of coinage. But gradually everything has been 

 removed. The treaties, the tallies, the Pyx itself — all have found 

 homes elsewhere. The chapel is empty ; the ancient altar stands, 

 though somewhat damaged, and by its side is a j^iscina on a thirteenth- 

 century pillar. 



Let us look a little closer, and observe the construction of this tiny 

 chapel. It is at present but 30 feet wide and 30 feet long, with a 

 heavy round column in the centre. I say ' at present,' for originally 

 it formed part of a long vaulted chamber beneath the ancient dormi- 

 tory of the monks. This chamber was 100 feet in length, that is, us 

 long as Henry YII.'s Ciiapel; and six massive columns down the 

 middle supported the vaulting. It is the oldest remaining part of 

 the Abbey, reaching back to the period of Edward the Confessor's 

 building. It is now divided by partition walls, of stone or of brick, 

 into four small compartments. Two of these are dark storehouses, a 

 third is rented by Westminster School as an approach to their gym- 

 nasium, while the fourth is the chapel of which we are speaking. 

 This, the most northerly portion, was walled otl", perhaps two hundred 

 years after it was built, by a rough stone wall : the other partitions 

 are of much more recent date. 



I sometimes have a vision of a new period of public usefulness for 

 this hidden and almost forgotten site. I seem to see the ancient 

 vaults reunited as of old in one long chamber ; the old altar repaired, 

 that wc may worship once more in the one sacred portion ot the 



