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he built a church and endowed a monastery. The site was chosen, 
says an old legend, as the result of a vision, in which St. Peter 
appeared to a monk named Wulsinus, and pointing out the 
ruined condition of his church on the Isle of Thorns, expressed 
his wish that it should be restored. And so, on the spot where 
Sebert’s Church had stood, the Confessor erected his noted 
Church, Norman in style, cruciform in plan, and marvellously 
magnificent for those times. At the same time he restored the 
Monastery to more than its former splendour. 
For some six hundred years this Abbey of the Confessor 
remained, until Henry III., who regarded the Confessor with 
almost superstitious reverence, resolved to honour him in re- 
placing his Church by a larger and more magnificent building. 
Edward I. proceeded to pull down and rebuild four more bays 
of the Nave. Richard II. and Henry V. made further additions, 
but the West end was not completed until the reign of Henry VII. 
The West ‘Towers were built by Wren, and finished by 
Hawkesmore in 1740. 
The magnificent Lady Chapel on the East, called Henry VII.’s 
Chapel, was built by that king, and is a remarkable example of 
Tudor Gothic. 
And now entering the venerable fane, you will tread softly and 
with reverence, for you will walk over the dust of once mighty 
kings and famous queens, of abbots and monks, and deans and 
divines, of statesmen whose names are written high on the scroll 
of fame, of authors who were once the glory of our literature, 
of poets whose books you have read, and over whose pages you 
have wept; and all around you are the memorials of heroes of 
“the battle and the breeze,” and men of renown in every 
department of human science and service. 
The Lecturer then proceeded, in a racy and _ interesting 
manner, to take his hearers on an imaginary stroll through the 
Abbey, calling attention to, and giving brief descriptions of 
the monuments, statues, and graves within the building, and 
exhibiting many beautiful photographs, by aid of the lantern, of 
aa interesting memorials of which the nation may justly be 
proud. 
The various chapels within the edifice were also fully described, 
special reference being made to the historic facts connected with 
them. He concluded his tour through the Abbey as follows :— 
As in various parts of the Abbey we observe signs of decay, we 
can scarcely leave it without recalling the words of an eloquent 
