28 WESTMINSTER ABBEY AND ITS MONUMENTS, 
worthy both of the place and the man be set up in Westminster 
Abbey as it now stands. 
To meet this difficulty there are many suggestions. One is 
that we should not have any more monuments; and there isa 
great deal to be said in support of this view. Those whose life 
and work have really earned the regard and gratitude of their 
fellow-countrymen need no stained pane or sculptured stone to 
keep their names alive. But, on the other hand, we cannot 
forget that many of the ancient monuments are full of interest, 
and it seems unreasonable to say we will retain and care for 
them, but make no provision for the due commemoration of the 
heroes of our own day, or of those who may arise hereafter. 
Another proposal is that there should be a great weeding out 
and re-arrangement of the present monuments. 
*©O could we do with this world of ours 
As men do with their garden bowers ; 
Reject the weeds and keep the flowers, 
What a heaven on earth we’d make it!” 
But the difficulty always arises, Who is to decide between the 
weeds and the flowers? And there is great objection to the 
removal of any monuments, as is well stated by the Archbishop 
of Canterbury and by Dr. John Evans, the President of the 
Society of Antiquaries, in their evidence before the Royal Com- 
mission. We are thus brought face to face with a demand for 
some enlargement of the available space, and architects on all 
sides are ready with a variety of plans to meet this demand. 
Alas! to each and all of them objections arise as quickly as the 
plans are propounded. 
The most ambitious is one of the present architect of the 
Abbey, Mr. Pearson, to build a new aisle on the north side of 
the existing nave. But as this would completely hide the only 
part of the Abbey in which Henry III.’s design can be seen 
externally, I am glad to find that this proposal finds no favour 
in any quarter. 
Several architects have made plans for an extension to the 
south-east. Close to the Abbey there are a number of eighteenth 
