WESTMINSTER. 



to N.E. about one miie and three-quarters, and in breadth 

 in the middle about half that diftance. Of this fpacious 

 tra<ft, by far the greatell portion mull, in former times, have 

 been regularly overflowed by each returning tide of the 

 river ; as it would be at the prefent time, were not the em- 

 bankments bordering the Thames carefully preferved. The 

 age of thefe mounds is unknown ; J)Ut to no others than the 

 heads of the monailery to whom the ifland belonged can 

 their formation be reafonably afcribed ; and to them is 

 Weftminller therefore indebted for the many advantages de- 

 rived from the lands refcued from inundation. The em- 

 bankments mud have been conftrufted, and the ground 

 within them well improved in 1386 : for in that year abbot 

 Litlington died in the manor-houfe of Neyte, fituated with- 

 in that fpace. So defirable was that fttuation, that the duke 

 of Lancalter, flyling himfelf king of Caftille, had re- 

 quelled leave to refide in the houfe during the fitting of a 

 parliament. The name of this place ttill furvives, although 

 abfurdly corrupted into Neat-houjes. In an authentic char- 

 ter, dated in 785, Offa, king of Mercia, grants certain 

 lands to the monailery of St. Peter : its fituation is defcribed 

 to be in " Torneia in loco terribili ad Weftmunfttr." In the 

 writings of Sulcardus, a monk of this monailery who wrote 

 in the eleventh century, the name is Thorneia. Both thefe 

 names are fuppofed to be formed from the Saxon Thorn-ey, 

 the ifle of thorns and briars, exprefling the wild uncultivated 

 ftate of the " terrible fpot" noticed by OfFa. Forbidding 

 as fuch a fituatlon now would be, it bore a different afpedt 

 in ancient times ; for it poirefled alike fecurity from attack, 

 and feclufion from the world. To the religious ellablilh- 

 ment on Thorney, the rife, progrefs, and profperity of Well- 

 minfter are to be afcribed ; but the origin and the date of 

 that ellabhfhment itfelf are involved in obfcurity. The pro- 

 bability, however, is, that it was founded by Sebert, king of 

 the Eall Saxons, who died in 616. That it had in 785 ac- 

 quired celebrity, is evident from the charter before -mention- 

 ed, granted by Offa. From Sebcrt's time the monailery 

 feems to have been only a priory ; but by OfFa it was changed 

 to an abbey, of which the abbots arofe, in the courfe of a 

 few years, to the highefl dignity of which their rank was 

 fufceptible. To demonllrate more fully his attachment to 

 the patron of the abbey, St. Peter, Offa in it depofited his 

 coronation-robes and regalia. From this circumllance, per- 

 haps, as much as from fubfequent papal authority, St. Pe- 

 ter's church afterwards became, and ftill is ufed for the in- 

 auguration of the Enghlh fovereigns ; and to the dean, as 

 fuccelTor of the abbot, are intrulled many of the implements 

 and ornaments employed in that important funftion, which 

 was firll there performed on WiUiam the Conqueror, in 1066. 

 After fuffering feverely in common with other works of the 

 fame charadler, by the ravages of the Danes, the abbey was 

 reftored by Edgar, who began to reign in 957, on the inlliga- 

 tion of Dunllan, who removed thither, probably from Glaf- 

 tonbury, twelve monks of the order of St. Benedift. It is 

 neverthelefs to Edward the ConfefTor that the inflitution is 

 principally indebted for its fplendour. Sulcardus informs 

 us that Edward had vowed to go to Rome, there to exprefs 

 his pious gratitude to heaven forhis unexpetted ellablilhment 

 on the Englilh throne. The many inconveniences, how- 

 ever, by which the performance of this engagement muft 

 have been attended, induced him to fubllitute in its Head 

 fome other mode of tellifying his thankfulnefs. He there- 

 fore undertook to rebuild the church and monailery of St. 

 Peter in a magnificent manner, and endow them with ample 

 revenues. Of the llrufture itfelf we only know from Mat- 

 thew Paris, that " it was conllrufted in a new kind of ar- 

 rangement, from which many perfons in erefting churches 



took a pattern, and ftrove to imitate it." Speaking of the 

 fame edifice, fir Chrillopher Wren refers to an account 

 printed from an ancient manufcript. This accouat he tranf- 

 lates into language proper for builders, in this way. " The 

 principal area or nave of the church being raifed high, and 

 vaulted with fquare and uniform ribs, is turned circular to 

 the eaft. This on each fide is Urongly fortified with a dou- 

 ble vaulting of the aifles in two llories, with their pillars 

 and arches. The crofs-building, contrived to contain the 

 choir in the middle, and the better to fupport the lofty 

 tower, rofe with a plainer and lower vaulting ; which tower 

 then fpreading with artificial winding-llairs, was continued 

 with plain walls to its timber-roof, which was well covered wath 

 lead." The flriking novelty in this llrufture was probably 

 the introduftion of an imitation of a crofs in the plan : for 

 the earlier Saxon churches ar.; fuppofed to have had no 

 tranfepts. The grants of lands, and of relics, bellowed by 

 Edward on his new foundation, were ample beyond all pre- 

 cedent. He likewife inverted it with peculiar privileges, 

 exempting if. from all fecular fervices and authority, even 

 from epilcopai fuperintendance. But this lall exemption 

 brought on each new abbot the trouble and expence of a 

 journey to Rome, to be confirmed by his hohnefs in perfon. 

 Edward died on the Jth of January, 1066, having furvived 

 but a few days the fple.ndid ceremony of the confecration of 

 the new llrudlure. Frovn thefe privileges, afterwards ex- 

 tended to a confiderable fp^ce connefted with the abbey, 

 may be traced in a great meafcire the prefent civil conllitu- 

 tion of Weftminller. While Laurence was abbot in 11 63, 

 in the reign of Henry II., the power was obtained from 

 pope Alexander III. for his ufing the mitre, ring, and 

 gloves, diftinguilhing marks of epifcop.al dignity. But this 

 privilege became, in the fequel, of ftill hjgher importance ; 

 for mitred abbots came to fit in parha\7ient as well as 

 bifhops, and to enjoy every honour to which bifhops, as 

 lords of parhament, were entitled. Laurence tiying before 

 the papal approbation of the meafure was fof.mally an- 

 nounced, his fuccelTor Walter was the firft abbot of Weft- 

 minller who afiually enjoyed the honours of the mitre. The 

 reign of Henry III., of great importance in the hiftory of 

 England in general, is not lefs fo to that of Weftminller 

 abbey in particular. In it the greater part of the edifice was 

 rebuilt, in the lofty elegant ftyle by which it is chiefly cha- 

 rafterized ; a ftyle which about that time began to be 

 adopted in ecclefiaftical buildings throughout Europe. As 

 early as 1220, although then only a youth, Henry laid the 

 firft ftone of the chapel of the Virgin, which was afterwards 

 fuperfeded by the gorgeous ftrufture of Henry VII. ; but 

 it was not until 1245 that he direfted the church to be en- 

 larged, and the tower, with the eaftern part, to be con- 

 ftrudled anew. In 1 269 the building was opened for divine 

 fervice, and the body of Edward the ConfefTor was depofited 

 in a fplendid ftirine eredled behind the high altar. 



The abbey of Weftminfter is entitled to the peculiar ve- 

 neration of every friend of literature, of fcience, and of 

 civil and religious liberty ; for within its bounds was erefted 

 the firft apparatus for printing books employed in this ifland. 

 WiUiam Caxton, a mercer of London, during a long refi- 

 dence on the continent as agent for the affairs of his com- 

 pany, and in 1464 as minifter from Edward IV. to the duke 

 of Burgundy, became acquainted with the art of printing, 

 then very recently praftifed in Lower Germany. In 147 1 

 he printed at Cologne a work which he had tranflated from 

 the French into Englilh ; and returning home in the follow- 

 ing year, he, under the patronage of the abbot of Weftmin- 

 fter, commenced printing in the almonry, or eleemofynary 

 adjoining to the abbey. In March 1474 appeared his book 

 S f 2 on 



