WESTMINSTER. 



raifed above the level of the pavement, appropriated to the 

 ihrine of Edward the Confefibr, but alfo occupied by feve- 

 ral monuments to royal and noble perfons. At the eaft 

 end of this is a fumptuoiis architeftural chantry to the me- 

 mory of Henry V. Still more to the eaft is the fplendid 

 and interefting chapel, called Henry the Seventh's, becaufe 

 begun by him, and founded for his maufoleum. On the 

 north and fouth fides of the choir are aides, and alfo fome 

 fmall chapels, dedicated to different faints. 



From the time of Henry VH. little was done, although 

 very requifite, to the exterior of Weilminfter church, till 

 that of George H., when many parts of it were coated over 

 with ftone, and otherwife repaired at the public expence. 

 Some time before this, the two towers at the weft end were 

 completed from defigns of fir Chriftopher Wren, as they 

 now appear. In covering theoutfide of the church, the rich 

 fculpture, and the ftatues which formerly adorned the but- 

 treffes, could not be reftored. Thofe parts feem now, there- 

 fore, unfuited to the highly ornamented building to which 

 they are attached : nor do the weftern towers affimilate with 

 the ftyle of the fabric to which they belong. The paint- 

 ings in the great weft window were executed in 1735 : the 

 window in the fouth tranfept was alio renewed in 1 705. In 

 the interior of the church, the pillars dividing the nave from 

 the fide aifles guide the eye to the fine painted window at 

 the extremity of the chbir, which, in former times, when the 

 altar-piece was low, muft have had a fine effedl m giving a 

 lighter air to that part of the building. The altar-piece 

 was brought hither by queen Anne iu 1706 : it had for- 

 merly belonged to Whitehall chapel. The marble columns 

 of the Corinthian order, however elegant in themfelves, but 

 ill accord with the ftyle of the ftrudture around them ; an 

 incongruity but too often fandlioned in other edifices of the 

 fame kind in England. In front of the communion-table is 

 ftill to be feen, although woefully mutilated, a curious Mo- 

 faic pavement of lapis lazuli, porphyry, jafper, ferpentine, 

 touch-ftone, &c. placed there by abbot Ware in 1272, who 

 brought it from the continent, where he procured the mate- 

 rials during a million to Rome. The black and white 

 lozenged marble pavement of the choir was the gift of the 

 celebrated Dr. Buftiy, mafter of the fchool annexed to the 

 church. In the centre of Edward the Confelfor's chapel, 

 ftands the mutilated body of the Ihrine, containing, in a 

 wooden cafe, the afhes of St. Edward ; and around the 

 fides of the chapel are ranged the monuments of feveral 

 kings, queens, and princefies, from Henry III. to Eliza- 

 beth, the daughter of Henry VII. ; all of which are ex- 

 tremely curious and interefting. In this chapel are preferved 

 the chairs, one very ancient, the other made for the laft 

 queen Mary, in which our kings and queens are feated 

 within the choir at their coronation. In the frame of that 

 ufed by the king is the fatal ftone, to the pofition of which 

 the fovereignty of Scotland, or rather of the Scotch na- 

 tion, was attached. 



The choir of the church, in the form of a femi-oftagon, 

 was furrounded by eight chapels, now reduced to feven, by 

 the appropriation of the central chapel to be the porch of 

 that of Henry VII. 



The crofs-aifles or tranfepts of the church, as well as the 

 nave, have long been confecrated to the interment of per- 

 fons in various ways diftinguilhed in the world. The fouth 

 tranfept has only an eaftern aiflc, the weft being occupied 

 by part of the cloifters. This tranfept, named Poets'- 

 corner, contains many interefting memorials of men whofe 

 genius and talents in Icience, literature, and the arts, entitle 

 them to the honourable recoUeftion of pofterity. Of thefe 

 monuments, many are highly interefting as memorials of 



eminent charaAers, and others as fpecimens of the fculptor's 

 art. No fmall number of them, however, and thofe not 

 the leaft fumptuons and obtrufive, are entitled to no regard 

 on either account, being vaft maffes of marble devoid of 

 beauty and tafte. It is, however, to be lemt-mbered, that 

 to be "numbered among the illuftrious dead, ' within the 

 walls of the abbey-church of Weilminfter, now is and long 

 has been purely a queftion of finance with the officers at- 

 tached to the foundation. 



Chapel of Henry V\l. — In ancient cathedrals and other 

 churches of confiderable extent, it was the practice to appro- 

 priate to the peculiar fervice of the Virgin, the chapel 

 fituated immediately behind the high altar, and in the 

 eaftern recefs of the building. Such a chapel originally 

 belonged to the abbey-church ; and on its Icile with fome 

 adjoining fpace, under the fame patronage, but now beft 

 known by liis own name, Henry VII. conilrufted his mag- 

 nificent and admirable chapel. When we contemplate this 

 mott curious fpecimen of Englifli architefture, and confider 

 the expence which muft have been encountered to complete 

 it, we are utterly unable, on any rational grounds, to recon- 

 cile its ereftion with the acknowledged difpofition and 

 charafter of the founder. In perufing the hiftory of nations, 

 we muft be ftruck with the frequent recurrence of this faft, 

 that men of all degrees, particularly of the higheft, have 

 afted on the vain fuppofition, that, by a fingle oilentatious 

 aft of beneficence or munificence, not unfrequently pofthu- 

 mous, they could acquire immortal fame, and even lecure the 

 favour of heaven, however unworthily they may have per- 

 formed their duty in life. Of this fact, the chapel of 

 Henry VII. ftands a memorable example ; for in no one 

 aft of his life and reign, did that prince give evidence of 

 any one of thofe feelings from which the conftruftion of 

 this fuperb ftrufture cuuld be expefted to proceed. Of 

 benevolence, however, in a certain fenfe, no fovereign ever 

 had a better conception than Henry. The vaft fums he 

 exafted under this fpecious title, far exceeded the demands 

 for which they were required : he accordingly amafTed great 

 wealth, and at his death his treafury was enormoufly rich. 

 Towards his end, Henry, fenfible of a mif-fpent reign, endea- 

 voured to atone for his offences by various charitable works, 

 by beftowing a large fum on King's-college chapel in Cam- 

 bridge, and in particular by founding, eredling, and endow- 

 ing his chapel in Weftminfter. From the elegance and 

 richnefs of the defign, and from the IkiU and labour neccf. 

 fary to complete it, we are warranted to conclude that the 

 moft eminent artifts and artificers of the country were em- 

 ployed. The firft ftone of the new chapel was laid by the 

 hands of abbot John Illip, and other perfons of the court, in 

 the prefence of Henry, on the 24th of January 1502-3. 

 How much of the work was executed at the king's death, 

 on the 2 1 ft of April 1509, is unknown ; but moft probably 

 the mafonry muft have been nearly, if not altogether, com- 

 pleted. Towards the finifhing of the whole, Henry left, in 

 the hands of the abbot, 5000/. with provifion for more if 

 required. The fuperb tomb for the king is particularly 

 dtfcribed in his will ; but a different plan was followed, 

 and the work was finifhed by his ion Henry VIII. The 

 ground-plan of the building confifts of a body nearly a 

 fquare, terminated at the eaft end by a femicircular part, 

 compofed of five fides of an octagon. The extreme length 

 of the whole ch.apel, including the porch, is 134 feet, and 

 the correfponding breadth 82 feet 6 inches. On viewing 

 the exterior of the building, we are ftruck by the apparent 

 flightnefs of the work ; for inftead of walls, the principal 

 weight and quantity of the whole refts on a few detached 

 piers and lateral buttreffes. This peculiar charafter of 



ancient 



