WESTMINSTER. 



ancient ecclefiaftical buildings, tnanifefts great fcience and 

 ftill in the architeds ; for to raife lofty walls, and poife 

 ponderous wide-fpreading roofs on piers and columns, re- 

 quires the niceft geometrical accuracy. The lides are fup- 

 ported by five odagonal piers ; thofe of the femicircular 

 end are united to wedge-fhaped maffes, entering fo far mto 

 the chapel, as to correfpond with the pillars feparatmg the 

 aifles from the nave. The interftices between the external 

 piers are filled by windows of a peculiar plan and great 

 delicacy of workmanlhip. The roof over the nave refts on 

 perpendicular walls, fupported by very flender internal 

 pillars, and is ftrengthened all around by flying buttrelTes or 

 femi-arches from the external piers. Within, the chapel 

 is divided by two ranges of pillars into a nave 33 feet 

 6 inches in width, and fide-aifles each 1 1 feet 3 inches wide. 

 The internal roof is executed in ftone, with pendants and 

 numerous ribs. By the advance of the piers in the circular 

 part, that end is formed into five fmall chapels or oratories ; 

 but the fide-aifles in their original had no feparation from 

 the nave, except the ranges of pillars. They are now, 

 however, unfortunately cut off by a row of ftalls on each 

 fide, on the line of the pillars, and (hooting up with their 

 fretted and frittered canopies as high as the roof of the 

 aifles. What tends to heighten the deformity of thefe ftalls, 

 is the number of gaudy flags of the knights of the Bath, 

 who are inftalled in this chapel, fufpended all around, at 

 once concealinir many beautiful parts of the architefture 

 and fculpture, and utterly at variance with the elegance and 

 the defign of the edifice. The entrance to the chapel is by 

 a flight of fteps to a magnificent gateway, but from its 

 fituation dark in itfelf, and darkening the extremity of the 

 adjoining church. The chief objeA within the chapel is 

 the tomb of the founder, inclofedby a fcreen of giltbrafs: it 

 is a piece of admirable workmanfliip, executed by Torregiano 

 of Florence, a rival of Michael Angelo. There alfo, ftill 

 in oppofition, lie the jealous and vindiftive Elizabeth and 

 her unfortunate viftim Mary Stuart. Thus in a comer of 

 the abbey-church, a few feet only of earth now feparate the 

 once formidable political antagonifts William Pitt and 

 Charles James Fox. The bronze figure of Margaret 

 Tudor, mother of Henry VII., is one of the fineft pieces of 

 fculpture in the whole building. In viewing this chapel, 

 two fubjefts always excite regret ; the fituation in which it 

 ftands, and the materials of which the exterior is con- 

 ftrufted. Attached to the end of the abbey-church, with 

 which its mode of conftruAion has but a very diflant re- 

 lation ; although in itfelf, if fumiflitd with a fuitable frontif- 

 piece, worthy to be a feparate and independent work, it now 

 finks into a mere appendage. The exterior furface of the 

 chapel is in many parts corroded and confumed ; and moft of 

 the fculpture is now quite defaced. Some years ago parlia- 

 ment voted a confiderable fum of money, to be annually 

 applied to defray the expence of new-cafing the whole 

 edifice with Bath ftone, and the work has been carried on 

 under the direftions of Mr. T. Gayfere, with fcrupulous 

 attention to the form and manner of the original workman- 

 fliip. Beneath the chapel is the vault prepared on the 

 death of Caroline, queen of George II. in 1737, and con- 

 taining the remains of fevtral members of the prefent royal 

 family. The cloifter of the abbey, ftill fufBciently entire, 

 and containing numerous fepulchral infcriptions, communi- 

 cates with the ancient chapter-houfe, which is of oftagonal 

 form, and the roof is fupported by a branching central co- 

 lumn. It was erefted, according to Matthew of Weft- 

 minfter, in 1250, by Henry III. This building, which, 

 till the time of Edward VI., ferved as a houfe for the 

 commons of England, is now employed to preferve public 



records ; amongft them, the celebrated Liber de W'mlonia, 

 as it was called by the compilers, or Domefday-book, as it 

 was not unaptly named by thofe perfons whom it regarded. 

 This work, the moft ancient and venerable record, or ftatif- 

 tical account, as we now fpeak, of which this or any other 

 country can boaft, was completed about 1086, in the end of 

 the reign of Wilham the Conqueror. (See Domesday- 

 Book. ) In the fame chapter-houfe are alfo preferved the 

 recorded proceedings of the notorious ftar-chamber, fo 

 called from the ftar-like ornaments of the roof. 



School. — The cloifter alfo communicates with the cele- 

 brated fchool of Weftminfter, which was refounded by 

 Elizabeth in 1590, with an eftablifliment for the claflical 

 inftruftion of forty boys. After a certain time, the fcho- 

 lars, if duly quaUfied, are felecled alternately for their re- 

 fpective inftitutions, by the dean of Chrift-church, Oxford, 

 and the mafter of Trinity college, Cambridge. Befides the 

 youths on the foundation, from three to four hundred, others 

 ufually receive their education in the fchool, at the ex- 

 pence of their refpeftive parents. 



Parijh Churches of Wejlminfier The city and liberties are 



nowdiftributed into ten parifhes. Within the city are St. Mar- 

 garet's and St. John the evangelift's ; within the liberties, St. 

 Martin's, St. James's, St. George's, St. Anne's, St. Paul's, 

 St. Clement's, St. Mary's, and the Savoy. St. Margaret's, 

 the original church of the city, is a fimple plain ftrufture. It 

 is handfomely fitted up to accommodate the commons of the 

 kingdom on certain folemn occafions ; as the choir of the 

 neighbouring abbey-church is allotted to the peers of parlia- 

 ment. One pecuhar ornament of St. Margaret's church is 

 a magnificent painted window reprefenting the crucifixion. 

 This very interefting piece was executed in Holland as a pre- 

 fent for Henry VII. St. John's church, belonging to a 

 parifti formed out of St. Margaret's, furniflies an admirable 

 example of what imagination, unreftrained by judgment and 

 tafte, can produce. It ought however to be known, that Mr. 

 Archer, and not fir John Vanburgh, who has been oftener 

 blamed than underftood, was the architeft of this fabric. 

 St. Martin's and St. George's churches are remarkable for 

 their noble porticoes ; but both are fo unfortunately, not to 

 fay abfurdly fituated, that it is impoflible to have a view of 

 them in any way fatisfaftory. St. Paul's, Covent-garden, 

 is noted for its fimplicity, and its plain, heavy, Tufcan por- 

 tico. In erefting the latter at the eajl end of the church, 

 where it can be feen, Inigo Jones effayed a bold deviation 

 from eftabhihed praftice ; but to change the interior diftri- 

 bution of parts was perhaps beyond his power. The por- 

 tico therefore ftands where no entrance can be opened, for 

 there within ftands the communion-table ; and the entrance is 

 opened at the wejl end, where there fliould be, but is not, a 

 portico. The church of St. Mary, like that of St. Clement, 

 is ftrangely placed in the midft of the Strand, a moft pub- 

 lic and noify ftreet ; and inftead of poffeffing the fimple dig- 

 nity of a Chriftian temple, feems rather a model contrived 

 to flicw the flvill of the architeft in comprifing the greateft 

 quantity of ornament devoid of utility, within the narroweft 

 bounds. But Mr. Gibbs thearcliiteft followed his inftruftions 

 in adorning an edifice to be fo oftentatioufly exhibited. He 

 had befides but juft returned from Italy, where fimilar ftruc- 

 tures abound. It is no wonder, therefore, that, in both the 

 interior and the exterior of the New church of St. JIary, 

 he was led to imitate the buildings he might, as a mere ftu- 

 dent of architeftural defign, long have admired. 



Befides the churches and chapels of the eftablilhment, 

 Weftminfter contains places of worfliip for Chriftians of all 

 denominations, and of profeflions the moft contradiftory, 

 from the myfterious Swedenborgian, who maintains the fole 



and 



