LONDON. 
So have been .“Raphael, in his famous cartoon of Peter 
and John curing the lame man at this gate, endeavoured 
to give an idea of what this portico was; and from Mat¬ 
tered frufts and capitals, architraves and broken columns, 
he made out what he had fome right to call “ beautiful.” 
The prints after this celebrated cartoon are common ; and 
we therefore leave our readers at liberty to 'compare. It 
is probable that this gate was built by Richard II. as we 
ere told that his arms, carved in (tone, were formerly over 
it. Above the portico is a mod elegant window of modern 
date, and admirably well executed. It is in the form of 
a rofe, made by the interfeftion of concentral lines; but 
fuch rofes are to be feen in nearly all ancient buildings. 
—On the fouth fide is a window fet up in 1705, which is 
likewife very matterly executed, and is no difparagement 
to the other. It is now undergoing a repair. 
Following the north flank of this beautiful building, 
we come to the fide of the choir, and then to Henry the 
Seventh’s chapel, a mod elegant appendage to the whole 
building. It"is a pleafing talk for us to record that, with¬ 
in thefe few years, the buttrefl'es and intermediate part of 
this chapel are, by the liberality of the dean and chapter, 
undergoing a thorough repair 5 and we have the fatisfac- 
tion to fuppofe, that from old drawings, originally made, 
it is faid, at the time of building the buttrefl'es, and lately 
difcovered, the whole is to be reflored to its original neat- 
nefs.—Surely we cannot pafs unnoticed the whimficality 
of the ornaments. We do not mean the portculliffes and 
ro f es —all thefe are hiflorically and heraldically right; but 
that terrible running-down of ftarved dogs, creeping cats, 
rats, mice, frogs, and non-defcript monders, on the elbow 
of the buttrefl'es, will certainly bring a (mile on the face 
of the minute obferver. However, this mud be the el- 
fence of the dyle ; for, if you take it away, you deflroy all 
the charm. To reduce them to another dyle would be as 
prepolterous as to transform Hudibras into an epic poem. 
Now that we have walked round this venerable pile as 
far as the incroachments of buildings on the fouth fide 
(where a fmall court leads fnugly to the eafl flank of the 
fouth tranfept called “ Poets’ Corner”) have permitted us, 
we mud, with uncalceated feet, and imprefled with due re- 
fpeff, enter this celebrated and awful abode of the dead, 
this grand and bold exertion of mental power in archi¬ 
tect ure. Indeed we think we read, engraved on the fa- 
cred threfnold, Procul 0 procul, ejle profani-, “Ye profane, 
itand aloof:” for, at whatever door we enter, we may con¬ 
ceive the venerable fliade of fome great man to hover over 
us, and to bid us hide our “ dimimfhed heads.” The ma- 
jeitic (hade of fome worthy (talks before us in the gloomy 
aides, and, pointing to the furrounding monuments, makes 
us fay with Addilon, “When I look on the tombs of the 
great, every emotion of envy dies in me : When I read 
the epitaphs of the beautiful , every inordinate defire goes 
out. When I meet with the grief of parents on a tomb- 
ftor.e, my heart melts with compatfion ; when I fee the 
tombs of parents themfelves, I con fide r the vanity of griev¬ 
ing for thofe we mult quickly follow. When I fee kings 
lying by thofe who depofed them; when I behold rival 
wits placed fide by fide, or the holy men that divided the 
world with their contelts and difputes ; I reflect with for- 
row and aftonilh ment on the little competitions, fail ions, 
and debates, of mankind. When I read the feveral dates 
of thofe who died but as yelterday, and fome fix hundred 
years ago, I confider that great day when we (hall all of 
us be cotemporaries, and make our appearance together.” 
—We are forry, however, that the increafing multitude 
of modern monuments has fo much crowded all the parts 
of Weftminfter-abbey ; and indeed, if we go on at this 
rate, the edifice will look like a tomb- warehouse, where 
goods of that defcription will appear as if piled one 
upon another in the expectation of cuftomers, and create 
a fort of confufion molt inimical to the folemnity of the 
place. 
The length of the building, from eafl to wed, is three 
hundred and feventy-five feet, meafuring from the fteps 
Vol. XIII. No. 926. 
545 
leading to Henry the Seventh’s chapel. The length of 
the crofs, from north to fouth, is a hundred and ninety- 
five feet; and the breadth of the nave and (ide-ai(les is fe- 
venty-two feet. The height, from the pavement of the 
nave to the inner roof, is a hundred feet, and from the 
choir-pavement to the roof of the lantern, a hundred and 
forty. 
On entering the weft door, the whole body of the 
church prefents itfelfatone view; the pillars which di¬ 
vide the nave from the fide-aifles being fo curioufty formed 
as not to obfiru£t the fide-openings ; nor is the fight ter¬ 
minated to the eaft, but by the fine painted window over 
the portico of Henry VHth’s chapel, which anciently 9 
when the altar was low, and the beautiful fhrine of Ed¬ 
ward the Confeflor was included in the profpeff, rauffi 
have afforded one of the grandeft fights the imagination* 
can paint. Thefe pillars terminate toward the eaft by a 
fweep, thereby inclofing the chapel of Edward the Con- 
feffor in a kind of femi-circlc ; and it is worthy of obfer- 
vation, that, as far as the gates of the choir, the pillars 
are filleted with brafs, but all beyond with free-ftone 5 
from which circumltance, lome take occafion to determine 
the bounds of the different enlargement of this church ac 
different times, but with much uncertainty. Anfwerable 
to the middle range of pillars are others in the walls, 
which, as they rife, fpring into femi-arches, and are every¬ 
where met in acute angles by their eppefites; thereby- 
throwing the roof into a variety of fegments of arches, 
decorated with ornamental carvings at the clofings and 
crofiings of the lines. On the arches of the pillars are 
galleries of double columns fifteen feet wide, covering the 
fide-aifles, and lighted by a middle range of windows, over 
which there is an upper range of larger windows ; by thefe 
and the under range, together with the four capital win¬ 
dows, facing the north, eaft, fouth, and weft, the whole 
fabric is admirably lighted. At the bottom of the walls, be¬ 
tween the columns, are (hallow niches, arched about eight 
or ten feet high, on which the arms of the original bene- 
faftors are depiffed ; and over them, in Saxon charaffers, 
their titles, See. but thefe are almoftall hid from the fight, 
by the monuments of the dead being placed before them. 
The next objects of attention, are, the fine paintings in 
the great weft window, of Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob ; 
Moles and Aaron, and the twelve patriarchs; the arms of 
king Sebert, king Edward the Confeffor, queen Elizabeth, 
king George II. and dean Wilcox, bifhop of Rochefter. 
This window was fet up in the year 1733 ; and is very 
curious. To the left of it, in a fmaller window, is a paint¬ 
ing of one of our kings, fuppofed to be Richard II. bur, 
the colours being of a water-blue, the features of the face 
cannot be di!tingui(hed. In the window on the other 
fide the great window, is a lively reprefentation of Ed- 
ward the Confeflor, in his robes ; and under his feet his 
arms painted. Thefe are the molt perfect of the many 
remains of this ancient art to be leen in the different 
windows of the abbey. 
After furveying this part of the church, the next thing 
to be noticed is the choir, which may always be feen dur¬ 
ing divine fervice, and at other times is (hown to thofe 
who pay for feeing the monuments in the north crofs and 
weftern end of the abbey. The grand entrance to it is 
by a pair of beautiful iron gates ; and the floor is paved 
with black and white marble. The (falls in this choir 
were formerly painted of a purple colour ; and in it, near 
the pulpit, was an ancient portrait of Richard II. fix feet 
eleven inches high, by three feet feven inches broad. 
Latterly, the choir has undergone a confiderable alter¬ 
ation in the pofition of the (falls and feats, which are ren¬ 
dered much more commodious for public worfiiip; and 
are fo contrived, that they can be removed to make room, 
for the celebration of any fervice which requires greater 
fpace, and can be replaced without injury, or much ex- 
penfe. Since this improvement, the portrait of Richard 
has been hung up in the Jerufalem Chamber. Beyond 
the choir is the fine altar, lurrounded with a curious ba- 
6 Z luftrade. 
