REVERENCE IN THE ABBEY. 
239 
received from America two small marble heads, which had 
been taken as a relic from Major Andre's tomb by some 
American, who, on his death-bed, had desired that they 
might be returned to the Abbey. With his own hands 
the Dean replaced these on this beautiful bas-relief. 
Every Sunday afternoon Buckland took his children round 
the Abbey, with the numerous guests who usually came 
to luncheon. His sharp eyes would quickly discover 
any fresh mutilation to any of the monuments, and he 
insisted on its being looked after at once. A light feather¬ 
brush which he carried in his hand served not only as a 
pointer, but removed the dust which always settled on the 
noses and outstretched fingers of the statues. 
In those days it was far less common than it now is 
to display a reverent regard to public worship, and to 
take care that everything in connection with the house of 
God should be done with decency and order. The Dean 
kept a strict eye over the manner in which the services were 
performed, and corrected many abuses. Finding that the 
Abbey choristers spent their time between the services in 
sailing their toy boats in puddles made by the sinking of 
the gravestones in St. Margaret's Churchyard, or, if it were 
dry weather, in playing marbles on the flat slabs of the 
altar-tombs, he looked about for a suitable place in the 
precincts which could be used as a schoolroom. He found 
his site, opened his school, appointed an old Oxford friend 
to be master, and the behaviour of the choir-boys, both 
in and out of the Abbey, quickly improved. He made 
new arrangements for the greater convenience of visitors, 
and himself instructed the vergers in the most interesting 
