LONDON SHRINE

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 83, 2 January 1935, Page 7

LONDON SHRINE

, Westminster Abbey and Its Significance STORY OF FAMOUS CHURCH New Zealanders who have visited Westminster Abbey either in company with inquisitive tourists or as a thrilled individual on a crowded historic occasion, probably will agree with an Englsh writer that the famous church and monastery, of .'the Middle Ages “suffers terriby from-being one of the sights of Loudon.” In. view of its unique features and contents it is difficult to imagine how the Abbey could fall to be looked upon generally as other than a show-place—a sort of eccleslatical museum—with much of its deeper significance lost by casual observers. They may be forgiven; even Mr. A. L. N. Russell, F.R.1.8.A., in his fascinating book “Westminster Abbey" (Chatto and Windus, London) unwittingly plays the role of an architectural showman. “The floor of the sanctuary consists of magnificent pavement patterned in marble and mosaic. An inscription tn brass letters, now mostly perished, recorded that it was made by Odoric (who came from Rome to work, on the shrine) in 1268. The remainder of the inscription gave a mysterious calculation of the duration of the world, according to the Ptolemaic system. This is arrived at by stages representing,the life of various creatures. The world is to endure for 19,683 years, which is three times the life of a whale (6561), which is three times the life of’an eagle (2187), which is three times the life of a raven (729); and sb, by way of hart, man (81), horse, and dog (9>, we come to the entirely unexpected basis of the whole complicated system, the three-years life of—a dry hedge (made by setting dry brushwood" between posts).” « The Poets’ Corner.. Then there is the Poets’ Corner,'full of the monuments of writers and actors, very few of whom are buried in the Abbey. “All this seems to have come about because Chaucer was buried here; and it appears that Chaucer was not buried here because he was a poet but because be held an appointment (Clerk of Works) in the Royal household under Richard 11. He died in 1400 .. . but there was, no monument oyer his grave until 1555;. when another poet, Nicholas Brigham, more prosperous than Chaucer had been, had the present Purbeck marble tomb- made and Chaucer’s remains transferred to it. In the window above there are scenes from ’Canterbury Tales.’ Spenser (1559) was perhaps the first person to be buried here definitely as a poet.” Thomas Parr’s claim to commemoration in the Abbey is far from being poetic. He'Claimed to have been born in 1483, and so to be 152 years old in 1635, the year of bis death. Lord Arundel brought the bld man from Shropshire to London, but fame and excitement were too much for him, and he died two months later. Parr was eighty years old' at bis first marriage; he had two children, who died in infancy, and 25 years after this he did penance as the father of an illegitimate child. In the third bay in the South-A’est Tower, a small slab in the floor marks the grave of Ben Jonson the ■ poet. He is said to have asked Charles Ito give him-18 inches of ground for his own. “Where?” asked. Charles. “In Westminster Abbey”;, and in his 18 inches square the poet was buried upright. This much, at any rate, is certain, for his bones have been seen in digging later graves.' He would have had no inscription, but a fr(end of his happened to pass through the Abbey when the slab was being laid over the grave, and gave the mason eighteen pence to cut upon it the words, “0 rare Ben Jonson.” These are but a few of innumerable monuments, tombs, and rarities in the Abbey, and partly, explain 'why Mr. Russell suggests that the famous place should “be used as a tonic—even, on •ccaslon, as a mild and pleasant intoxicant; but there is no sense in drinking" the whole bottle at once.” Founder of the Abbey.

The history of the Abbey dates from early, in the eighth century. St. Peter’s Church at Westminster was built on the island of Thoruey, surrounded by swampy ground but close to an important ford, where now is Westminster Bridge, and in the line of the Itomaii road to Devon. This 1 first church was rebuilt by Edward the Confessor, who also built a palace there, thus beginning the association between Westminster and the Kings which ever since has been the Abbey’s great distinction. “It was an important choice for London and for England, for hitherto London had never been the capital. In Roman times it was overshadowed by St. Albans and by York, and in Saxon times by Winchester./ It was at W.nehester that the Confessor himself was crowned. . But for Edward’s choice, Winchester might still be the capital and thp broad Wessex dialect the official language of the English-speaking peoples.” The building was begun in 1045, and the Abbey was consecrated on Holy Innocents’ Day, 1065. A few days later Edward the Confessor died. The first coronation celebrated hr the Abbey was that of William the Conqueror In or about 1245 Henry the Third determined to rebuild in nobler form tile church of St. Edward at Westminster. The king employed an immense army of workmen (one record says 800 men were summoned to the work). In 1269 the new building was consecrated, and the body of the Confessor translated for the third time and placed in the splendid new shrine in which it was to remain for 271 years. The ceremony was followed by a royal banquet, which “stunned the senses of the guests.” Mr. Russell devotes several Illuminating chapters to the lives of the “Black Monks” throughout the years the Abbey was the home of a community of Benedictines. Each monk had full meal a day, but it was worth waiting for—“plaice 14; sole 2; lampreys or salted Cambridge eels 6; whiting 4; haddock, gurnard or mullet 1; flounders 5; whelks or other shellfish 25; eggs 5.” Both food and drink were to be of the best quality. . . Blood-letting was practised about once in seven weeks. Bathing was a much rarer occurrence: four times in the year—-on the eves, of Christmas, Easter, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, and Michaelmas. Every precaution was taken against the risk of monks enJ Joying a bath; each monk had to sit down in It “humbly and in silence ” Many structural alterations have been made to the Abbey in past centuries, and practically none of the original stonework is to be seen on its exterior. The'Abbey Is still the scene of coronations, bnt no sovereign has been buried there' since George 11.