The bride's fate: The sequel to "The changed brides"Southworth, Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte
General
The bride's fate: The sequel to "The changed brides"
Southworth, Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte
American fiction -- 19th century
They saw the splendid chapel of Henry the Seventh, with the beautiful
tomb of that fierce paladin, conqueror of Richard Third, and founder of
the sanguinary Tudor dynasty; and of his meek consort, Elizabeth of
York, surnamed the Good. And there also they saw, oh strange
juxtaposition! the tombs of that beautiful Mary Stuart, and of her rival
and destroyer, the ruthless Elizabeth Tudor; and the tombs of many other
royal and noble celebrities besides.
And they examined many other chapels, filled with the monuments and
memorials of kings and queens, knights and ladies, heroes and martyrs,
poets and philosophers, who had adorned the history of the country and
of the world, from the foundation of the Abbey to the present time.
At one o’clock, before they had inspected one-tenth part of the
interesting features of this venerable edifice, they took leave of
Westminster Abbey, promising themselves another and a longer visit, and
they went to “Simmons’” to lunch.
At two o’clock they visited St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Time and space would fail us here to give the slightest outline of the
wonders of that most wonderful cathedral. The mere ascent of St. Paul’s
from the crypt to the cupola might be, in some degree, compared to the
ascent of Mont Blanc—at least in toil and fatigue, if not in danger and
distance. To give the most cursory description of its marvels of
architecture, sculpture, paintings and decorations, would fill volumes
and be out of place here. After three or four hours spent there, our
party returned to their hotel, utterly wearied, dazzled and distracted;
and with only two images standing out distinctly from the magnificent
chaos in their minds—the mausoleums of Lord Nelson and the Duke of
Wellington, the great sailor and the great soldier of England standing
side by side in the crypt of the Cathedral.
“My dear,” said the General, that evening over his cup of tea, “when we
laid out our plans for this week we had no idea what was before us! No
wise man crowds so much sight-seeing into so little time. It is as wrong
to surfeit the brain as it is to overload the stomach. As for me I am
suffering from a mental indigestion, and I would rather not attempt
Windsor Castle, or any other stupendous place or thing, until I have got
over Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral. So what do you say to
postponing all sight-seeing for the remainder of this week?”
Drusilla and Anna eagerly assented; for, in truth, they wanted some
leisure for shopping and for arranging toilets in which to appear at the
minister’s ball. And Dick was too polite to offer any opposition.
So the next day, while the General and Dick stayed at home to lounge,
read, or smoke, Anna and Drusilla drove to the West End, and ransacked
all the most fashionable stores in Oxford, Regent, and Bond streets in
search of new styles of flowers, laces, gloves, and so forth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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