The Children's Story of Westminster AbbeyTroutbeck, G. E. (Georgina E.)
History
The Children's Story of Westminster Abbey
Troutbeck, G. E. (Georgina E.)
Westminster Abbey
Dr. Busby died in 1695, and was buried in the South Transept. His
monument is very interesting, partly on account of the pathetic figure
of Busby and the fine expression of the face.
One of his remarkable pupils is buried near him, and the monuments are
quite close to one another. This pupil was Dr. Robert South, a great
preacher, and Prebendary of Westminster. South could remember seeing
Cromwell when he first appeared in Parliament, and heard Charles I
prayed for in the Abbey on the very day of his death, “that black and
eternally infamous day of the King’s murder.” Dr. South died in 1716.
There was always a great deal of Royalist feeling in the School, even
all through the Commonwealth time, and a leading Independent went so far
as to say that it would never be well with the nation until the School
was suppressed, so strongly did the boys take the Royalist side.
Dean Atterbury, of whom we have already heard, was a Westminster
scholar, and a pupil of Dr. Busby. As we know, he took a great part in
the plots to bring back James II’s son, some of which plots went on in a
secret chamber in the Deanery itself.
Richard Hakluyt, author of the _Voyages and Travels_; Warren Hastings,
of Indian fame; and the well-known statesman, Lord John Russell, all
formerly Westminster boys, have already been mentioned. In Statesmen’s
Corner is the large monument of Lord Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice of
England in 1756. He was also a Westminster scholar, and desired to be
buried in the Abbey, “from the love which he bore to the place of his
early education.” He died in 1793.
Charles Wesley and his elder brother Samuel were both educated at
Westminster School. The memorial to John and Charles Wesley in the South
Choir aisle has already been described. It is interesting to remember
that Westminster School was in this way directly connected with one of
the most important religious movements in England during the eighteenth
century.
Among the great soldiers who were at Westminster School were Lord Lucan,
the Marquis of Anglesey, and Lord Raglan. John Locke, the philosopher,
Sir Christopher Wren, the great architect, and Edward Gibbon, author of
the famous _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, were also Westminster
boys.
And now our travels through the centuries and round the Abbey, with all
its memories, must end. We have seen how that little Church on Thorney
Isle has gradually grown into this stately Abbey, the home of all the
great Anglo-Saxon race. We have seen too, at the same time, how the
little English kingdom of the early Saxon days has expanded into a
world-wide empire. It is for the children of Great Britain to see that
the Abbey shall stand, not only for noble memories, but also for high
hopes,—hopes, not only of riches and worldly success, but of the
righteousness that exalteth a nation.
_Printed by_ MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, _Edinburgh_
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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