I must not omit my acknowledgments to the Editors of the _Pall Mall Magazine_ for the costly manner in which they presented these pages. Nor must I forget to record my sense of the pains and thoroughness brought to the work of its illustration by my friend Mr. William Patten; nor my sense of the assistance rendered me by Mr. Loftie for many consultations and suggestions; nor my thanks to the Benedictine Fathers of Downside, near Bath, who kindly received Mr. Patten and myself as their guests and showed us what a modern Benedictine House really means, and how the House at Westminster may have been during its five centuries of existence, even such as their own, a Home of Religion and Learning. UNITED UNIVERSITY CLUB, _September, 1895_. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. THE BEGINNINGS, 1 II. THE KING’S PALACE OF WESTMINSTER, 38 III. THE ABBEY--I., 98 IV. THE ABBEY--II., 145 V. THE ABBEY--III., 165 VI. SANCTUARY, 173 VII. AT THE SIGN OF THE RED PALE, 211 VIII. THE VANISHED PALACE, 248 IX. THE CITY, 291 X. THE STREETS AND THE PEOPLE, 325 APPENDIX: THE COURT OF CHARLES II., 381 INDEX, 395 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE ARMS OF THE ABBEY OF WESTMINSTER, _Vignette_ WESTMINSTER, 1 SOME COATS OF ARMS, 5 SARCOPHAGUS OF VALERIUS AMANDINUS, 9 MAP SHOWING THE POSITION OF THE ABBEY, 13 SHIELD OF CELTIC WORK, FOUND IN THE THAMES, 1857, 17 A ROMAN ROAD, 19 BRITISH HELMET, FOUND IN THE THAMES, 1868, 21 TOMB OF KING SEBERT, WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 25 THE FUNERAL PROCESSION OF KING EDWARD THE CONFESSOR TO WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 28, 29 _From the Bayeux Tapestry._ EAST END OF THE PRINCE’S CHAMBER, 41 SOUTH SIDE OF THE PRINCE’S CHAMBER, 43 A BIT OF THE OLD WALL FROM BLACK DOG ALLEY, 47 PLAN OF WESTMINSTER PALACE IN 1834, 48 COLLEGIATE SEAL OF ST. STEPHEN’S, 50