CHAPTER IX

THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES

—”_our slowly grown And crown’d Republic_.” TENNYSON (_To the Queen_).

It is very difficult properly to divide the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, because, of course, history does not cut itself up into lengths of a hundred years. But in telling the story of a place like the Abbey it is better to have some division, and as the French Revolution took place nearly at the end of the eighteenth century, a kind of natural division comes at that time, for we know that the French Revolution made a great and lasting change all over Europe.

When we begin to speak of the early nineteenth century we have again to think of wars, for the fights with Napoleon were still going on. Nelson’s great victories have not left much record in the Abbey, excepting the wax effigy of the great Admiral himself, of which we will speak later. One of Nelson’s Captains, Edward Cooke, has a monument in the Abbey. Cooke died of a wound which he received during a victorious fight with a French frigate in the Bay of Bengal in 1799.

When we think of these wars with Napoleon there is one grave in the Abbey which at once comes to our mind. It is that of the younger William Pitt, son of the great Earl of Chatham, of whom we read in the last chapter. William Pitt became Prime Minister of England when he was only twenty-three, and his ministry lasted through some years of a very troubled and anxious time. In spite of Nelson’s victories he was so crushed by Napoleon’s victory over the Austrians and Russians at Austerlitz in December 1805, that he died shortly afterwards, worn out with anxiety and disappointment. He was buried in the same vault with his father, and he had a large monument put up to him over the great West Door. He was only forty-six when he died, and it seems sad to think that he should not have lived to see his country’s victories in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo.

A further memorial of these wars is the bust of the Corsican patriot, Pasquale de’ Paoli, who fought against Napoleon for the independence of Corsica, and finally took refuge in England. His monument brings back an interesting bit of English history, namely, that for a short time, from 1794 to 1797, Corsica was under British rule.

The war known as the Peninsular War began in 1808. England was helping Spain against Napoleon, who had dethroned the King of Spain and made his own brother, Joseph, King instead. The Spaniards rose in arms, and drove Joseph Buonaparte out of Madrid. They appealed to England for help, and Sir Arthur Wellesley went out with 10,000 men. He defeated the French at Roliça, a victory which is commemorated in the Abbey by the tablet to Lieutenant-Colonel George Lake, who fell in that battle.

The next year, 1809, was famous for the Battle of Corunna, where Sir John Moore defeated the French and lost his own life. One of the officers who fought at the Battle of Corunna, General Coote Manningham, has a memorial in the North Transept. The services of Wellington’s chief engineer, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Richard Fletcher, who died in 1813, are recalled by a tablet to his memory in the North-West Tower. Fletcher directed the engineering works during the sieges of Badajos, and commanded the assault on the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo, when these fortresses were taken and held against the French by Wellington in 1812. He was killed in an assault on the town of St. Sebastian. In the Nave is buried Sir John Leith, another soldier who fought in this war and greatly distinguished himself. He fought at Corunna, Badajos, and Salamanca. He died in 1816, in the West Indies, where he was in command of the forces.

There are memorial tablets in the Abbey to three other officers who fell in the Peninsular War. One is to Captain Bryan, who fell in the Battle of Talavera in 1809, when Sir Arthur Wellesley defeated King Joseph Buonaparte and Marshals Victor and Jourdan; the second is to a Lieutenant Beresford, who was killed at Ciudad Rodrigo in 1812; and the third is to Lieutenant-Colonel Macleod, who fell at the siege of Badajos, also in 1812.

In the Nave is buried a famous Admiral, Thomas Cochrane, Earl of Dundonald, who served in many of our wars, first against Spain and then on the Spanish side in the Peninsular War. Lord Dundonald died in 1860, but he left the navy in 1814 because of a false accusation which was made against him. He then went out to Chili, where he served the cause of Chilian Independence. Lord Dundonald was afterwards proved to have been innocent of the charges made against him, and his banner as Knight of the Bath was restored to its place in Henry VII’s Chapel. At the time of his disgrace it had been taken away and kicked down the steps of the Chapel.

In the Nave is another monument connected with this time in our history. It is that of Spencer Perceval, who was Prime Minister during the Peninsular War. He was shot in the Lobby of the House of Commons in 1812 by a man whose business had been ruined by the war, and who was supposed to be mad.

The bust of Lord John Russell in the North-West Tower, a part which is often called “Whigs’ Corner,” reminds us of the great Parliamentary Reform Bill, which was one of the most important events in the last century. The change was much needed, as the people of the country were not properly represented. Some large and important towns had no member at all, while some very small and insignificant places were allowed to return one or more members to Parliament. The reform was made more difficult on account of the disturbances and revolutions in France and elsewhere, which made people think it was better to have no changes at all. However, in 1831, Lord John Russell brought in his Reform Bill, which passed, after great discussion and struggle, in 1832. Lord John Russell, afterwards Earl Russell, was educated at Westminster School. He is not buried in the Abbey, although it was proposed to give him a public funeral there. It was his own wish to be buried with his family at Chenies, in Buckinghamshire.

We have just spoken of the changes and revolutions that went on in France during the earlier years of the nineteenth century. We are reminded of these when we find in the Abbey the beautiful tomb of the Duc de Montpensier, brother of King Louis Philippe, who died in 1807, while he and his brother were living in exile in England. The Duke is buried in Henry VII’s Chapel, quite close to Dean Stanley. The Duc de Montpensier is the only French prince buried in the Abbey. His monument is one of the finest modern ones that we have at Westminster. Queen Louise of Savoy, wife of King Louis XVIII of France, was also buried for a short time in the Abbey, and there is an interesting account of her funeral in the Precentor’s book. Her body was afterwards removed to Sardinia. Queen Louise died in 1810.

But to return to our own English history. One of the first acts of the new reformed Parliament was to abolish negro slavery in all the English colonies and possessions. This great work of Christian charity had been for years in the minds of many good people who had worked and fought hard for the cause. The measure passed in 1833.

Like the Reform Bill, the abolition of the Slave Trade was one of the greatest events in the nineteenth century, and there are many memorials of it in the Abbey.

We will begin by mentioning Charles James Fox, who was the great political rival of the younger Pitt, and who died a few months after him, in 1806. He was buried in the North Transept, but his monument is in the Nave, not far from Pitt’s. The kneeling figure of the negro on the monument is an allusion to Fox’s last speech in the House of Commons, when he proposed the abolition of the Slave Trade.

In the South Transept there is a monument to Granville Sharp, who did so much in the cause that he was called the father of the Anti-Slavery Movement. He was also one of the founders of the British and Foreign Bible Society. He died in 1813, and the African Society put up the monument to him.

Zachary Macaulay, who had been Governor of Sierra Leone, was another fighter in the same cause. He has a monument in “Whigs’ Corner,” under the North-West Tower.

But the name chiefly remembered when we speak of the Anti-Slavery Movement is that of William Wilberforce, who died in 1833, just before the great Emancipation Day, the day which set the slaves free in all the British dominions. Wilberforce’s monument is in the North Choir aisle, and represents him sitting in a chair with his legs crossed, and in a very odd posture altogether. He is buried in the North Transept.

Near Wilberforce’s monument is that of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, who had also helped in the fight against the Slave Trade. Buxton had also done a great work in the reform of our laws concerning the punishment of criminals, and his labours were shared by Sir James Mackintosh, who has a memorial bust in “Whigs’ Corner.”

Not far off is the monument to Sir Stamford Raffles, the first Governor of the colony of Java, which we had conquered from the Dutch, and which we afterwards gave back to them, much against Sir Stamford Raffles’s advice. England owes her colony at Singapore to the influence of Sir Stamford Raffles, and she also owes him her power in the Eastern Seas. When he finally came home, Raffles founded the Zoological Society of London, and was its first President. He ought to be remembered among the men who helped to do away with slavery, as he himself set free all the negroes who were under his authority. He died in 1826.

Two other monuments in “Whigs’ Corner” remind us of men who worked hard for the abolition of the Slave Trade and for the change in our penal laws. These are the monuments of Lord Holland and of the Marquis of Lansdowne. Lord Holland was the nephew of Charles James Fox, whose monument is close by. He died in 1840. Lord Lansdowne, who died in 1863, had a long political career, which began in the days of Pitt.

Almost in the middle of the Nave lies the famous African explorer and missionary, David Livingstone, who, although he belongs to a rather later date, may well be remembered with the noble group of men who fought against the Slave Trade. Livingstone died in Africa in 1873, and his body was brought back to England by his faithful black servant, Jacob Wainwight, who followed his coffin as it was carried up the Abbey, and threw a palm branch into the open grave. On the tombstone are carved the last words in Livingstone’s diary. They are as follows: “All I can add in my solitude is, may Heaven’s rich blessing come down on every one, American, English, or Turk, who will help to heal this open sore of the world” (that is, the Slave Trade).

Another Parliamentary measure which was very important for England was the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, and the introduction of Free Trade a few years later. Two of the chief leaders of these movements have memorials in the Abbey. One of them is Sir Robert Peel, whose statue stands in a most conspicuous place just at the corner of the North Transept and the North Ambulatory. The other is Richard Cobden, whose bust is placed in the North Transept aisle.

We must now turn from home politics to more wars in various parts of the world, wars which also have written some of their story on the Abbey walls.

In 1854 the Crimean War, between Russia on one side and Turkey with her English and French allies on the other, broke out. The real Westminster memorial to the heroes of the Crimean War stands in Broad Sanctuary, just outside the Abbey, and speaks to us of the Westminster scholars who fell in the Crimea, the most famous of them being Lord Raglan. But there are windows in the Abbey in memory of officers who served in this war, as well as in the war in India which followed it. Some years before the Crimean War there had been wars and disturbances in Afghanistan, in the Punjaub, and in Burmah; and at last, in 1857, the terrible Indian Mutiny broke out. The horrors of this time will probably never be forgotten while English history lasts, and we need only speak of the massacre of Cawnpore and the siege of Lucknow in order to bring the story of the Mutiny back to every one’s mind.

There are many graves and monuments in the Abbey to tell us of the brave men who saved our Indian Empire at that troubled time.

The first Afghan War is commemorated by the grave of Sir George Pollock, who fought his way through the Khyber Pass to Cabul, after the terrible slaughter of the British in 1842. Sir George Pollock was thanked by Parliament for his services in that war. He died in 1872, and is buried in the Nave.

In the North Transept is the bust of Sir Herbert Edwardes, who greatly distinguished himself in the Sikh War, and quelled the outbreak at Mooltan in 1848. He also did good service during the Mutiny. He died in 1868.

In the Nave are the graves of three of the great heroes of the Indian Mutiny, namely, Sir Colin Campbell (afterwards Lord Clyde), Sir James Outram, and John Laird Mair, Lord Lawrence.

Sir Colin Campbell joined the army when he was quite a boy, and fought in the Peninsular War. He served under Sir John Moore in the advance to Salamanca, and in the famous retreat to Corunna. Later on he fought in the Sikh War, and then in the Crimean War. He was sent out to India to help to crush the Mutiny, and the most celebrated thing he did was the relief of Lucknow, thus putting an end to that terrible siege. He died in 1863.

Sir James Outram’s grave is close by, and all English boys and girls should look at his monument, where they will see a representation of the great scene at Lucknow, when Sir Colin Campbell relieved the town and met the gallant defenders, Outram and Havelock. Outram died in 1863.

The name of Sir Henry Lawrence ought also to be remembered when we speak of Lucknow, although his body does not rest in the Abbey. He did much to save Lucknow in the time of the siege, and he was killed on the ramparts only a short time before Sir Colin Campbell arrived with his Highlanders.

The grave of his brother, John, Lord Lawrence, reminds us of a great and good man who served his country well in India. Although he was a civilian and not a soldier by profession, he had great military ability, and it was he who really saved the Punjaub at the time of the Mutiny. He succeeded Lord Elgin as Viceroy of India in 1863, and died in 1879. On his tombstone are words which we all might pray to deserve: “He feared man so little because he feared God so much.”

There is a fine bust of Lord Lawrence against the south wall of the Nave, not far from where he is buried.

In the North Transept are windows in memory of seven officers who were killed in the Indian Mutiny. These are Sir Henry Barnard, K.C.B., Lieutenant-Colonel Woodford, Lovick Cooper, a young ensign, Captain Thynne, Ensign Bankes, Captain Moorsom, and Lieutenant-Colonel Adrian Hope.

Four of these officers had also fought in the Crimean War in 1854–56, and had distinguished themselves by their services at that time.

Colonel Adrian Hope had also fought in the Kaffir War, and thus his name brings the remembrance of South Africa into the Abbey, long before the memorial was put up to those who fell in the last Boer War.

There is a window in the North Transept to the memory of officers who were lost in the _Captain_, which foundered off Cape Finisterre on 7th September 1870, five days after that great Battle of Sedan which ended the terrible war between France and Germany.

In St. Andrew’s Chapel there is also a window to the memory of those that fell in action and died from the effects of wounds or climate during the Ashanti War in 1873.

A bronze bust in the North-West Tower reminds us of another soldier hero of our time, Charles George Gordon, remembered chiefly for his work in China, in Egypt, and in the Soudan. The story of Gordon’s death at Khartoum in 1885 will never be forgotten. His name and noble character are always kept fresh in our memory by the Gordon Boys’ Home, which does such excellent work in training boys for the army.

South Africa has one direct memorial at Westminster, for in the North Cloister there is a tablet in memory of the men of the Queen’s Westminster Volunteer Corps who fell in the Boer War of 1899–1902. The tablet was put up in 1901, and was unveiled by the Secretary of State for War.

We are reminded of an earlier time in the history of the Volunteers by the monument of George Herries, the first Colonel of the London and Westminster Light Horse Volunteers, of which he was described as the “father.” George Herries was a well-known merchant. He died in 1819, and was buried in the Abbey with military honours. His monument is in the Nave.

We must now look back over the nineteenth century, as we did over the eighteenth, and call to mind many other great men whose graves and monuments we find in the Abbey,—statesmen, writers, and men of science.

As we have been speaking of the political history of England, let us begin with some of the great statesmen.

Lord Chatham, as we have seen, belonged to the eighteenth century. The younger William Pitt, and his great political rival, Charles James Fox, died quite early in the nineteenth century, and their graves and monuments have already been described.

As we enter by the great North Door we see on our left a striking group of three statues. These represent (1) George Canning, the great statesman and orator, who died in 1827; (2) his son, Charles, Earl Canning, Viceroy of India; and (3) their cousin, Stratford Canning, Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe, who was for fifty years our Ambassador in the East.

Among other things, George Canning was closely connected with that important political change of the last century, which is known as the Roman Catholic Emancipation Bill. This was the measure which allowed Roman Catholics to be members of Parliament, and removed other disabilities under which they had suffered. The measure did not actually become law until after Canning’s death.

Earl Canning was Governor-General of India during the Mutiny, and became the first Viceroy. His name is always to be remembered with those of Clyde, John and Henry Lawrence, and the other great men of the Mutiny time. Lord Canning died in 1862. The Cannings are buried in the North Transept, in a vault near that of the Pitt family.

Close by is the grave of Henry Grattan, who died in 1820, the great defender of the rights of Ireland.

On the opposite side of the Transept to the Cannings is the statute of George Canning’s chief political rival, Lord Castlereagh, afterwards Marquis of Londonderry, who died in 1822. Lord Castlereagh was Foreign Secretary, and attended the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818. He helped greatly to make peace in Europe after all the fights with Napoleon. He unfortunately became very unpopular later, partly because of the heavy taxes the people had to pay after the French wars, and partly because he thought the Press had too much liberty and he tried to curtail that liberty. There was a terrible riot at his funeral, and the mourners had to fight their way through an angry mob.

Close to Castlereagh’s statue is that of Lord Palmerston, who was twice Prime Minister in Queen Victoria’s reign, after being Secretary of State for War for twenty years. Lord Palmerston was Prime Minister during the Crimean War and at the time when the Indian Mutiny began. He was given a public funeral, and is buried in the North Transept. His wife is buried with him.

On the side opposite to Castlereagh and Palmerston is the statue of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Lord Beaconsfield is remembered as a famous leader of the Conservative party in Parliament, and as a man who did much for the growth of the British Empire. It was at his suggestion that the late Queen took the title of Empress of India, and to him we owe much of our present position in Egypt. Lord Beaconsfield was also a well-known writer of novels. His most famous books are perhaps _Lothair_, _Sybil_, and _Coningsby_. Lord Beaconsfield died in 1881, and is buried at Hughenden in Buckinghamshire.

William Ewart Gladstone, the great Liberal leader, and Lord Beaconsfield’s chief political opponent, is buried in the North Transept, and his statue stands next to that of Disraeli. Mr. Gladstone was four times Prime Minister. The Bill for the Disestablishment of the Irish Church was passed when he was in power in 1871. Gladstone was not only eminent in politics, but he exercised a considerable literary, social, and moral influence over many of his fellow-countrymen. Gladstone died in 1898.

In the year 1870 the Education Bill was passed, a Bill which has made a great difference to all English people, as everybody now has the opportunity of going to school and of having a good and useful teaching, not only in reading and writing, but in many other things as well. The scheme for this new plan of education was made by William Edward Forster, who is commemorated in the Abbey by a medallion which is placed above the monument of his uncle, Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, in the North Choir aisle.

The grave and monument of Sir Rowland Hill in St. Paul’s Chapel remind us of another important change which took place in 1839, namely, the introduction of the penny postage and the invention of adhesive postage stamps.

Another monument, a very beautiful and interesting one, is that erected to the memory of Henry Fawcett, the blind Postmaster-General, who accomplished so much good work in spite of the terrible disadvantage of his blindness, which was the result of an accident when he was quite young. This always seems to be a monument to undaunted courage and perseverance in the face of great misfortune, and it should teach us to be brave and patient, however much things may seem to be against us.

It is now time to speak of the chief authors of the century, and to turn our thoughts once more to Poets’ Corner.

Here, next to Dr. Johnson, we find the grave of the brilliant play-writer and parliamentary orator, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the author of the _Rivals_ and _The School for Scandal_. Sheridan died in 1816, the year after the Battle of Waterloo.

Against the wall, close to the door of St. Faith’s Chapel, is the bust of the great novelist, Sir Walter Scott, who died in 1832. His _Waverley Novels_ are too famous to need any description. We need only speak of _Ivanhoe_, _Quentin Durward_, _The Antiquary_, and _Kenilworth_, in order to remind English people of all ages of many hours of interest and delight. The particular position was expressly chosen for the bust of Sir Walter Scott, because it is close to the monument of the Duke of Argyll and Greenwich, the same Duke of Argyll who appears in Scott’s famous story, _The Heart of Midlothian_. The bust was placed in the Abbey only a few years ago; it is a copy of the bust by Chantrey at Abbotsford.

Above Shakspeare’s monument are busts of two celebrated poets of the early part of the nineteenth century—Samuel Taylor Coleridge, author of “The Ancient Mariner,” “Christabel,” and other well-known poems, and Robert Southey, Poet-Laureate, author of “Thalaba,” “The Curse of Kehama,” and the poem on the Waterfall at Lodore. Coleridge died in 1834, and Southey in 1843, in the reign of Queen Victoria. Neither Coleridge nor Southey is buried in the Abbey. Southey was one of the famous group of “Lake poets,” and is buried in the lake country, at Crosthwaite, near Keswick.

Close by Shakspeare’s monument is the statue of Thomas Campbell, who wrote “The Pleasures of Hope,” “The Battle of the Baltic,” “Ye Mariners of England,” and other poems.

Under the South-West Tower, in the former Baptistery, is the monument of the great poet, William Wordsworth, who lived through the time of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, and died in 1850. He was the chief of the “Lake poets.” Wordsworth is not buried in the Abbey, but in Grasmere churchyard, in that English lake-country where he was born and which he loved so dearly. Wordsworth’s chief poems are “The Excursion,” “The White Doe of Rylstone,” “Tintern Abbey,” the “Ode on Immortality,” and the “Ode to Duty.” But there are many others, great and small, which are part of the heritage he has left to his fellow-countrymen.

In the Baptistery, just opposite Wordsworth’s monument, is a memorial portrait bust of Charles Kingsley, the great preacher and writer, author of _Alton Locke_, _Westward Ho!_, _Hypatia_, and of many well-known poems. Charles Kingsley is remembered with especial interest and affection at the Abbey, as he was Canon of Westminster for two years. He died in 1875, and is buried at Eversley, in Hampshire, where he was rector for so long.

Next to Kingsley is a bust of Matthew Arnold, the poet, essayist, and critic. Next to him again is a bust of Frederick Denison Maurice, a great religious teacher of the nineteenth century. Opposite to these, and next to Wordsworth, is the monument to John Keble, author of _The Christian Year_. Next to that is the monument of the famous Dr. Thomas Arnold, who was headmaster of Rugby, and who did much to improve the whole life in the public schools of England. Matthew Arnold, of whom we have just heard, was his son.

In Poets’ Corner, close to the grave of Chaucer, lie two other famous poets of the Victorian age, Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning.

Tennyson will always be remembered as the poet of _In Memoriam_ and _The Idylls of the King_, and also of many splendid patriotic poems which all English boys and girls ought to know. He died in 1892, and when his grave was being dug in Poets’ Corner a skull and leg-bone were found, which were evidently those of Geoffrey Chaucer, who had been buried here nearly five hundred years before. By Tennyson’s own wish the Union Jack was wrapped round his coffin and buried with him. A fine bust of Tennyson has been placed against a pillar near his grave.

Robert Browning, author of _The Ring and the Book_, _Pippa Passes_, _By the Fireside_, and many other famous poems, died at Venice in 1889. His body was brought back to be buried in the Abbey. His wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, well known as a poetess, is buried in Florence.

Near Chaucer’s monument is a bust of the American poet, Longfellow, who died in 1882. Some of his poems are familiar to most English children.

Charles Dickens, the great novelist, is buried in Poets’ Corner, just under Handel’s monument and close to Handel’s grave. Dickens will always be remembered as the author of _David Copperfield_, _The Old Curiosity Shop_, _Christmas Stories_, and many other books which are dear to the hearts of all English people.

Against the wall, on either side of Addison’s statue, are the busts of two other great writers of the last century,—Lord Macaulay, the poet and historian, and William Makepeace Thackeray, the famous novelist. Lord Macaulay, who died in 1859, was the son of Zachary Macaulay, of whom we have already heard in connection with the abolition of the slave-trade. Among Lord Macaulay’s best known writings are the _Lays of Ancient Rome_. His grave is close by Addison’s statue. Thackeray, who wrote _Esmond_, _The Newcomes_, _Vanity Fair_, and many other celebrated books, is not buried in the Abbey, but at Kensal Green. He died in 1863.

Nearer to the Choir aisle are the busts of the two great historians of Greece, Bishop Thirlwall and George Grote, who are buried in the same grave. They both died in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Just above the bust of Sir Walter Scott is a bronze medallion with a portrait head of John Ruskin, author of _The Stones of Venice_, _Modern Painters_, _Sesame and Lilies_, and many other well-known works on art and life.

In St. Edmund’s Chapel is the grave of Edward Bulwer Lytton, Lord Lytton, author of many widely read novels and historical romances. Among his best known books are _The Last Days of Pompeii_, _The Caxtons_, _Rienzi_, and _Kenelm Chillingly_. He died in 1873.

Several of the great actors of the nineteenth century are commemorated in the Abbey. Such are Mrs. Siddons, and her brother, John Philip Kemble, whose statues are in St. Andrew’s Chapel. Sir Henry Irving, the well-known actor of Shakspeare’s plays, as well as of many others, died in 1905, and is buried at the foot of Shakspeare’s monument, close to the grave of his great brother-actor, David Garrick.

In the Musicians’ Aisle is the grave of Sir William Sterndale Bennett, one of the chief English composers of his time. He died in 1875. In the same aisle is a medallion in memory of Michael Balfe, who composed _The Bohemian Girl_, and a window to James Turle, who was organist of the Abbey for fifty-six years. In St. Andrew’s Chapel is a window in memory of Vincent Novello, founder of the famous house of music publishers of that name.

The great and especial glory of the nineteenth century was the wonderful development of almost every kind of scientific knowledge and work, and the number of important scientific discoveries that were made. It is not too much to say that some of these discoveries, and some of the new theories about our world and the things in and around it, have influenced and changed our lives and our thoughts very much indeed. We can see this very plainly if we think of what Darwin has taught us, and if we think of the invention of the steam-engine, the introduction of railway travelling, and of steamships, of land and ocean telegraphy, telephones, motors, wireless telegraphy, and now of airships. This extraordinary progress in scientific research and knowledge is not without its record in the Abbey, as we shall see. We shall find that many of the great men of science who lived in the nineteenth century are either buried or commemorated in the Abbey.

Foremost among these is Charles Robert Darwin, the biologist of world-wide fame, author of _The Origin of Species_, _The Descent of Man_, and other celebrated scientific works. Darwin died in 1882, and is buried in the north aisle of the Nave, quite near the grave of Sir Isaac Newton.

Next to Darwin lies the famous astronomer, Sir John Frederick Herschel, who died in 1871. Another astronomer, John Couch Adams, discoverer of the planet Neptune, has a memorial in this same north aisle. Close by are memorials to James Prescott Joule, who discovered certain laws connected with heat and electricity, and to Sir George Gabriel Stokes.

A little farther down the aisle is the grave of the great geologist, Sir Charles Lyell, who died in 1875. His bust is placed near the tablet in memory of Dr. John Woodward, who lived in the eighteenth century, and who has been called the “father of English Geology.”

On the other side of the Nave is a memorial to William Buckland, Dean of Westminster, who was twice President of the Geological Society, and wrote many books about geology. In the South Transept, near the monument of Dr. Busby, is the grave of William Spottiswoode, who was President of the Royal Society and Printer to Queen Victoria. He died in 1883.

One of the most famous men of science of our own day, William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, rests close to Newton. He was born in 1824, and died in 1907, and devoted his long life to the pursuit of science,—to what is called “applied science” as well as to speculative science. We owe to Lord Kelvin many of the wonderful inventions now in quite common use,—in navigation, in telegraphing under the ocean, and in other ways.

One of the most important changes in the life of the whole nation was brought about in the nineteenth century by the introduction of railway travelling. Those of us who are quite young, and have hardly ever heard of a time when there were no railways, cannot realise or understand how great this change must be.

Even railways have their memorials in the Abbey, for in the Nave we find the grave of Robert Stephenson, who died in 1859, engineer of the Birmingham Railway and of the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits. He is buried next to the famous engineer, Thomas Telford, who died in 1834, and whose chief works were the Caledonian Canal, the Menai Bridge, and the plan for the inland navigation of Sweden. There is a large statue of Telford in St. Andrew’s Chapel. Not far from the grave of Robert Stephenson is a window in his memory. It is not at all beautiful, as it represents railway bridges and other things which do not look well in a stained-glass window,—but it is certainly interesting.

Near this are windows in memory of the great engineers (1) Richard Trevithick, who died in 1833, the inventor of the high-pressure steam-engine, and of the first real railway engine; (2) Brunel, who died in 1859, and who built the largest steamships known in his time, the _Great Eastern_ and the _Great Western_; and (3) John Locke, who died in 1860, and who designed the “Crewe Engine.”

Close to these a beautiful new window has been erected to the memory of Sir Benjamin Baker, who died in 1907. He was the engineer of the Forth Bridge, the Assouan Dam, and other important works. In the window are full-length figures of Edward III and of Cardinal Langham, once Abbot of Westminster.

Near the graves of Stephenson and Telford are buried four distinguished architects of the nineteenth century. These are:—

(1) Sir Charles Barry, who built the present Houses of Parliament, and who died in 1860.

(2) Sir Gilbert Scott, who died in 1878. He was one of the leaders in the revival of Gothic architecture in England.

(3) George Edmund Street, who died in 1881. A distinguished architect in the Gothic style. He designed the present Law Courts.

(4) John Loughborough Pearson, who died in 1897.

Sir Gilbert Scott and Mr. Pearson were both of them “Surveyors of the Fabric” to the Abbey. This means that they had charge of the actual building from the architectural point of view.

In the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist is a memorial to the great Arctic explorer, Sir John Franklin, who was lost in 1847, with both his crews, while making the discovery of the North-West Passage. The monument was put up by Lady Franklin. On it is a representation of the vessel fast in the Polar ice, and round the sculptured scene are the words—

“O ye ice and snow, O ye frost and cold, bless ye the Lord; Praise him and magnify Him for ever.”

Below are Tennyson’s beautiful lines—

“Not here: the White North has thy bones; and thou Heroic sailor soul, Art passing on thy happier voyage now Towards no earthly pole.”

Close by is the memorial to another Arctic explorer, Admiral Sir Leopold M‘Clintock, who died in 1907. It was he who discovered the remains of Franklin’s ships, and thus found out how he had died.

Before ending this long list of people who are gathered into remembrance in the Abbey, we must not forget the names of some of those who have served their fellow-men by special works of love and kindness.

Close to the great West Door is a fine statue of Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, who did a great deal to make the lives of poor children healthier, happier, and better, and to whom England owes many improvements in the laws about work in factories and mines.

Lord Shaftesbury is remembered in Westminster as President of the Westminster Window Garden show, a flower show which was intended to encourage poor people to grow nice flowers in their windows, and so to brighten the dulness and ugliness of town streets, as well as to teach them something about Nature. Lord Shaftesbury used to come every year to give the prizes at this show, which used to be held in Dean’s Yard.

Lord Shaftesbury also took great interest in George Peabody’s scheme for improving the dwellings of the poor, and tried all he could to help on this good work. He died in 1883.

George Peabody, who gave such generous help towards building better houses for the poor, was an American. He died in London in 1869, and his body rested for a short time in the Abbey, close to the place where Lord Shaftesbury’s statue now stands.

Quite near this spot also is the grave of Baroness Burdett-Coutts, who died in 1907, and whose name will long be remembered for her works of charity.