LECTURE ON WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15138, 30 November 1914, Page 3

LECTURE ON WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

IX AID OF FOOD FUND. In the Clioral Hall on Saturday evening Mr Hurst Seager gave a lecture on*''Tho Nation's Story as told by tho Memorials of Westminster Abbey,*' in aid of the Great Britain and Belgium Food Fund. Mr J. C. Adam ß presided. There was a very large audience. Mr Hurst Scager commenced with the very earliest times of Westminster, and carried his audience with him down the inarch of timo to the- commenccmen. of tlie pi-eseiit edifice in the 13th ennturv, and its slow progrc-t. to :ts ?tat-e at tho present time. He compared its aremtecture with otlier notable examples of the Gothic art l-iroughout Europe and Britain. He dwelt brie.-y uikiii the coronations m tho Abbey, and the memorials and appurtenances of these which remained to tho Dresent day, also such associations as the Knights of the Bath, the tombs of the Sason Kings, the Plantagenets, Lanc-ustrians, Yorks, and Tudors. The magnificont tomb of Henry VII. lie designated as the cenotaph of Media_vnlism and of Gothic art." Then came the later Honrv, and tho fall of tho monas. trie«. followed by the Reformation— tlie whole progress of the nation was irdicatcd by memorials and monuments in tbe historic pile. In this huge repository wore still being -placed permanent proofs of Imperial advancement, and the lecturer devoted a short description to all the modern developments in connexion with Wc_tminstcr. The lecture was illustrated by splendid views of every aspect of the building, and comparative pictures of similar architecture throughout Europe wero thrown on the screen to indicato the immense value of Westminster as an example of past art in building. The Cathedral choir, under Dt. Bradshaw, assisted by giving several items.