"THE ABBEY."

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19156, 12 November 1927, Page 15

"THE ABBEY."

UOALARTTCLE.

nrtfllON OF ENLARGEMENT. NO TREM^°* UMENTS? | (By Pilerim) , «b!e messages about the *35 pement of The Abbey" longtrain of thought. Meni Abbey" always does, for almost revered building; in the and contains the lar-;- ***£ of historical and lit- ! They are discuss- <* wter and how they shall add <a Ibbey," »d, naturaUy, .11 *. *» about the beauty and na- '* lificance of the building are many of them alarmed. SI of nineteenth century restora"*jL one ansious. "The Abbey, «L Abbey," the one and only. * Tbe well aware that architectoind chronologically it is a colJ*S Xost a thing of shreds an J ■""ft. tat its form is familiar even J*fi who have never seen it, and W I wasons. indeed, will have '•L ««a be fore we wiU feel easy •JRations and additions. £ Unique Foundation. 4* Abbey." of course, is Westminibher There is really no need it its full name, so well known tt f to the English-speaking world lII* to we" known ,^ bat lta J om V LLi ii outsde the ordinary Churcn Jffi; M d as such richly endowed. £r» VIII. despoiled it, and in the ?3L n th century the Ecclesiastical Sionere took much of its 3STand left it an endowment ST with the passing of time and JfjUae in the nature of the sovproved quite inadequate. to however, is less interesting for purposes than the fact that jTSn of the Abbey is Ijuible only to the King, Tjh»t when the Archbishop comes to preach in tho ite be has to knock at tho door So reply to the Dean's protest, has 7promise that he will not infringe L nchts and privileges of the Abbey Zbontia. This is in keeping with it dice the Abbey has in the hearts i Britons u a p>ce of national mem»m where Sovereigns are crowned, •eli buried, and heroes commemoawi He Question of Monuments. ft» Abbey is hundreds of years old od bu been added to from time to ot-u recently as last century. Aufe&a tell us that the only really wfet part is the exquisite Henry TO. dispel. Well, that is certainly bnh and noble, but the view of the on ought to satisfy most people—or iit that the catch at the heart as on 6 fab a oartly the result of associami However, it is not surprising fat is its long history, which is ■Or the history of England, the flat? should have collected much fctrt now wish was not there. Many niters men and women, and m bad ones lie in the. Mtj; and as for monuments, hi of them are dreadful. Nothing BjU be more disappointing than these Hnoui memorials, in corpse-like fable, especially to the colonial who law, to the Abbey full of the ecstasy i a nahaed dream'. I have already w permitted to describe in these tfemns tnj own feelings last year Hen, on entering the Abbey for the hi time, I fonnd -myself standing on .St P*n ofCharles James Fox. and *\ to monuments that marred the ■JSuufy of this long-awaited moment. j?e more I saw of the *MT the more I longed to • abb to sweep away these groups ? 5** a f r f» and no one who has been »«» Abbey will be in the least surKjJM that the proposal to add to the *WO)S hj» order to get more room for Wanmeßts has promoted the retort m something should be done with »• unwanted memorials. Admittedly •» s diietiH question. No one, I **> «> would suggest that the bones ?"• "nworthy or the obscure should w towed to make room for the noble » the illustrious. The Reverend wT™ J^° n an ' d Nicholas Rowo, «ta Phillips, and St. Evremond, «V«eep m P ea Ce i n the Poets' Corner, w»» we grudge them the room, w wrner, by tho way, is in a £* Appointing. Tho deserving and ■•Wfleierving huddle together in too J™M a jnmble.) Aphra Behn—one «ue eoarsest of English writers, who m?** 0 ™ onl 7 as a curiosity—will «««» disturbed in the cloisters, nor and Botterton and Mrs BraeeM tT£ Wh y BhoUld the black - FW Duke of Buckingham, whom •Wenitabbed, be celebrated by one of «mo* ambitions tombs in the Abbey, £» every circumstance of artificial ry MO a. row of children to pray for SL- ««« omen t0 weep"? Tben ZL u „ Bo T nbilli ac 's masterpiece»'—l "* i *r E. V. Lncas again—"in which "?»» emerging from a vault, thrusts W«gale interposes to prevent the TjfWpne. At Pere la Chaise this ZS y**. e «eedingly happy and apf>bnt it suits not our austere Control and Finance. i W qwrtion of adding to the Abbey W* d ,J? p with those of control and 2«*» The admission of dead to the r*ft or permission to erect monurests, I believe, solely with the JS but possibly public opinion will r"»«ys be satisfied with this arrj» m «nt. The Abbey is more than a Ration of tho Established Church; j* a national shrine. Moreover, Af»!! " alread y a pressing problem. «* 'years ago an appeal had to be *tlu* v Empire for !l {und to kee P wa fabric in repair, but it was stat- " f| a recent article in the "Ob- ?**' that in other respects the posi--2* Precarious. It is this condition Si S*T Jt necc «ary for the authorise charge for admission to eortain JJr'. *J 'impost that strikes a jarring . Ui the midst of so much, solemnity. £"» other Cathedrals have been b« as the Abbey is to-day this is to be impossible. One may J? «»t if the Church and the nation L, t** Abbey problem serionslv in **i this reproach will be removed.