The Project Gutenberg eBook of Westminster

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Title: Westminster

Author: Walter Besant

Release date: January 11, 2019 [eBook #58672]
Most recently updated: January 24, 2021

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Chris Curnow, Chuck Greif and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WESTMINSTER ***

Contents.
Index.: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, Y.

List of Illustrations
(In certain versions of this etext [in certain browsers] clicking on the image will bring up a larger version.)

(etext transcriber's note)

WESTMINSTER

BY
SIR WALTER BESANT, M. A., F. S. A.

AUTHOR OF “LONDON,” ETC.

WITH 130 ILLUSTRATIONS BY WILLIAM PATTEN AND OTHERS

New York
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1894 and 1895, by Walter Besant.

Copyright, 1895, by
Frederick B. Stokes Company.

All rights reserved.

TO

MRS. WILLIAM PATTEN

IN MEMORY OF HER

MANY WANDERINGS IN WESTMINSTER WITH HER HUSBAND

WHILE HE WAS ADORNING THESE PAGES

AND IN MEMORY OF

A STAY IN ENGLAND FAR TOO SHORT FOR HER MANY FRIENDS

THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED

BY ONE OF THOSE FRIENDS

THE AUTHOR

PREFACE.

These papers in their original form first appeared in the Pall Mall Magazine. Additions have been made in some of the chapters, especially in the three chapters entitled “The Abbey.” As in the book entitled “London,” of which this is the successor, I do not pretend to offer a History of Westminster. The story of the Abbey Buildings; of the Great Functions held in the Abbey; of the Monuments in the Abbey; may be found in the pages of Stanley, Loftie, Dart, and Widmore. The History of the Houses of Parliament belongs to the history of the country, not that of Westminster. It has been my endeavor, in these pages, (1) to show, contrary to received opinion, that the Isle of Bramble was a busy place of trade long before London existed at all. (2) To restore the vanished Palaces of Westminster and Whitehall. (3) To portray the life of the Abbey, with its Services, its Rule, its Anchorites, and its Sanctuary. (4) To show the connection of Westminster with the first of English printers. And, lastly, to present the place as a town and borough, with its streets and its people.

I hope that, with those who have made my “London” a companion, my “Westminster” may also be so fortunate as to find equal favor.

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
Interior of the Crypt Called the “Powder Plot Cellar,” beneath the old Palace of Westminster, Looking toward Charing Cross. Taken Down in June, 1883,	51
West End of the Painted Chamber as it Appeared after the Fire of 1834,	55
Curious Newel Staircase at the Southeast Angle of Painted Chamber,	57
Guy Fawkes’ Door,	58
Vault under the Painted Chamber,	59
East Front of St. Stephen’s Chapel as it Appeared after the Fire of 1834,	63
Passage from St. Stephen’s Chapel to the Cloister,	65
Cloister Court as it Appeared after the Fire,	67
The Star Chamber. Demolished in 1834,	71
North Porch,	83
Laurentius,	98
Arms of the Abbey of Westminster,	99
Plan of the Benedictine Abbey of Westminster,	101
Habit of a Novice of the Order of St. Benedict,	104
Entrance to Chapter House,	107
Wall of the Refectory, from Ashburnham House,	109
The Abbot’s Dining Hall at Westminster; now Used as the Dining Room of the School,	111
Towel Aumbries in the South Walk,	113
Chapel of the Pyx,	115
Door to the Chapel of Edward the Confessor; now Pyx Office,	119
Treasure Chest in the Chapel of Pyx, Used in the Transportation of the King’s Exchequer,	123
A Pillar now Standing in Mr. Thynne’s Garden and Forming Part of the Ruined Chapel of St. Catherine,	126
Jerusalem Chamber. Abbot’s Residence, Westminster,	127
Abbot’s Pew (Showing the Medallion of Congreve Below),	129
Square Window (now Walled up) Used by the Abbot to Maintain Surveillance of the Monks at Night,	131
Monk of the Order of St. Benedict,	133
Abbot Islip’s Chapel,	137
The Westminster Schoolroom, Formerly the Abbot’s Dormitory,	140
Tombs of Vitalis, Gerasmus de Blois, and Crispinus, Abbots of Westminster,	142
Tally for 6s. 8d. Issued by Treasurer to King Edward I. to the Sheriff of Lincolnshire about 1290,	143
The King Street Gate, Westminster, Demolished 1723,	175
Southwest View of the Entrance to the Little Sanctuary from King Street,	177
View of Little Sanctuary from the West, as it Appeared about a. d. 1800,	179
The Sanctuary. Pulled Down in 1775,	181
The Boar’s Head Inn, King Street,	183
The Cock, Tothill Street,	187
Room in The King’s Arms, Tothill Street,	189
The Gate House,	192
The Holbein Gate,	199
Broken Cross Within the Abbey Precincts,	201
Pickering Cup, Belonging to the Burgesses of Westminster,	204
The Southern Extremity of Thieving Lane, a. d. 1800,	205
Buttresses of King Henry VII.’s Chapel,	209
Caxton’s Device,	212
Supposed Portrait of Caxton. From Blades’ “Pentateuch of Printing,”	213
The “Domus Anglorum,” Bruges,	223
Caxton’s House in the Almonry, Westminster,	231
Facsimile of the “Recuyell of the Historyes of Troie,”	235
Facsimile of the “Game and Playe of the Chesse,”	236
Facsimile of the “Dictes or Sayings of the Philosophers,”	241
Caxton’s Memorial Window in St. Margaret’s, Westminster,	243
Facsimile of Caxton’s Handwriting, from the Pepysian Library,	245
Inigo Jones, 1614,	251
Holbein’s Gate and the Banqueting Hall,	255
From the Original Picture by Samuel Scott.
The Waterside Elevation of Inigo Jones’ Palace,	260, 261
St. James’s Palace,	263
Kensington Palace,	266
Buckingham Palace,	267
The Horse Guards,	268
Old Scotland Yard,	271
Rosamond’s Pond, St. James’s Park,	275
The Water Gate, New Palace Yard,	278
A Reduced Copy of Fisher’s Ground Plan of the Royal Palace of Whitehall, Taken in the Reign of Charles II., 1680,	280
The Mace,	291
The House of Commons and Westminster Hall from the River in 1798,	293
From a Contemporary Drawing.
Oak Doorway Discovered in the Speaker’s Dining Room After the Fire,	295
The House of Lords at the Beginning of the Century,	297
The House of Commons at the Beginning of the Century,	299
The Entrance to Speaker’s Yard as it Appeared Before the Fire,	301
“Themistocles” (Lord Hood), from “The Rival Candidates,”	304
“Demosthenes” (Charles James Fox), from “The Rival Candidates,”	305
“Judas Iscariot” (Sir Cecil Wray), from “The Rival Candidates,”	307
“The Westminster Mendicant” (Sir Cecil Wray),	309
“Procession to the Hustings After a Successful Canvass,”	315
After a Print, A.D. 1784.
The Speaker’s Court as it Appeared Before the Fire,	319
Griffins from the Roof of Henry VII.’s Chapel,	326
Griffins from the Roof of Henry VII.’s Chapel,	329
Griffin from the Roof of Henry VII.’s Chapel,	330
Room in The King’s Arms, Tothill Street, Westminster,	333
Griffins from the Roof of Henry VII.’s Chapel,	337
Wood Carving and Original Sign of The Cock Inn, Tothill Street, Westminster,	339
Original Sign, Cock Inn,	341
Milton’s House in Petty France,	343
Emanuel Hospital, Lately Demolished,	345
The Grille, Emanuel Hospital,	347
Grey Coat Hospital: The Entrance,	351
Grey Coat Boy,	353
Grey Coat Girl,	353
From the Statue in front of the Hospital.
Grey Coat Hospital from the Garden,	354
Carving from the Doorway of Emanuel Hospital,	355
Medal Worn by the Captain of the Grey Coat Boys,	356
Blue Coat School, Caxton Street,	357
Blue Coat School, from the Garden,	361
Loving Cup Presented to the Guardians of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, by Samuel Pierson, in 1764,	365
Old Pye Street and the Ragged School,	367
Black Dog Alley, Westminster,	369
The Westminster Snuffbox,	373
The Westminster Tobacco Box,	379