The Children's Story of Westminster Abbey

by G. E. Troutbeck

Several other members of the Cecil family are buried in the Abbey, one of the chief among them being Thomas Cecil, first Earl of Exeter.

Two of the famous lawyers of the time buried in the Abbey are Sir Thomas Bromley and Sir John Puckering. Sir Thomas Bromley, who is buried in the Chapel of St. Paul, succeeded Sir Nicholas Bacon as Lord Keeper, and was the chief judge at the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots. Sir John Puckering, who is buried in the same chapel, had also to do with the trials both of Mary and of her secretary, Davison.

Some of Queen Elizabeth’s great soldiers rest in the Abbey. First among these we will mention Sir Francis Vere, who fought in the Flemish Wars and commanded the forces in the Netherlands. His monument, in the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, is celebrated for its beauty. It is said to be copied from the tomb of Count Engelbrecht II of Nassau in the church at Breda.

Others of the Vere family are buried near Sir Francis. Close to this monument is that of George Holles, who fought in the same wars. Another young soldier of the same family, Francis Holles, is buried in St. Edmund’s Chapel. Both their monuments are interesting, because the statue of Sir George Holles is the first standing figure put up in the Abbey, and that of Francis one of the earliest sitting figures. And besides this, the statue of Sir George Holles is the first represented in Roman armour, instead of in the costume of the time.

The fashion of monuments changed a good deal in the Elizabethan days. In older times people were always represented lying down, with their hands clasped in prayer, like the figures of the Plantagenets, for instance. But the statues on the Elizabethan tombs represent people leaning upon their elbows, or sitting, or standing. We shall see that, later on, they are not content even with that, but wave their arms aloft, as if talking to a crowd of people.

Another very fine Elizabethan tomb is that of Lord and Lady Norris, who were great friends of Queen Elizabeth. This huge erection is in the Chapel of St. Andrew, not far from the monument of Sir Francis Vere. The kneeling figures round the tomb represent the six sons of Lord and Lady Norris, who were all fine, brave soldiers, and fought in the Netherlands and elsewhere.

But besides soldiers, lawyers, and great ladies, there are other Elizabethan names connected with the Abbey—three of these names more famous than any we have yet mentioned. These three are Edmund Spenser, William Shakspeare and Sir Walter Raleigh. It is true that the two last of these great men lived on some time after the death of Queen Elizabeth, but as they always seem to belong more to her reign than to any other, we will speak of them now, after Spenser. Edmund Spenser, author of the Faërie Queen, died in Westminster, and is buried in Poets’ Corner. A very plain monument marks the spot, but the epitaph is a beautiful one: “Here lyes, expecting the second comminge of our Saviour Christ Jesus, the body of Edmond Spenser, the Prince of Poets in his tyme, whose divine spirrit needs noe othir witnesse then the workes he left behinde him.”

[D. Weller.
SHAKSPEARE’S MONUMENT.

It is said that when Spenser was buried the poets who were present threw their elegies and their pens into the grave. Probably, then, Shakspeare’s pen is lying there, on Spenser’s coffin.