Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/761

 1869.] The Minsters of England. 619 teiy, then known as St. Peter's, was his breach of a vow, which he had made, of going on a pilgrimage to Rome. He despatched a solemn embassy to the Pope, to crave a dispensation, which the pontiff granted to him, under the "obligations of holy obedience and penance, that he should give a part of the money, allotted for his journey, to the ppor ; and, with the remainder, either repair or erect a monastery, and furnish the brethren with a revenue and sufficient necessaries." The king appropriated " a tenth part of his entire substance to the work, as well in gold, silver, and cattle, as iu all his other possessions." The new church was in the form of a cross, and was many years in course of construction. On its completion, Ed- ward resolved to have it dedicated in the most solemn and impressive manner, the ceremony being appointed for the day of the Holy Innocents, December 28th, A. D. 1065. All the prelates and great men of the kingdom were present on the occasion. Edward died on the 5th of January following; and was can- onized, eighty years after, by Pope Alexander III, under the name of St. Edward the Confessor. Henry III, and Edward his son, car- ried on the building to a greater extent, and the latter monarch caused, in 12 l J7, the famous prophetic stone on which the Scottish kings were crowned, to be brought from Scone, and placed under the coronation chair in this church ; and here the royal rulers of England, from i James I, heirs of the Scotch throne, have, ever since, received the crown, sitting in this chair and above that stone, from the time of Edward II. to Victoria. Thus we see, in this story of West- minster Abbey, the singular fact that a king's penance has produced an archi- tectural wonder, to be for ages a people's pride. AN ANECDOTE. rpHE following little fact will, doubt- -L less, tickle our professional readers, whilst it may serve as an admonition to those who do not think it quite so necessary to call on their services. " When Mi-. Day, author of Sanford and Merton, determined to dip his un- sullied hands in mortar, he bought, at a stall, Ware's 'Architecture;' this he read, with persevering assiduity, for three or four weeks, before he began his operations. Masons calling for supplies of various sorts, which had not been suggested in the great book of archi- tecture, annoyed the young buiider ex- ceedingly. Sills, lintels, door and win- dow-cases, were wanting before the}' had been thought of, and the carpenter, to whose presence he had looked for- ward, but at a distant period, was now summoned, and hastily set to work to keep the masons agoing. Mr. Day was deep in a treatise, written by some French agriculturalist, when the masons desired to know where he would have the window of the new room on the first floor ? He sat immovable in his chair, and gravely demanded of the mason, whether the wall might not be built first, and a place for the window be cut out afterwards. The mason stared at Mr. Day with an expression of the most unfeigned surprise. ' Why, sir, to be sure, it is very possible ; but, I believe, sir, it is more common to put in the window-cases while the house is building, and not afterwards.' "Mr. Day, however, ordered the wall' 1 to be built without any opening for windows, leaving the room, which was intended for a dressing-room, for Mrs. Day, without any window whatsoever. When it was sufficiently dry, the room was papei - ed, and for some time candles were lighted in it whenever it was used."