BY E. H. PEARCE CANON OF WESTMINSTER SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE LONDON: Northumberland Avenue, W.C. New York: E. S. GORHAM 1915 TO J. D. AND H. R. D. WITH AFFECTION...

Having had the honour of an invitation to deliver in May last a "Friday Evening Discourse" at the Royal Institution on the Archives of Westminster Abbey, I thought it best to confine what I could say within an hour to the career of a single man, preferably one whose record had not hitherto been written. I have here expanded the lecture to some extent, and have added references. I am indebted to Mr. David Weller, the Dean's Virger, for some excellent pictures. E. H. P. 3, Little Cloisters , Septe

When the body of the late Lord Kelvin was laid to rest, by a right which there was none to dispute, in the Abbey Church of Westminster, it was placed, by the same kind of right, close to the grave of Sir Isaac Newton. In the same corner there are the graves, or the memorials, of Darwin and Herschel, of Joule and Gabriel Stokes and John Couch Adams, to be joined shortly by tablets in memory of Alfred Russel Wallace, of Sir Joseph Hooker, and of another Joseph, who died Lord Lister. It was not lik

In Shakespeare's Tragedy of King Richard II. , there is an Abbot of Westminster who flits craftily across the scene, generally shadowing a Bishop of Carlisle, whom we shall meet again. When Bolingbroke announces that he is about to be crowned King in Richard's stead, this Abbot bids his friends— "Come home with me to supper; and I'll lay A plot shall show us all a merry day." 2 In the next act 3 it is stated that he is dead— "The grand conspirator, Abbot of Westminster, With clog of conscience a

Soon after his return from the University two things happened, as if to signify that his competence was recognized. In October, 1371, he was promoted, as the Westminster phrase went, to sit by the bell—sedere ad skillam; that is to say, he moved up to the seniors' table in the Refectory, where was the bell or skyllet which gave the signal for grace to be said, or for the reader of the week to begin the lection. Like the day of his first Mass, this promotion, coming as a rule not less than ten ye

William Colchester ceased to be Treasurer in the autumn of 1376, and within eight months circumstances had arisen in which his capacities were to be put to a severer and more prolonged test. We are all familiar with the expression "St. Stephen's," as applied to Parliament House. But it is not as readily realized that the House of Commons, after sitting for long years in the Chapter House 18 at the Abbey, removed itself at the Dissolution to the ancient Chapel of St. Stephen in the Palace of West

It is not doubtful that the Abbot and Chapter were well pleased with Colchester's fulfilment of the duties entrusted to him and that the large bill of costs was paid, if not with delight, at any rate with resignation. Of this we have several conclusive indications. First, within a brief space the Convent again despatched him to Rome, in 1382-3, doubtless to continue his management of the same suit. This time there is no record of his payments, nor should we be aware of his journey if it were not

Our Archdeacon was not destined to remain such for any great time. On November 29, 1386, there passed away during a meal-time 52 at his manor house of la Neyte, near Westminster, our great builder, Abbot Nicholas Litlington, to whom we owe the south and west sides of the Great Cloister, the Little Cloisters, Jerusalem Chamber, the Abbot's Dining Hall, and much besides of the present Deanery, and the great Missal. 53 The vigour of Litlington's character can be realized from what we have seen of t

As before, if we want to know an Abbot's interests and his manner of life at home, we shall go to the accounts of his stewards or Seneschals. His rent-roll is less than Abbot Litlington's, and there are heavier arrears. The country is greatly unsettled and it is not an easy time for landholders. We possess a clear "statement 68 of the lands and apportionments of the lord William by the grace of God Abbot of Westminster," as audited in the year 1388. The total revenue when fully paid has fallen t

But though we may realize that Abbot Colchester loved his Convent and cherished it, we still have to think of him as being often compelled to wander far from it. True, he had spent so much time in Rome before his election, that he was able to escape in 1390 the triennial visit ad limina which was normally expected of an Abbot. He was represented on that occasion by John Borewell, an active and efficient monk, who had succeeded him in the Archdeaconry in 1387; he was also represented by the gifts