London. I arrived here on the 13th, and battles, of imprisonment and having spent one day in Berwick-murders, tilts and tournaments, of upon-Tweed, of which I will speak implements of death, of coats of mail, in its own place. But my notes on targets of iron, Spanish pikes and London, Cambridge, and Oxford, are javelins, boar-spears, pole-axes, clubs, yet uncopied, or rather undeciphered. maces of iron, battle-axes, shields, To detail any one of the great attrac- swords, pistols, cuirasses, tiltingtive objects of human inquiry in Lon-lances, tilting-helmets, gorget, back, don would be to write a volume. To this class belong the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, the Colosseum, the Royal Academy of the Arts, the Zoological Gardens, St. Paul's, &c. I therefore presume not such an undertaking. True, indeed, there is much of human nature and human history developed in those institutions, and they furnish many a text and many a comment for those who think with Pope, "The | beth. We should then visit the proper study of mankind is man." and breast-plates, cross-bows, daggers, chain-mail, carabineers, muskets, morning-stars, (balls of wood armed with iron spikes at the end of long poles) ancient cannon, mortars, &c. It would be the history of imprisonments and executions. We should then walk through the dark cell of Sir Walter Raleigh, and the vault of Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, that of King John, and that of Queen Eliza Tower-green and Tower-hill, where were executed the two Queens of Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn and Katharine Howard-"the two Earls of Essex, Cromwell and Devereux, the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland, Lady Jane Grey and her husband, the Countess of Salisbury, the last of the Plantagenets, the Duke of Norfolk and his son, the Earl of Arundel." We handled the axe, the sharp but speedy cure for many an | agony, and saw the block on which some of the victims of royal hatred expiated their real or alleged transgressions. But from all these scenes and reminiscences of less enlightened and less civilized ages, we shall take a glance at the Regalia. A very brief notice of these great schools of instruction, erected and maintained at great expense, and generally regarded as valuable means of improvement and civilization is, indeed, proper in its own place, and may be useful to those who have a desire to travel for knowledge, or to profit from the labours of those who | have travelled, or of those who have gathered together in a small compass much of this great world for public amusement and for public instruction. You visited most of the places named, as I learned from Brother Wardropper, of Sunderland, who accompanied you to several of them, and with whom I formed a very agreeable acquaintance both in London and in Sunderland. I therefore dwell not on those which I may no-house" has been erected, in which the tice so much for your reflection as for those who have not seen them. But notices must be too brief to my afford either much edification or pleasure to any one. 66 A history of the tower of London, a prison palace," would be almost the history of England, at least from the days of William the Conqueror to those of Lovat and Balmerino. But it would be the history of broils Since the recent fire that injured a portion of the Tower, a new "jewel Regalia are kept. We took a grave look at St. Edward's crown-the ancient imperial crown. This crown was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and placed on the head of the sovereign at the altar. But the new state crown, made for the coronation of her present Majesty, most interested our attention. "It is composed of a cap of purple velvet, enclosed by hoops of silver, covered with precious stones in such numbers as to present to the eye one blaze of diamonds. The hoops are surmounted by a ball covered with small diamonds, and having a Maltese cross formed of brilliants at the top of it. In the centre of the cross is the celebrated inestimable sapphire,' and in the front of the crown another jewel of equal celebrity-the heart-formed ruby, said to have been worn by Edward the Black Prince." I need not describe the Prince of Wales' crown of pure gold, without jewels. On state occasions it is placed before the chair, in the House of Lords, on which sits the heir apparent to the throne. The ancient Queen's crown is of gold, set with diamonds of great value, intermixed with pearls and other costly jewels. It is used at coronations when the sovereignty exists in the male branch. The Queen's diadem, or circlet of gold, is also exhibited here. It was made for the coronation of Maria d'Este, wife of James II. at an expense of one hundred and eleven thousand pounds! It is richly adorned with large diamonds curiously set, and the upper edge of the circlet is bordered with a string of pearls. St. Edward's staff of beaten gold, four feet seven inches in length, and three quarters of an inch in diameter, surmounted by an orb and cross, and shod with a steel pike, is lying here in safe keeping. This staff, in the ceremony of coronation, is the first of the regalia delivered to its proper officer by the Lord Chamberlain. The Royal Sceptre, or the sceptre with the cross, is that placed in the right hand of the sovereign by the Archbishop of Canterbury, having been previously blessed by his Grace at the altar. It is two feet nine inches long. The fleur-de-leuce with which this sceptre was formerly adorned, have been replaced by golden leaves bearing the rose, the shamrock, and the thistle. with the dove, is placed in the left hand of the sovereign by the officiating Archbishop. It is three feet seven inches in length, set with diamonds and other precious stones. The Queen's ivory Sceptre, made for Maria d'Este, is mounted in gold, terminated by a golden cross, bearing a dove of white onyx. I cannot describe the armillae, or coronation bracelets; the royal spear wrought in gold, worn at coronation by King or Queen; the ampulla, or golden vessel for holding the oil at coronation; the anointing spoon, also of gold, dated in the 12th century; the golden salt-cellar; the baptismal font, of silver gilt, used at the christening of the royal progeny, of course less valuable than one for a person of maturity; nor can I describe other golden treasures here displayed -such as the silver wine fountain; the twelve golden salt-cellars; two massive coronation tankards of gold; the banqueting dish, and other dishes and spoons of gold, together with a beautifully wrought service of sacramental plate, employed at the coronation. These are parts of the royal treasure, making together the enormous sum of three millions sterling, almost fifteen millions of dollars; yet all contained on one stand, within a circle some nine feet in diameter. Such is the price, and such the glory, the trinkets, or the trumpery of royal consecration and coronation. This is an expense from which we are happily exempted, and a glory, as a matter of course, on which we could look without one single aspiration-a glory, for the possession of which, no Christian man could offer up one prayer to heaven. Such is the Tower of London in its treasures-standing on Tower Hill, a lofty square building, adorned with turrets, surmounting the other building or outworks. Its height is ninety-two feet, and its walls fourteen feet in thickness; guarded, of The Rod of Equity, or the sceptre course, with a garrison adequate to the safe-keeping of its immense treasures. On contemplating the Knights in armor, cap-a-pie, clothed in steel, except an air-hole for their nostrils and a peep-hole for their eyes, sword, or spear, or halbert in hand, mounted on a war-horse caparisoned from head to tail, as they stand accoutred in brigandines, complete, one cannot, in these our halcyon days of peace and good humor, and with a little good nature in our eye, but ask, Where was the hero, the soldier, the man of courage in these chivalrous days of genuine Knight errantry? There is a sort of military harlequinery in all these displays of heroes, escutcheoned as they are, which, in spite of one's gravity and respect for kings and heroes, gives to the whole display an air of ridicule, rather than a display of heroes, and makes one blush for erratic man, "with all his honors thick upon him," as a poor deluded creature, even when standing tiptoe on the loftiest pinnacle of his own ambition. I, therefore, bid a long farewell to the Tower of London and to human greatness, and hie away to Westminster Abbey. chapels, dedicated in order, to St. Benedict, St. Edmund, St. Nicholas, Henry VII. St. Paul, St. Edward, St. Erasmus, St. John the Baptist, and one alike dedicated to St. John the Apostle, St. Andrew and St. Michael. Besides these, are the North Transept, the North and South Aisle, West end of the Nave, South Transept or Poets' Corner, and the Choir. Its magnificent Portico, like the Beautiful Gate of Solomon's Temple, has been the admiration of the world. The cloisters remain in good keeping, and contain numerous monuments, ancient and modern. The Chapter House, an octagonal room, is the receptacle of the crown records, amongst which is Doomsday-Book of the 11th century, in good keeping, as legible as when first written. The coronation chairs are the only other precious deposites connected with governmental affairs in the Abbey. The more ancient of the two was carried from Scotland with the Regalia by Edward I. A. D. 1297. The stone under the seat is reputed to be Jacob's pillow. I read an account of these stones many years since, connected with the tribe of And what shall I say-indeed, Joseph and the Milesian kings wendwhat can I say, of Westminster Ab-ing their way to Ireland and founding bey! The very name of it awakens a colony there, and of their carrying associations and reflections which it were in vain to attempt to utter. A mighty pile of Gothic architecture, got up and consummated in a most splendid style, founded by Henry III. and his successor Edward I. and completed by the greatest master in his day of architectural science, the well known Sir Christopher Wren. For ages this immense Abbey, extending from east to west 375 feet, and in breadth from north to south 200 feet, whose nave with its aisles 75 feet, and from its floor to the interior roof 101 feet, and from the choir to its lantern 140 feet, has been the mausoleum of Kings and Queens and of earth's great ones. this stone with them. But if it were true, I have forgotten much of it; and what I could recall is even too much for this place. I was pleased to see the stone of whose existence I had had some doubt. The other chair was made for Queen Mary. The Queen, you know, sat in this antique old oak chair at her coronation, and I think I heard some one say that you sat in it while fatigued in the Abbey. At the coronation these chairs are covered over with gold tissue, and placed before the altar behind which they now stand. We cannot, with our readers by our side, perambulate all the chapels, transepts, and aisles of this grand re Within its spacious walls are nine pository of the monuments and of the ashes of the illustrious dead. We can notice only a few objects of common interest. There is many a monument here in honour of those whose bones lie somewhere else; while a good number have been honoured with a grave as well as a marble memento within these consecrated walls. I was pleased to see that while kings and queens, princes, lords, and ladies of noble extraction and aristocratic rank are lying in state, or celebrated on sculptured walls-while archbishops, prelates, and ecclesiastical dignitaries are lauded in pompous eulogies or elegies-men of genius, philosophers, orators, poets, inventors of useful arts, great masters of science and learning, distinguished philanthropists and public benefactors, have a place among earth's great men and Nature's own nobility. Such are James Watt, great master of the steam engine; Sir Humphrey Davy; Thomas Young, noted for his illustrations of Egyptian hieroglyphics; Matthew Baillie, M.D.; Canning; Jonas Hanway, a benefactor, inventor of the umbrella; William Wilberforce, and Zachary Macaulay, able advocates of the abolition of the slave trade; Wharton, the historian; Bishop Pierce; the figure of Washington now bears the third head on the monument of Major Andre, mutilated for relics; Newton; Casaubon, a distinguished classical scholar; Dr. Bell, founder of the Madras system of education; Garrick; Rob. Taylor, an architect; Dr. Barrow; Handel, the great composer; Goldsmith; Rowe; Thompson; Shakspeare; Southey; Dryden; Cowley; Chaucer; Granville Sharp; Prior; William Mason; Gray, author of the Elegy; Spencer; Samuel Butler; Ben Johnson; Addison; Butler; Milton of course. "The Poets' Corner" is not confined to poets only, nor are all the great poets there. Pope, Young, Byron, with many others, have no monuments here. In the Poets' Corner there are but fifty-two monuments in all, and these are not one half poets. Grabe, and Bushby, master of Westminster School, are among them. Addison's remains lie in one of the aisles or chapels. When walking over them, I was reminded of that beautiful paper in his Spectator, which, in my youthful days, I often read with much pleasure. It begins with, "When I am in serious mood, I often walk by myself in Westminster Abbey." In speaking of youth and age, of beauty and deformity, and of the ashes of the great, he makes many beautiful remarks, full of instruction. How true his observation, that, of the great majority, all that can be said of any one is, "He was born one day, and died upon another." There are, I fear, but few saints in Westminster Abbey. Earth's great ones are here. Saints are generally found without a monument, and without an epitaph; and of most of those "not a stone tells where they lie." But not one of them is forgotten by God; for he that numbers the hairs of our heads, and "Who, with equal eye, as Lord of all, Beholds a hero perish and a sparrow fall," forgets not the ashes of his friends, for their dust is precious in his sight. How much better the lot of the righteous-" to suffer affliction with the saints, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season," and have our eyes fixed on "the recompense of the reward." But how useless to moralize on such scenes! When among the tombs and monuments of the dead, we are for a moment serious ; but those who live in Westminster Abbey, and who constantly wait upon the visitants, are just as little impressed with the scenes around them as Blair's grave-digger, of whom the poet said : Some "Scarce a skull's cast up passage But well he knew its owner, and could tell More vainly jests, or tells a merrier tale, of his life; yet no youngster Than he." Those whom the gospel subdues, whom the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the consolations of the Holy Spirit allure not, subdue not, and sanctify not, are, indeed, the incurables in the infirmary of fallen humanity. land nor Scotland; still it has its A few words to post up my travels to this date. From the excellent Christian family of Brother and Sister Shaw, of Huddersfield, whence I last addressed you, Brother Henshall and myself proceeded to the old city of York; and after spending an hour or two in its grand cathedral, and enjoying divine service and the finest organ I ever heard, we passed on to Sunderland, and were kindly received and courteously treated, as in all other places, by the brotherhood of that beautiful town. We had much of the company of Brothers Wardropper, Hill, M'Dougal, and others, enjoying the hospitality of brother Douglass, who is so warm a friend as to have amongst his ships at sea one bearing my name, and is now building one which he purposes to call for yourself. I had a fine hearing in this town of some 30,000 inhabitants. All that could hear in one of its most spacious rooms, were assembled, and of its best class of citizens. I delivered three discourses to the church and citizens there, and brother Henshall two. These discourses were not without effect-some have since been baptized, and much harmony of feeling created between the Baptists and our brethren. I think there will be a union between them. Thence I visited the large and splendid city of Newcastle. We THE FULNESS THAT IS IN CHRIST.— lodged in the same Temperance Hotel Oh, sirs! there is in a crucified Jesus, in which you sojourned on your way something proportionate to all the straits, to Scotland. I delivered three ad- wants, necessities, and desires of his poor dresses here to immense auditories saints. He is bread to nourish them, a in the largest Hall in this city of garment to cover them, a physician to heal them, a prophet to teach them, a priest to 110,000 inhabitants. I have heard make atonement for them, a husband to also good tidings from Newcastle. protect, a father to provide, a brother to Thence we proceded to Berwick-relieve, a foundation to support, a root to upon-Tweed, a little insular king-rich, a sun to enlighten, and a fountain to quicken, a head to guide, a treasury to endom by itself, being neither in Eng-cleanse them.-BROOK. But my page is full, and having been so much engrossed in Edinburgh, I cannot even read what I have written. I must bid you farewell, as I have just time to forward this letter before the steamer of the 19th sails. My love to all. Your father, A. CAMPBELL. |