



Produced by D Alexander, Juliet Sutherland, Christine D.
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[Illustration: WESTMINSTER ABBEY.--FRONT.]




THE CHILDREN OF

WESTMINSTER ABBEY

STUDIES IN ENGLISH HISTORY

BY

ROSE G. KINGSLEY

[Illustration: EDWARD THE SIXTH]

_ILLUSTRATIONS_

  BOSTON
  D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY
  FRANKLIN AND HAWLEY STREETS




  Copyright, 1886.
  by
  D. LOTHROP & COMPANY.




  Dedication

  TO MY NEPHEWS

  RANULPH AND FRANCIS
  KINGSLEY

  _Tachbrook Mallory_
  Oct. 16, 1885




CONTENTS.


                                                            PAGE.

  I.    The Building of the Abbey--Princess Catherine
        and Prince Henry                                                 7

  II.   The Conquest of Wales--Prince Alfonso                           31

  III.  John of Eltham, the Young Knight                                57

  IV.   Edward the Fifth, and Richard, Duke of
        York                                                            79

  V.    King Edward the Sixth                                          105

  VI.   Miss Elizabeth Russell, "the Child of Westminster"             130

  VII.  The Princesses Sophia and Mary                                 155

  VIII. Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales                               176

  IX.   Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (_continued_)                 196

  X.    Lord Francis Villiers                                          222

  XI.   Princess Anne, and Henry, Duke of Gloucester                   243

  XII.  William Henry, Duke of Gloucester                              269




ILLUSTRATIONS.

(_From rare old Prints and Photographs._)


                                                                    PAGE.
  Westminster Abbey.--Front                                       Frontis.

  Westminster Abbey.--North Entrance                                    12

  Shrine of Edward the Confessor.--At left, Tomb of Henry the Third     25

  Dean Stanley                                                          37

  Chapel of Henry the Fifth                                             45

  Effigy of John of Eltham                                              58

  Tomb of John of Eltham, St. Edmund's Chapel                           61

  Ancient Canopy of the Tomb of John of Eltham                          67

  Tomb of William of Windsor and his Sister Blanche                     74

  Edward the Fifth                                                      83

  Memorial Urn in Henry the Seventh's Chapel                           101

  Interior of the Chapel of Henry the Seventh                          107

  Exterior of the Chapel of Henry the Seventh                          113

  Edward the Sixth.--_From a Painting by Holbein_                      119

  Queen Elizabeth.--_From Painting in the English National Portrait
                                                             Gallery_  137

  Monument to Miss Elizabeth Russell                                   147

  The Monument to Queen Elizabeth in the North Aisle                   157

  The Cradle Tomb                                                      165

  The Monuments of Princess Sophia and Princess Mary                   171

  Entrance to Bramshill House                                          179

  Bramshill House, from the North                                      189

  Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales                                     203

  Westminster Abbey, from the North                                    215

  Tomb of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham                          227

  Lord Francis Villiers.--_After Vandyck_                         235

  The Effigies of the Lady Anna                                        245

  Henry, Duke of Gloucester                                            253

  Princess Elizabeth in Prison                                         261

  Westminster Abbey, looking toward the Altar.--_From
  Etching by H. Toussaint_                                          273

  The Old Dormitory at Westminster School                              279

  Dining Hall, Westminster School                                      285

  A Westminster Boy                                                    289




THE CHILDREN OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY.




CHAPTER I.

THE BUILDING OF THE ABBEY.


Twelve hundred years ago, in the reign of King Sebert the Saxon, a poor
fisherman called Edric, was casting his nets one Sunday night into the
Thames. He lived on the Isle of Thorns, a dry spot in the marshes, some
three miles up the river from the Roman fortress of London. The silvery
Thames washed against the island's gravelly shores. It was covered with
tangled thickets of thorns. And not so long before, the red deer, and
elk and fierce wild ox had strayed into its shades from the neighboring
forests.[1]

Upon the island a little church had just been built, which was to be
consecrated on the morrow. Suddenly Edric was hailed from the further
bank by a venerable man in strange attire. He ferried the stranger
across the river, who entered the church and consecrated it with all the
usual rites--the dark night being bright with celestial splendor. When
the ceremony was over, the stranger revealed to the awestruck fisherman
that he was St. Peter, who had come to consecrate his own Church of
Westminster. "