Page images
PDF
EPUB

WESTMINSTER ABBEY: A STUDY ON POETS CORNER. 137

The Antiquary.

O

OCTOBER, 1881.

Westminster Abbey: a Study on Poets' Corner.

T has often been asked when the term Poets' Corner was first applied to the poets' chosen place of burial in the South Transept. The question occurs in one of the early volumes of Notes and Queries, 1851, "When was the name Poets' Corner first applied to the South Transept of Westminster Abbey?" Thirty years have elapsed, and no answer has yet been given.

One would naturally hesitate to accept the word Corner as applicable to so large a space in the Abbey as that occupied by the transept, but by constant use the term has become familiar, and so many poets and other literary men have been buried there because of this phrase, that by gradual acceptance it has, for many years, become universal, notwithstanding its inconsistency. In dictionaries of the early and middle part of the last century, the word corner is defined to mean an angle, or remote place. It is also applied to an enclosed space, secret or retired. This definition being accepted, one is inclined to inquire whether Poets' Corner was not at one time more in accordance with it.

The consideration of the exact position and limits of the Lost Chapel of St. Blaize, as set forth in the number of THE ANTIQUARY for June last, has for several years past led the writer to the conviction that the term Poets' Corner was originally applied to the small enclosed space to the east of the altar wall of the chapel, and including, perhaps, the open space northward as far as the grave of Chaucer. (See the plan on page 242, THE ANTIQUARY, vol. iii.) It is only

VOL. IV,

a few months since that the writer acquired a complete and unquestionable, but hitherto unlooked-for, confirmation of his supposition as to the position and limits of the Corner.

The first use of the name Poets' Corner was probably subsequent to the burial of, and the first placing of Chaucer's table-tomb against the west screen of St. Benedict's Chapel, and also to the burial of Spenser, and the erection of his monument, by Ann Clifford, Duchess of Dorset, soon after 1598. Then the art of poetry had acquired greatness and popular favour, whereby a strong desire became implanted that succeeding poets should have their graves as near as possible to those of the Great Father of English Verse and the Prince of Poets. This feeling of veneration led to the choice of the graves of Drayton, Cowley, Denham, and Dryden, with others intervening and following.

It is known that Matthew Prior desired to be buried at the feet of Edmund Spenser. This wish was faithfully complied with, and it indicates that Spenser lies in the narrow trench of earth which was then between the broad concrete foundation of the eastern wall of the fabric and the then existing interposed wall of St. Blaize's Chapel. This trench not allowing a coffin to lie across it, Spenser's coffin was probably placed with the foot to the north, and, Prior's coffin being placed in the same direction, his wish was fulfilled. It was, perhaps, remembered how Spenser's coffin was directed, although there is no record of it.

It is sad to note the deplorable injuries which were done to the fabric: first, by the astounding demolition of the triple arcade of the east wall so as to place the table-tomb of Chaucer after moving it from the first site before mentioned, followed by the erection of a debased canopy covering also a mourner's place, by Nicholas Brigham, in 1558, and, secondly, by the demolition of the altar wall of St. Blaize's Chapel and the erection of the high and massive wall necessary for the attachment of the enormous monument of Prior, designed by Gibbs and erected by Roubiliac. These are among the earliest of the spoliations and intrusions which continued throughout the century and ever after.

L*

It

mained.

It may be conceived that this previous of which no trace or tradition had restate of the South Transept was exceedingly favourable to the creation of the endearing and reverential name, Poets' Corner. might first have been called Spenser's Corner; and, as other burials of poets gradually followed, it would naturally change into the more comprehensive term, Poets' Corner.

The common parlance and vulgar errors about the Abbey have always been remarkable, and might well form a theme for consideration. The Chapels, for instance, were generally known and called, not by the names of those to whom they were dedicated, but by the names of those who were buried or had monuments therein. So arose the names of the Nightingale, the Exeter, the Dean's Chapels, &c. This nomenclature is not yet obsolete. Nothing, therefore, could be more natural than that the ultimate name, Poets' Corner, should have continued so long. The phrase being thus started among the officials and visitors of the Abbey, and with such an origin of use and growth, we shall never know to what person nor to what exact time to attribute its invention. The name is not used by Addison, who,

in his first allusion to the place in the Spectator, No. 26, calls it the Poets' quarter.

This approbation of the phrase and its great popularity seems to have led to the application of it to the street or road south of Henry VII.'s Chapel, which street is also called Poets' Corner simply. The ground of this part of the Abbey land was once a cemetery; for, on searching there for the suspected remains of the foundation of the lost southern buttress of the Chapter House, and in digging for a new drain, several stone coffins were brought to light, and the excellent foundation of the ancient buttress was found in true position, and thereon afterwards was erected the sixth flying buttress,

John Dart, the author of Westmonasterium, has not written the name in question, although it might have been common in his day, if not even invented by him. He was himself something of a poet; witness the poem of forty-two folio pages, containing more than a thousand lines, printed in long primer type, and prefixed to his great work. But although Dart has not named the Corner, he has most ingeniously shown and realized it in one of the vignette initials preceding some of his chapters. In the first volume, page 75, it occurs, and again in the second volume, at page 1 of the supplement.

This remarkable initial seems to have remained entirely unnoticed, for neither he nor any other writer alludes to it, and so it has at last become altogether overlooked.

The initial is a Roman I, standing in the midst of a perspective view of this original Poets' Corner.

In the left-hand angle is shown the open door and doorway of the eastern, or palace, Behind it

entrance.
is the door of the
south-east turret, and
the way to the crypt of

the Chapter House. On the right is the lower part of the wall of St. Blaize's Chapel, against which is the mural monument of Shadwell, and at the corner is shown a part of the monument of St. Evremond. Behind the initial is the monument of Edmund Spenser, and on the left wall is the monument of Butler in its first and original place. The monuments of Drayton and Ben Jonson, though then in place, are, perhaps for artistic reasons, omitted.

This state of things seems to answer all the conditions of Poets Corner, and gives its exact position and limits, soon afterthrough the loss of all trace of the Chapel of St. Blaize-to be expanded to the whole of

[graphic]

WESTMINSTER ABBEY: A STUDY ON POETS CORNER.

the transept, so as to include the graves of succeeding poets, as well as the monuments of some of them and cenotaphs of others.

It will be remembered that in the Paper on "The Lost Chapel," allusion was made to an authority for the clustered pillars and bases named as having existed at the two northern angles of the chapel. This authority is the vignette in question, in which Dart has shown the pillar and base of the eastern of these angles, to which appears attached the monument of St. Evremond. This attachment shown is somewhat erroneous, as his plan puts the monument on the plain wall, between the corner of the chapel and the main pillar, westward, of the fabric.

It may well be imagined from all this with what veneration Poets Corner, as it then existed, was held by John Dart and his contemporaries, and has so continued up to the present time.

Having alluded to the probability that the table-toinb of Chaucer was once against the screen of St. Benedict's Chapel, it may not be inopportune here to follow out the probable story of it.

139

the inscription of 1558 is quite distinct and perfectly durable.

The table of the tomb has lately been fully cleansed of dirt and adhesions, beneath which the moulding, as well as much of the surface, was found still to retain its original polish, which the adhesion had preserved. Now the table displays a fine specimen of the best Purbeck marble, which need never become dull again.

In the year 1850, a good antiquary, Mr. Samuel Shepherd, F.S.A., called attention to the decay and ruin going on in Chaucer's monument. He obtained the sympathy of many other antiquaries, and it led to the appointment of an influential committee, headed by the then Presidents of the Antiquarian and Camden Societies. Subscribers were enlisted, and closer examination and trial was made, in which the writer assisted; but the difficulties of treatment were so many, and the satisfactory result appeared so doubtful, that the proposition was, happily, abandoned.

This Paper might with propriety and great interest be extended to include a description and account of the probable positions of the graves, the erection of the monuments, and the changes on some of them; as well as the cruel havoc made to place them on the arcades and walls of this grand transept. This may well form a future addendum to the present paper.

HENRY POOLE, Master Mason of the Abbey.

The tomb proper is evidently due to the period of the death of Chaucer. Its quatrefoils bear his shield of arms, and around at least three of the sides with the verge moulding, which probably bore a painted inscription. In 1556, there was perhaps some necessity for totally removing the tomb, of which advantage was taken by Chaucer's admirer, Nicholas Brigham, to place it where The Old Rectory, Smith Square, S.W. it now is, and add to it a handsome, though debased, canopy of Purbeck marble, and also a similar marble slab, with a new inscription in Latin, that of the marble table having become decayed and illegible. This slab has undergone great decay and disintegration, so much so as to almost totally obscure the inscription, as reported by Neale in 1823. Fifty years' more disintegration followed with still further obscuration, when the writer closely scrutinized and cleansed the slab, discovering traces of all the letters but four. Without any attempt to strengthen the engraving, the lettering was developed by painting all the remaining traces with goldcoloured paint, and with the same pigment reproducing the four absent letters; and now

Butler's Unpublished
Remains.

T is somewhat surprising that manuscripts of so great a genius as the author of Hudibras should remain for many years unprinted, and that some of these should even now remain unedited; but so it is. When Samuel Butler died all his manuscripts came into the possession of his friend, William Longueville, a bencher of the Inner Temple. Upon the

decease of this gentleman, his son Charles became possessed of them, and he bequeathed them to John Clarke, and in 1754, Clarke certified that the manuscripts which Robert Thyer proposed to publish were genuine. In 1759, Thyer published two volumes of General Remains in Verse and Prose of Mr. Samuel Butler, with a long list of subscribers, containing over 1,000 names. In 1826, Joseph Booker, the bookseller, reprinted the Poetical Remains with a selection of five characters. He had intended to reproduce the whole work, but apparently he did not receive sufficient support, and he contented himself with a portion only. The reason he gives is as follows:-" On a careful perusal, however, of his prose writings there was found so much which, from its dryness, coarseness, and prolixity, would ill suit with the more refined taste of modern readers, that the idea has been abandoned."

There is nothing in these books to indicate that more remained behind unprinted, but such is the case. A large collection of MSS., some few in the handwriting of Butier, the majority consisting of transcriptions, are now in the possession of Mr. Thomas Boone, who has kindly allowed me to make use of them. Thyer's edition of the Remains, 1759, contains one hundred and twenty characters -viz., an Affected man, Affected or formal man, Alderman, Amorist, Anabaptist, Antiquary, Astrologer, Atheist, Bankrupt, Duke of Bucks, Bumpkin or Country Squire, Busy man, Choleric man, City wit, Cheat, Catholic, Churchwarden, Clown, Complimenter, Courtbeggar, puffing Courtier, modern Critic, Cuckold, Curious man, Debauched man, Disputant, Drole, Embassador, Empiric, Epigrammatist, Factious Member, Fanatic, Fantastic, underserving Favourite, Flatterer, Glutton, Haranguer, Hen-pect man, Herald, Hermetic Philosopher, Horse Courser, Hunter, Humourist, Hypocrite, Imitator, Impudent man, Inconstant, Insolent man, Intelligencer, Jealous man, corrupt Judge, Juggler, Justice of Peace, Knave, Knight of the Post, Latitudinarian, Lawyer, Leader of a Faction, Libeller, Litigious man, Lover, Luxurious man, Mathematician, Malicious man, Medicine taker, Melancholy man, Miser, Móuntebank, Newsmonger, degenerate Noble, hypocritical

Nonconformist, Obstinate man, Opiniaster, Overdoer, Pedant, Pettifogger, Pimp, Play writer, Philosopher, small Poet, Politician, modern Politician, Popish Priest, Prater, Pretender, Prodigal, Projector, Proselite, Proud man, Quaker, Quibbler, Rabble, Ranter, Rash man, Rebel, Republican, Ribald, Risker, Romance writer, Rude man, Sceptic, Seditious man, Shopkeeper, Sot, Squire of Dames, State Courier, modern Statesman, Superstituous man, Swearer, Taylor, Tedious man, Time server, Translator, Traveller, Ungrateful man, Vintner, Virtuoso, Wittal, Wooer, Zealot.

The following is a list of those sixty-six characters which still remain unprinted, and are to be found in this collection :-An Antisocordist, Banker, Bowler, Brisk man pert, Broker, Buffoon, Catchpole, Clap'd man, Coffee man, Coiner, Conjurer, Constable, Court-wit, Coward, Credulous man, Cruel man, Cully, Cutpurse, Dancing master, Detractor, Dueller, Dunce, Envious man, Fencer, Fidler, Fool, Forger, Gamester, Hector, Highwayman, Host, Ignorant man, Impertinent, Impostor, Incendiary, Informer, Jailor, Juror, Lampooner, Liar, Merchant, Modish man, Musitian, Negligent, Officer, Oppressor, Parasite, Perfidious man, Plagiary, Player, Proud lady, Publican, Quareller, Rook, Sailor, Scold, Scrivener, Self conceited or singular, Sharke, Silenc'd Presbyterian, Soldier, Stationer, Tennis player, Usurer, Vainglorious man, Voluptuous.

It is easy for the editor of 1826 to detract from the merit of these characters. They are certainly coarse, but it is hardly fair to charge them with prolixity. They are sketched with a powerful hand, and are full of curious little touches, that exhibit forcibly the habits of the seventeenth century. Of the Banker we read: "He is both usurer, broker and borrower-a triple cord that is easily broken. He borrows with one hand and lends with the other, and having as much to do as he can turn both to has never a third to pay. He lives by use upon use or taking up usury upon interest; for he borrows of Peter to pay Paul five in the hundred and lends it to John for fifteen."

A Coffee Man is described as keeping "a coffee market, where people of all qualities and conditions meet to trade in foreign

drinks and newes, ale, smoak, and controversy. He admits of no distinction of persons, but gentleman, mechanic, lord and scoundrel mix, and are all of a piece, as if they were resolved into their first principles." "A Fool is the skin of a man stuff'd with straw like an alligator, that has nothing of humanity but the outside." "A Lampooner is a moss-trooping poetaster, for they seldom go alone whose occupation is to rob any that lights in his way of his reputation if he has any to lose." "A Liar is a crooked gun that carries wrong and his bore is a great deal too big for his bullet." "A Merchant is a water spaniel that fetches and carrys from one country to another. Nature can hide nothing out of his reach, from the bottom of the deepest seas to the tops of the highest rocks, but he hunts it out and bears it away." "A Plagiary is one that has an inclination to wit and knowledge, but being not born nor bred to it takes evil courses and will rather steal and pilfer than appear to want or be without it. He makes no conscience how he comes by it, but with a felonious intention will take and bear away any man's goods he can lay his hands on. He is a wit sharke, that has nothing of his own, but subsists by stealing and filching from others." "A Scrivener is a writer of great authority and one whose works are for the most part authentic; for if he be discover'd to have committed a fault he expiates the offence with his ears, as Caligula made the bad writers of his times do theirs with their tongues." Usurer keeps his money in prison, and never lets it out but upon bail and good security, as Oliver Cromwell did the Cavaliers, to appear again upon warning." These short extracts from some few of the characters will give readers an idea of these unprinted works of a great genius; but as extracts are not altogether satisfactory, I will add two characters in full. The latter part of The Modish Man is, however, omitted, as it is hardly fitted for printing in these pages :

"A JUROR

"An

Is a sworn officer, that takes his oath to measure other men's oaths by, like a standard; and if they agree not perfectly, they will not pass for good and lawful perjuries,

but are void and of none effect. He plys at a court of justice as a rook does at a gaming ordinary, that though his name be not in the list, if any that are make default, he may come in with a tales, and do a job of justice on the bye. His business is to pass on men's lives and fortunes, in which he might make himself considerable advantages, if it were not for his conscience, but chiefly his ears, which he knows not well how to preserve, or be without: for if they were lost he were incapable of dealing any more in his profession, and while he keeps them they lose him more than his head is worth. His employment is a kind of work of darkness; for when he is upon service, he is shut up without fire or candle (as cardinals are at the election of a new Pope) that his conscience may play at blindman's-buff with the rest of his fellows, until they are all tir'd into the right or wrong, and agreed among themselves, whose fortune it is to be hang'd, and whose but undone, which, if they had but been allow'd light, they might have done as well by casting lots, or throwing cross or pile. His jurisdiction extends but to matter of fact, in which words are included by a figure in law: for words, that will bear an action, are held sufficient to make one, as the law makes no difference between bearing of witness and making of it. His oaths, though of less bore, are found to do greater execution than those of common swearers; for wheresoever they hit they either kill or maim."

"THE MODISH MAN

Is an orthodox gallant, that does not vary in the least article of his life, conversation, apparel, and address from the doctrine and discipline of the newest and best reform'd modes of the time. He understands exactly to a day what times of the year the several and respective sorts of colour'd ribbands come to be in season, and when they go out again. He sees no plays but only such as he finds most approv'd by men of his own rank and quality, and those he is never absent from, as oft as they are acted; mounts his bench between the acts, pulls off his peruque, and keeps time with his comb and motion of his person exactly to the music. He censures truly and faithfully according to the best of his memory, as he has receiv'd it from the

« PreviousContinue »