saint; for after being worsted and put to flight by Sueno King of the Danes, and his son Canute, and at last closely besieged in London, he died miserably A.D. 1017, after he had reigned thirty-six years in great difficulties.

There is besides in the middle of the church a tomb made of brass, of some Bishop of London, named William, who was in favour with Edward, King of England, and afterwards made counsellor to King William.  He was bishop sixteen years, and died A.D. 1077.  Near this is the following inscription:

Virtue survives the funeral.

To the memory of
Thomas Linacre, an eminent physician, John Caius placed this monument.

On the lower part of it is this inscription in gold letters:

Thomas Linacre, physician to King Henry VIII., a man learned in the Greek and Latin languages, and particularly skilful in physick, by which he restored many from a state of languishment and despair to life.  He translated with extraordinary eloquence many of Galen’s works into Latin; and published, a little before his death, at the request of his friends, a very valuable book on the correct structure of the Latin tongue.  He founded in perpetuity in favour of students in physick, two public lectures at Oxford, and one at Cambridge.  In this city he brought about, by his own industry, the establishing of a College of Physicians, of which he was elected the first president.  He was a detester of all fraud and deceit, and faithful in his friendships; equally dear to men of all ranks: he went into orders a few years before his death, and quitted this life full of years, and much lamented, A.D. 1524, on the 29th of October.

There are many tombs in this church, but without any inscriptions.  It has a very fine organ, which, at evening prayer, accompanied with other instruments, is delightful.

In the suburb to the west, joined to the city by a continual row of palaces belonging to the chief nobility, of a mile in length, and lying on the side next the Thames, is the small town of Westminster; originally called Thorney, from its thorn bushes, but now Westminster, from its aspect and its monastery.  The church is remarkable for the coronation and burial of the Kings of England.  Upon this spot is said formerly to have stood a temple of Apollo, which was thrown down by an earthquake in the time of Antoninus Pius; from the ruins of which Sebert, King of the East Saxons, erected another to St. Peter: this was subverted by the Danes, and again renewed by Bishop Dunstan, who gave it to a few monks.  Afterwards, King Edward the Confessor built it entirely new, with the tenth of his whole revenue, to be the place of his own burial, and a convent of Benedictine monks; and enriched it with estates dispersed all over England.

In this church the following things are worthy of notice:

In the first choir, the tomb of Anne of Cleves, wife of Henry VIII., without any inscription.

On the opposite side are two stone sepulchres: (1)  Edward, Earl of Lancaster, brother of Edward I.; (2)  Ademar of Valence, Earl of Pembroke, son of Ademar of Valence.  Joining to these is (3) that of Aveline, Countess of Lancaster.

In the second choir is the chair on which the kings are seated when they are crowned; in it is enclosed a stone, said to be that on which the patriarch Jacob slept when he dreamed he saw a ladder reaching quite up into heaven.  Some Latin verses are written upon a tablet hanging near it; the sense of which is:

That if any faith is to be given to ancient chronicles, a stone of great note is enclosed in this chair, being the same on which the patriarch Jacob reposed when he beheld the miraculous descent of angels.  Edward I., the Mars and Hector of England, having conquered Scotland, brought it from thence.

The tomb of Richard II. and his wife, of brass, gilt, and these verses written round it:

Perfect and prudent, Richard, by right the Second,
   Vanquished by Fortune, lies here now graven in stone,
True of his word, and thereto well renound:
   Seemly in person, and like to Homer as one
In worldly prudence, and ever the Church in one
Upheld and favoured, casting the proud to ground,
And all that would his royal state confound.

Without the tomb is this inscription:

Here lies King Richard, who perished by a cruel death, in the year 1369.

To have been happy is additional misery.

Near him is the monument of his queen, daughter of the Emperor Wenceslaus.

On the left hand is the tomb of Edward I., with this inscription:

Here lies Edward I., who humbled the Scots. A.D. 1308.
Be true to your engagements.

He reigned forty-six years.

The tomb of Edward III., of copper, gilt, with this epitaph:

Of English kings here lieth the beauteous flower
Of all before past, and myrror to them shall sue:
A merciful king, of peace conservator,
The third Edward, &c.

Besides the tomb are these words:

Edward III., whose fame has reached to heaven.  A.D. 1377.
Fight for your country.

Here is shown his sword, eight feet in length, which they say he used in the conquest of France.

His queen’s epitaph:

Here lies Queen Philippa, wife of Edward III.  Learn to live.  A.D. 1369.

At a little distance, the tomb of Henry V., with this legend:

Henry, the scourge of France, lies in this tomb.  Virtue subdues all things.  A.D. 1422.

Near this lies the coffin of Catherine, unburied, and to be opened by anyone that pleases.  On the outside is this inscription:

Fair Catherine is at length united to her lord.  A.D. 1437.
Shun idleness.

The tomb of Henry III., of brass, gilt, with this epitaph:

Henry III., the founder of this cathedral.  A.D. 1273.  War is delightful to the unexperienced.

It was this Henry who, one hundred and sixty years after Edward the Confessor had built this church, took it down, and raised an entire new one of beautiful architecture, supported by rows of marble columns, and its roof covered with sheets of lead, a work of fifty years before its completion.  It has been much enlarged at the west end by the abbots.  After the expulsion of the monks, it experienced many changes; first it had a dean and prebendaries; then a bishop, who, having squandered the revenues, resigned it again to a dean.  In a little time, the monks with their abbot were reinstated by Queen Mary; but, they being soon ejected again by authority of parliament, it was converted into a cathedral church—nay, into a seminary for the Church—by Queen Elizabeth, who instituted there twelve prebendaries, an equal number of invalid soldiers, and forty scholars; who at a proper time are elected into the universities, and are thence transplanted into the Church and State.

Next to be seen is the tomb of Eleanor, daughter of Alphonso King of Spain, and wife of Edward I., with this inscription:

This Eleanor was consort of Edward I.
A.D. 1298.  Learn to die.

The tomb of Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VII.

In the middle of this chapel is the