Prior's is the
largest and richest monument. It is observable that the bust and
monument of Congreve are in a distant part of the Abbey. His duchess
probably thought it a degradation to bring a gentleman among the beggarly
poets.
I walked round the aisles, and paced the nave, and came to the conclusion
that Westminster Abbey, both in itself and for the variety and interest
of its monuments, is a thousand times preferable to St. Paul's. There is
as much difference as between a snow-bank and a chimney-corner in their
relation to the human heart. By the by, the monuments and statues in the
Abbey seem all to be carefully dusted.
The shower being over, I walked down into the city, where I called on Mr.
B------ and left S-----'s watch to be examined and put in order. He told
me that he and his brother had lately been laying out and letting a piece
of land at Blackheath, that had been left them by their father, and that
the ground-rent would bring them in two thousand pounds per annum. With
such an independent income, I doubt whether any American would consent to
be anything but a gentleman,--certainly not an operative watchmaker. How
sensible these Englishmen are in some things!
Thence I went at a venture, and lost myself, of course. At one part of
my walk I came upon St. Luke's Hospital, whence I returned to St. Paul's,
and thence along Fleet Street and the Strand. Contiguous to the latter
is Holywell Street,--a narrow lane, filled up with little bookshops and
bookstalls, at some of which I saw sermons and other works of divinity,
old editions of classics, and all such serious matters, while at stalls
and windows close beside them (and, possibly, at the same stalls) there
were books with title-pages displayed, indicating them to be of the most
indecent kind.
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