WESTMINSTER, TIIE CITY AND LIBERTY OF, now forms part of the English metrop olis. It is bounded by Temple bar on the e., the Thames on the s., Chelsea and Kensing ton on the w., and Marylebone on the north. The early history .of Westminste•is that of the abbey, still the most interesting of its public buildings. In early times, that part of Westminster which adjoins the Thames was surrounded by a branch of the river, so as to form an island called Thorney island, from its being covered with brush-wood. Here, on the site of the present abbey, Se bert, king of the East-Saxons, is said, in the 7th c., to have built a church. It is supposed to have been replaced by an abbey called Westminster, to distinguish it from the cathedral church of St. Paul's, called, originally, Eastminster. The first edifice erected on the site of which we have any certain account was one built of stone by Edward the confessor in 1065. The Pyx house, a low apart ment, 110 ft. by 30 ft. wide, vaulted and divided by a certain range of eight plain pillars with simple capitals, is nearly all that remains of it. The principal parts of the existing abbey were built by Henry III. In 1220 he erected a chapel dedicated to the virgin, and a quarter of a century later he took down the old abbey of the confessor, and erected the existing choir and transepts, and the chapel of Edward the confessor. The remainder of the building was completed under the abbots, the western parts of the nave and aisles having been erected between 1340 and 1483. The w. front and its great win dow were the work of Richard III. and Henry VII. The latter pulled down the chapel to the virgin, erected by Henry III. at the e. end of the church, and built the chapel known as Henry VII.'s chapel. This completed the interior of the abbey as it now stands; the only important addition made since then having been the upper parts of the two western towers, which were the work of sir Christopher Wren: The whole building forms a cross. Its extreme length, including Henry VII.'s chapel, is 511 ft.; its width across the transepts is 903 feet. The width of the nave and aisles is 79 ft.; of the choir,
38 ft.; and of Henry VIL's chapel, 70 feet. The height of the roof is 102 ft., a loftiness unusual in English churches. It is the interior of the abbey which has at all times excited the most entbutiastic admiration. The harmony of its proportions, and the "dim relig ious light" of the lofty and lon"-drawn aisles, leave on the mind impressions of gran deur aud solemnity which churches of greater size fail to produce. The abbey was at one time the bu•ying-place of the English kings, and it has become a national honor to be interred within its walls. It is crowded with tombs and monuments. The chapel of Edward the confessor, at the d. end of the choir, contains his shrine erected by Henry 111., the altar-tombs of Edward I., Henry III., henry V., and Edward Ill. The of that last mentioned deserves especial notice. It is considered to be one of the greatest in wood extant, and equal to anything in the best age of mediteval art. Against the altar-screen in this part of the church stand the two coronation chairs. One, the king's chair, incloses the stone brought by Edward I. from Scone, on which the Scotch kings were crowned. The other, the consort's chair, was constructed for the coronation of Mary, wife of William III. Toth are still used for coronations. Most of the English kings, from the time of Henry VII. down to that of George III., were buried in Henry VIP's chapel, and there accordingly are the tombs of queen Elizabeth and Mary queen of Scots. The most remarkable monuments in other parts of the church are those iu the e. aisle of the southern transept, known as "poets' corner,' where many of the most eminent British poets have been buried. There, monuments are erected to Chaucer, Beaumont, Drayton, Cowley, Dryden, Milton. Gray, Prior, Shakespeare, Thomson, Gay, Goldsmith, Addison, and Ben Jenson. In the n. transept are the monuments of Pitt, Fox, Chatham, Canning, and Wilberforce. Elsewhere are the monuments of the great engineers and inventors—Telford, Watt, and Stephenson.