“Enflamed with the study of learning, and the admiration of virtue; stirred up with high hopes of living to be brave men and worthy patriots, dear to God, and famous to all ages.”

Before we say farewell to the Abbey and its story altogether we must speak of one very important part of it, and one that ought to be specially interesting to all English children, namely, the ancient and famous Westminster School.

The history of the School takes us back really to Saxon times, as we know that there was a school belonging to the monastery in the Confessor’s days, and it may have been there even earlier than that. There is a charming little story of that old convent school in the eleventh century. The Abbot of Croyland used to tell of the kindness he received from the Lady Editha, wife of the Confessor, when he was a boy at the monk’s school in the cloisters. When she met him coming from school, Editha would question him about his studies, and then, he says: “She would always present me with three or four pieces of money, which were counted out to me by her handmaiden, and then send me to the royal larder to refresh myself.”

The School seems to have been what was called a “Grammar School,” which really meant that Latin was taught there, for in those old days they used to speak of Latin as “grammar.” The school was probably a place of general education, and not intended only for boys who were going to become monks. But, of course, when speaking of Westminster School it must be remembered that it owes its present form, and its wide influence and prosperity, to its foundation by two of the Tudor sovereigns, King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth.

In 1540, Henry VIII established the School with two masters and forty scholars. There were probably other boys as well. The School went on and flourished during the reigns of Edward VI and Mary, and then, when the monastery was finally dissolved, it was re-established by Queen Elizabeth in 1560. Queen Elizabeth kept very much to her father’s plan, and arranged for a Headmaster, an undermaster, and forty scholars, who are called “King’s scholars” or “Queen’s scholars,” according to whether the sovereign is a King or a Queen. It was settled that the School was to be part of the Collegiate Foundation of St. Peter in Westminster, and the Dean was to be head of the school, just as he was of the rest of the College.

As we already know, the boys dined, as now, in Abbot Litlington’s Refectory, the present College Hall. The old granary of the monastery, which stood in the middle of what is now Dean’s Yard, was fitted up as their dormitory, and there also they used to do what a modern boy would call his “home-work.” This arrangement was made for them by the first Dean of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, Dr. William Bill.

In those old days there must have been a good deal of what we should call hardship, for nearly every one now lives a much more comfortable life than people did in the Elizabethan times.

The Great School is part of what used to be the monks’ dormitory. It is a splendid room, first built in the Norman days, and then altered or rebuilt in the fourteenth century. It stands on a lower storey which is part of the Norman buildings. The School was very well restored not many years ago. Besides the Great School there are, of course, many class-rooms.

The King’s scholars now live in a fine building which was begun in Dean Atterbury’s time, and designed by Sir Christopher Wren. It is here that the famous “Westminster Play” is acted every year, about Christmas time. The performance of this Latin play is a very old custom, and probably began in the time of Queen Elizabeth. If any member of the Royal Family has died during the year the play is not given.

Another curious old custom in the school is the tossing of the pancake on Shrove Tuesday. This takes place in the Great School. In former days, when classes were held in the Great School, there used to be a curtain hung right across, to divide the upper and lower schools. This curtain hung from an iron rod, which still remains, although the curtain has gone. Every Shrove Tuesday the college cook has to bring a very solid sort of pancake and throw it over this high bar. No doubt he has to practise a good deal before he can do it properly, and he does not always throw it over the first time. The boys scramble to catch it, and if any boy gets the whole pancake the Dean’s Verger leads him to the Dean, who gives him a guinea.

In old days the whole school might join in the scramble, and rather a dangerous one it was. Now it has been arranged that only a certain number of boys may struggle for the pancake, these boys being chosen from various forms.

Some of the most celebrated of the Westminster scholars have graves or monuments in the Abbey, and thus are doubly connected with Westminster. A few of these have already been mentioned, as, for example, Ben Jonson, the famous poet and dramatist, and the poets Abraham Cowley, George Herbert, John Dryden, William Cowper, and Robert Southey.

Matthew Prior, a poet much admired in his own day, was also a Westminster scholar. He died in 1721, and was buried near Spenser. His monument is near Poets’ Corner door.

Barton Booth, a well-known actor in the eighteenth century, was at Westminster school. He died in 1733, and his widow put up a monument to him in Poets’ Corner many years afterwards. Two streets in Westminster are named in memory of him. One of these is Barton street, and the other is Cowley street, called after Booth’s burial-place at Cowley, in Middlesex. Both these streets are close to the Abbey precincts.

Most people have heard of the famous Headmaster of Westminster in the seventeenth century, Dr. Richard Busby. He was Headmaster during the troublous times of the Civil War and the Commonwealth, and was still headmaster in the reigns of Charles II and James II. He was a very remarkable man, and had many distinguished pupils. He was celebrated both for scholarship and for severity.

It is told of Dr. Busby that on one occasion, when Charles II paid an unexpected visit to the School, he would not take off his hat in the King’s presence, for fear that if he did so the boys might think less of his authority.

Dr. Busby died in 1695, and was buried in the South Transept. His monument is very interesting, partly on account of the pathetic figure of Busby and the fine expression of the face.

One of his remarkable pupils is buried near him, and the monuments are quite close to one another. This pupil was Dr. Robert South, a great preacher, and Prebendary of Westminster. South could remember seeing Cromwell when he first appeared in Parliament, and heard Charles I prayed for in the Abbey on the very day of his death, “that black and eternally infamous day of the King’s murder.” Dr. South died in 1716.

There was always a great deal of Royalist feeling in the School, even all through the Commonwealth time, and a leading Independent went so far as to say that it would never be well with the nation until the School was suppressed, so strongly did the boys take the Royalist side.

Dean Atterbury, of whom we have already heard, was a Westminster scholar, and a pupil of Dr. Busby. As we know, he took a great part in the plots to bring back James II’s son, some of which plots went on in a secret chamber in the Deanery itself.

Richard Hakluyt, author of the Voyages and Travels; Warren Hastings, of Indian fame; and the well-known statesman, Lord John Russell, all formerly Westminster boys, have already been mentioned. In Statesmen’s Corner is the large monument of Lord Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice of England in 1756. He was also a Westminster scholar, and desired to be buried in the Abbey, “from the love which he bore to the place of his early education.” He died in 1793.

Charles Wesley and his elder brother Samuel were both educated at Westminster School. The memorial to John and Charles Wesley in the South Choir aisle has already been described. It is interesting to remember that Westminster School was in this way directly connected with one of the most important religious movements in England during the eighteenth century.

Among the great soldiers who were at Westminster School were Lord Lucan, the Marquis of Anglesey, and Lord Raglan. John Locke, the philosopher, Sir Christopher Wren, the great architect, and Edward Gibbon, author of the famous Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, were also Westminster boys.

And now our travels through the centuries and round the Abbey, with all its memories, must end. We have seen how that little Church on Thorney Isle has gradually grown into this stately Abbey, the home of all the great Anglo-Saxon race. We have seen too, at the same time, how the little English kingdom of the early Saxon days has expanded into a world-wide empire. It is for the children of Great Britain to see that the Abbey shall stand, not only for noble memories, but also for high hopes,—hopes, not only of riches and worldly success, but of the righteousness that exalteth a nation.