WESTFIELD, a post town of Hampden county, Massachusetts, seven miles west of Springfield, ninety-three W. S. W. of Boston. This is a pleasant and excellent agricultural town, and has a handsome village, containing a Congregational meeting-house, a respectable and flourishing academy, and some manufactures.

WESTMEATH, a county of Ireland, situated in the province of Leinster. It is bounded on the north by the county of Cavan, on the east by Meath county, on the west by the county of Longford and by an expansion of the river Shannon called Lough Ree, and the King's county lies to its south. The length of this shire is forty-two English miles, and its maximum breadth thirty-five; its area contains 231,538 Irish plantation acres, on which reside a population of 130,000 souls. There are eleven whole and one half baronies in Westmeath; they are Brawney, Clonlonan, Corkaree, Delvin, Farbill, Fartullagh, Kilkenny West, Moyashel, Moycashel, Moygoish, Rathcomath, and Half Fore. These again are ecclesiastically divided into fifty-nine parishes and seven parts of others. The chief towns are Mullingar, a place of ancient establishment seated in the centre of the county, and where the assizes are held; part of the borough town of Athlone, besides Clonmellon, Castletown Delvin, Castlepollard, Kinnegad, Kilbeggan, Street, Rathowen, Ballymore, and Moyvore. The great river Shannon bounds the western part of the county, the Inny waters a part of the north, and the Royal Canal passes through the very centre; and, in addition to these advantages of inland navigation, the surface of the county generally is beautified, diversified, and irrigated, by many agreeable lakes which are adorned with islands and with wooded shores. Of these the principal are Lough Sillin, Derryvarragh, Leign, Iron, Ennell, Drin, and Banean Annagh. Westmeath is one of the least mountainous shires in Ireland, but is much encumbered by unreclaimed bogs. The Royal Canal navigation affords an easy transport for the great quantity of turf-fuel cut and saved here, as well as for their wool, which is the staple of the district round Mullingar. There were formerly many religious houses for monks of different orders established here, the most remarkable of which were the abbey of Fore, founded by St. Fechin about the year 630: having governed 3000 monks in this abbey he died of the plague in 665. His festival is still religiously observed on the 20th day of January. The ruins are still extensive. The priory and friaries at Mullingar were also famous; but the history of the monks of Multifernan is peculiarly singular:-After the suppression of monasteries, these friars had sufficient address to keep quiet and unobserved possession of their establishment, and grew, in a short time, into such wealth and power that, in 1622, they attempted to re-erect the priory of Mullingar. In this they were frustrated; but still retaining possession of Multifernan it is asserted that within their religious walls the rebellion of 1641 was first concocted and contrived. Westmeath retains scarcely one of its aboriginal great families; at present it gives title of marquis to the family of Nugent, and returns three members to the imperial parliament. This county was represented in the Irish parliament by ten members, two for the county and eight for the manor of Mullingar and the three boroughs. WESTMINSTER, a part of the metropolis of London, is a celebrated city in the county of Mid

dlesex, on the bank of the Thames, and supposed to be named from its minster or abbey, lying westward of St. Paul's. In ancient times it contained nothing remarkable, except the stately abbey, situate in a marshy island, called Thorney, surrounded on one side by the Thames, and on the other by a branch of the river called Long Ditch. For many ages it was entirely distinct from London, and the Strand was a road leading thereto, open on one side to the Thames, and on the other to fields. It is still governed by its own magistrates and laws, distinct from those of London. It contains nine parishes; viz. St. John's, St. Margaret's (which two alone, strictly speaking, constitute the city of Westminster), St. Ann's, Soho; St. Clement's Danes; St. George' Hanover Square; St. James's; St. Margaret's; St. Martin's-in-thefields; St. Mary-le-Strand; and St. Paul's, Covent Garden. Independent of the church establishment, the city contains places of worship for every sect of religionists. The greatest recent improvement in Westminster is the erection of a long, wide, and elegant street, or rather a succession of streets, from Carlton Palace on the south, to Portland Place on the north, in the line of which are the noble piles of Waterloo Place, the Regent's Quadrant, Regent's Street, and the Regent's Circus. The government of this city and its liberties is under the jurisdiction of the dean and chapter, in civil as well as ecclesiastical affairs, and their authority extends to the precincts of St. Martin's-le-grand, near Newgate Street, and to some places in Essex, that are exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishop of London and the archbishop of Canterbury; but the civil part, ever since the Reformation, has been in the hands of laymen, elected and confirmed by the dean and chapter. The principal magistrates are the high steward, usually a nobleman and chosen for life; a deputy steward, chosen by the high steward; and a high bailiff, nominated by the dean, and confirmed by the high steward: there are also sixteen burgesses and a high constable. Westminster returns two members to the imperial parliament, chosen by the householders. The numerous public buildings, churches, squares, and charitable establishments for the education and maintenance of youth, and the consolation of age, for the relief of disease and accidental calamity, are too extensive to admit of particular description; but we cannot forbear selecting a few historical and topographical notices of the ancient palaces, Westminster Hall, and the abbey.

Ancient palaces of Westminster.-Canute is known to have occupied a house or palace in Westminster, which was burnt down in the time of Edward the Confessor; but it is by no means certain that it was situated on the same spot where the latter monarch built the palace, some remains of which are still to be seen in the neighbourhood of Old Palace Yard, particularly the lancet windows in the painted chamber adjoining the house of lords.

William I., who was crowned here, enlarged the palace considerably to the northward, and his son William Rufus built Westminster hall as a banqueting-room. The palace at Westminster, like many of the ancient buildings of the metropolis, however, fell by conflagration. Twice had it been materially injured by fire, in the years 1263 and 1299, but the injury done both these times was repaired; not so the fire that took place in this building in 1512, which was so destructive that it was not deemed advisable to rebuild the edifice

ther with the Dutch and French chapels, were destroyed.

Carlton house, in Pall Mall, rose in the course of less than a century, from a plain mansion to be the principal town residence of the king of Great Britain. It came into possession of his present majesty's grandfather, Frederick prince of Wales, in 1732. A beautiful saloon, paved with Italian marble, and an elegant bath, were constructed in the garden, which was ornamented with statues. During the residence of the prince of Wales at Carlton House, it was the scene of those party intrigues, which have so often been employed to preserve what is called the balance of the state, by placing the sovereign and the heir apparent in political array against each other. On his death, on the 5th of March, 1757, the princess, his royal widow, continued to live at Carlton House, where she died on the 8th of February, 1772. From this period until the year 1783, the place was unoccupied, and rapidly sinking into ruin, when, his present majesty coming of age, it was deemed necessary that his royal highness should have a separate establishment, and Carlton House was repaired, or rather rebuilt (for little of the old structure was suffered to remain), under the direction of Mr. Holland. Here his present majesty long resided when in town, whether as prince of Wales, prince regent, or sovereign, and numerous splendid fêtes were given at this palace: the most remarkable perhaps, and the only experiment ever made at any court of Europe to give a supper to 2000 of the principal nobility, and gentry, was that on the 19th of June, 1811. This fete originated in the desire of his royal highness to show every respect and filial affection to his father's birth-day, it not having been convenient to hold a drawing room on its anniversary and with a due regard to our internal commerce, the invitation cards expressed a strong desire that every person should appear dressed in articles of British manufacture only. The fête was attended by Louis XVIII. and the French princes then in exile. But Carlton house has at last also fallen before the genius of improvement, and we need not therefore dwell on what it was.

We are as little disposed to dwell on what Buckingham house is; suffice it here to say, after having been long the queen's house, and the scene of much of the domestic felicity of George III. and his concort, it has been selected for improvement by the purveyors for royal comfort in the court of his majesty George IV., and is not yet (1829) completed

to their taste.

Westminster Hall.-Westminster Hall is one of the most venerable remains of our ancient English architecture, and it has been associated with the most splendid pageants of royalty, for upwards of seven centuries. It has already been stated that Westminster Hall was built by William Rufus for a banqueting-room, as an appendage to the palace; and, although it is now the largest room in Europe, unsupported by pillars, yet this monarch is said to have called it a mere bed-room in comparison of what he would build. It is, however, to Richard II. that we are indebted for the present noble structure; and it has recently been discovered, that Rufus's hall was divided by pillars of stone or wood. It is doubtful whether the dimensions were the same, although we find Henry III. feasting 6000 persons in this hall, and some other rooms of his palace, in honor of the coronation of his queen

Eleanor. A more extensive banquet is stated to have been given by the same monarch in 1243. Richard II. caused the old hall to be taken down, and raised the present edifice in the year 1397; and, two years after, he gave a 'house warming' in this hall, when, if we are to rely on Stowe, he feasted 10,000 persons. Westminster Hall has, from the most remote period, been the place where the coronation banquets have been held. It was formerly the custom for the sovereign to proceed from the tower on the previous evening, and sleep in Westminster; and his majesty, George IV., on the evening of his coronation, slept in the house of the speaker of the house of commons, adjoining the hall. On the morning his majesty proceeded to the hall, and, having taken his seat on the throne, gave the regalia to the individuals who had been previously declared, in the court of claims, entitled to the honor of bearing it. The procession was formed in the hall, whence it proceeded in great state along a covered platform to Westminster Abbey, where the coronation ceremony took place. When this was over, his majesty, surrounded by the nobility, knights of the several orders, and gentlemen, all clothed in splendid robes, returned to Westminster Hall, where a dinner of every luxury that could be procured had been provided in the utmost abundance.

Westminster Hall is universally allowed to be the largest room in Europe unsupported by pillars, being in length 270 feet, ninety feet high, and seventy-four feet broad. The roof of this venerable building is a fine specimen of the carpentry of the middle ages, and for strength and durability could not be excelled at the present day. Parliaments have formerly been held in this hall, and here trials before the peers take place.

When the republican government of Cromwell had been succeeded by the restored monarchy, the grave could not shelter some of the most prominent personages of the commonwealth; and in January 1661, the bodies of Oliver Cromwell, his son-inlaw Henry Ireton, lord deputy of Ireland, and John Bradshaw, who presided on the trial of Charles I., were, pursuant to a vote of the house of commons of the 8th of December preceding, taken out of their graves, conveyed upon sledges to Tyburn, and he bodies hanged at the three several angles of the gallows until sunset.' They were then beheaded, the trunks thrown into a deep pit under the gallows, and the heads set upon poles on the top of Westminster Hall. Tradition relates that on a stormy night, in the latter end of the reign of Charles II., or James II., the head of Cromwell was blown off the top of the pole, and afterwards presented to the Russell family.

The hall in which the second branch of the state, the house of lords, assembles, is a part of the ancient palace of Westminster, and is rather to be admired for its venerable antiquity than for its elegance. It is an oblong room of somewhat limited dimensions, hung round with tapestry, representing that memorable event in English history, the destruction of the Spanish Armada, which was presented by the states of Holland to queen Elizabeth; portraits of the heroes who shared in the destruction of that haughty and dreadful armament form a matchless border round the room. At the upper end is the throne, rich in gilding, but somewhat tasteless in its decoration. Some improvement has been made in the approaches to the house

of lords, under the direction of Mr. Soane, consisting of a noble staircase and magnificent gallery, 100 feet long and twenty-seven feet wide. The gallery is divided into three parts by columns, in imitation of veined marble, of the Ionic order. There is somewhat of a profusion of ornament in the decorative part of this gallery, but it presents a noble vista, and the dome and arches are novel, though rather too full of ornament.

Adjoining the house of lords is a room where conferences between the peers and the commons are held, called the painted chamber, which is known to be as old as the time of Edward the Confessor, who is said by Howel to have died in it. It was in this chamber that the fatal warrant for the execution of Charles I. was signed; and here also was held that important conference between the lords and commons which led to the revolution of 1688, and rescued the country from the fangs of an arbitrary and bigoted monarch. The painted chamber is so called on account of the paintings on its walls, which are of great antiquity; and, although their age is not known, it is certain they are as old as the year 1322, and probably much older.

The dreadful plot of Guy Fawkes and his associates, to exterminate kings, lords, and commons, at one fell swoop,' in the reign of James L., is well known, since the anniversary is not only a fast in the calendar, but, previous to every parliament, the cellars underneath the house of lords, where the conspirators had planted thirty-six barrels of gunpowder for the meditated explosion, are searched. The house in which the commons of Great Britam assemble is called St. Stephen's Chapel, and is a part of the ancient palace, generally supposed to have been built by king Stephen as a chapel for the palace, and dedicated to his namesake. Edward I. repaired it at considerable expense, but it was entirely rebuilt by Edward III., who made it a collegiate church with a regular endowment, which it had not previously possessed. Soon after its dissolution, in the reign of Edward VL, it was converted into a parliament-house, where the commons of England have ever since held their sittings. In the reign of queen Anue, the galleries were added under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren It was then customary to cover the walls with tapestry, which were renewed every new parliament, the housekeeper claiming on such occasions the old hangings. Since that period, to the year 1800, little appears to have been done to the house but when the 100 Irish members were to be added, in consequence of the union, it was found too small, and it was therefore determined to take down the original side walls, which were three feet thick, and build others only one foot thick, which enlarged the house four feet. It was in doing this that it was first discovered, on removing the wainscotting, that the walls of the building had originally been painted with historical subjects and single figures, engravings of which were soon afterwards made.

Westminster Abbey.-It has been very satisfactorily proved that Westminster Abbey owes its origin to Sebert king of the East Saxons; and that it was founded about the year 604. If, however, we could rely on dreams, and particularly on those of monks, we might quote the authority of Walsinus, that the apostle St. Peter himself had a chapel or oratory on the site of this magnificent pile. The vision of Wulsinus was turned to some advantage

by the succeeding monks, who added a new legend of St. Peter's crossing the water one stormy night, to consecrate the church, and rewarding the fishermen who ferried him over Thorney (water which surrounded the church, the site of which was called Thorney Island), with a miraculous draught of salmon, assuring him and his fellow watermen that they should never want fish, provided they would give one-tenth of what they caught to the newly consecrated church! It will not excite much surprise that the tale was believed, and that for several centuries the monks of Westminster fed on the offerings of the Thames fishermen. In the year 1231 the monks brought an action at law against the minister of Rotherhithe, in which they compelled him to give up to them one-half of the tithe of all salmon caught in his parish.

From the foundation of the abbey, to the time of Edward the Confessor, its history is obscure; but this prince, in consequence of an injunction from Leo IX., who had absolved him from a rash vow, appropriated one-tenth of his property, in gold, silver, cattle, and all other possessions,' to the rebuilding of the abbey. It was commenced in 1050, and finished fifteen years afterwards. Among its relics, the monkish writers assure us, were part of the manger in which Christ was born, the frankincense offered to him by the Eastern magi, a splinter of the table of our Lord, a crust of the bread that he blessed, a slab of the wall of the prison in which he was confined, a shred of his undividedgarment, fragments of the sponge dipped in hyssop which he sucked, the scourge with which he was tortured, and the lance by which the side of the Saviour of mankind was pierced! The legends assure us also that Edward presented to this church a portion of the milk and hair of the Virgin Mary, relics of most of the apostles, including the beard of St. Peter, with half a jaw and three teeth of St. Anastasia.

In the year 1220 Henry III. laid the first stone of a new chapel, in honor of the Virgin Mary, on the site now occupied by Henry VII.'s chapel; but little was done to the building until the year 1245, when it was more actively prosecuted, and that with a prodigality of expense which at the period was unparallelled. Between the years 1245 and 1261 the expense incurred in this portion of the abbey amounted to £29,605 19s. 8d. The church was opened for service in 1269.

When the chapel had been completed, Henry II. resolved that the remains of the Confessor should be removed into the new shrine; and in the sight of all the principal nobility and gentry of the land, who were assembled here, he, and his brother Richard, carried the chest containing St. Edward's remains, upon their shoulders, to the new shrine, wherein it was deposited with vast ceremony.

On seeing it exalted, the devils, says Matthew of Westminster, were instantly cast out of two possessed persons who had come purposely (the one from Ireland, the other from Winchester), to receive that benefit.' The anniversary of St. Edward's translation was long observed by the corporation and principal citizens.

During the reign of Henry III. and Edward I. the eastern part of the nave and the aisles were rebuilt, and finished in 1307. To Edward II., Edward III, and Richard II, we are indebted for the Great Cloisters, Abbot's House, and the principal menastic buildings. The western parts of

the nave and aisles were rebuilt by successive monarchs, between the years 1340 and 1483. The west front and the great window were built by those rival princes, Richard III. and Henry VII.; and it was the latter monarch who commenced the magnificent chapel which bears his name, and which was finished by his son and successor. The first stone was laid on the 24th of January 1502-3, by the abbot Islip; and, although the king did not live to see the work finished, yet, after amply endowing the abbey, he gave Islip £5000 towards completing it, only a few days before his decease. Although Henry VIII. finished the chapel, yet he did not spare the abbey from the general dissolution of the monasteries, nor could an existence of upwards of nine centuries successfully plead in its behalf. The monarch, however, while he seized on its revenues, which were nearly £4000 a year, raised it to the dignity of a cathedral, by royal letters patent, and endowed it with a revenue of £586 13s. 1d. Queen Mary restored its monastic privileges; but, in 1556, Elizabeth finally established it as a collegiate church. Sir Robert Harlow, the bigot, who in the civil wars was employed to demolish the venerable cross at Cheapside, broke into Henry VII.'s chapel, demolished the altar stone, and committed other outrages; and it appears, by a statement in the Mercurius Rusticus of 1646, that in July 1643 the abbey was converted into barracks for the soldiers.

During the reigns of George I. and George II. the great west window was rebuilt, and the western towers completed; but it is to their immediate succcessors that Westminster Abbey is most indebted, in the restoration of the exterior of Henry VII.'s chapel to its original beauty, after it had become so much dilapidated. This work was commenced in 1809, under the direction of Mr. James Wyatt, and has been completed at an expense of about £42,000.

On entering the great western door, the body of the church presents an impressive appearance, to which its loftiness, lightness, symmetry, and elegance contribute, although the view is somewhat disfigured by the monuments, which are neither good in themselves, nor tastefully arranged. The church consists of a nave and two side aisles, separated by ranges of lofty columns supporting the roof, which is raised to a great elevation. The nave is separated from the choir by a screen; the choir, in the form of a semioctagon, was formerly surrounded by eight chapels, but there are now only seven, that which was formerly the central chapel now forms the porch of that of Henry VII. The choir, the only part that can be seen gratuitously, and that only during the hours of divine service (celebrated every day at ten o'clock in the morning, and three o'clock in the afternoon), is celebrated for its beautiful Mosaic pavement, venerable in its age, costly in its materials, and of almost inimitable workmanship. This pavement, made at the expense of abbot Ware, and named after him, is formed of innumerable pieces of jasper, alabaster, porphyry, lapis-lazuli, serpentine marbles, and touch-stone; these pieces, which vary in size from half an inch to four inches, are arranged in the most varied and beautiful forms, and present a platform of singular beauty. On the 9th of July, 1803, the roof of the choir was much injured by a fire, which threatened the entire destruction of this maguificent structure.

The chapel of Henry VII. is a magnificent specimen of ecclesiastical architecture. It is nearly square; the east end forming five sides of an octagon. When viewed exteriorly it presents a light and airy structure, and the interior is of singular beauty and symmetry, though much disfigured by the stalls and flags of the knights of the bath. Within is the tomb of its founder, enclosed by a screen of gilt brass, said to have been executed by Torrigiano, the rival of Michael Angelo. Here also are entombed the ill-fated Mary queen of Scots, and her vindictive persecutor queen Elizabeth, who sent her to the block.

Edward the Confessor's chapel, situated at the east end of the choir, contains several royal tombs, as well as the celebrated coronation chair, which contains the still more celebrated stone, monkish tradition relates to have been Jacob's pillar. This stone is placed within the frame work of the chair, and was brought from Scone, in Scotland, in 1267, by Edward I. It is a remarkable instance of the force of superstition, that this stone has been the subject of an express article in a treaty of peace, as well as of a conference between Edward III. and David II., king of Scotland. By the treaty it was agreed to give the stone up to Scotland, and in the conference it was resolved that the king, after being crowned in England, should repair to Scotland and be crowned king at Scone; but neither of these resolutions were carried into effect.

The chapels of St. Andrew, St. Benedict, St. Erasmus, St. John, St. Michael, and Henry V., all contain the tombs of some distinguished person, as does the Poet's Corner; but, although monuments to the memory of many illustrious characters are to be found in various parts of Westminster Abbey, yet there are others who have scarcely any claim to such a distinction. Except the sovereigns, down to those of the house of Stuart, we look in vain for the tombs of the great men who have adorned the annals of our history. In the Poet's Corner, the statue of Shakspeare, and that of his great exemplifier, David Garrick, will attract attention; but the greatest of modern dramatists, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, may escape notice, unless the visitor is pointed out to the only memorial of him, a black marble slab which covers his remains. The names of Chaucer, Spenser, Ben Jonson, Milton, Butler, Prior, Addison, Dryden, Goldsmith, and several other distinguished authors and artists, have also a memorial in the Poet's Corner; and in other parts of the abbey are numerous monuments to modern statesmen, senators, and lawyers; including one to Charles James Fox, by Westmacott, and another to the memory of Mr. Percival, whose assassination is represented in basso relievo. To describe all the monuments is impossible, and even to enumerate their names would but furnish a dull catalogue.

From the time of William I., to that of his majesty George IV., Westminster Abbey has been the place where the august and religious ceremony of crowning the kings of England has taken place, on which occasions it has been customary to fit up the interior.

The government of the abbey church of St. Peter's is intimately connected with that of the city of Westminster itself; although, since the reformation, the civil authority has been in the hands of the laity, yet the right of nominating the chief officers is still exercised by the dean and chapter: they appoint the high steward, and the high bailiff,