27 JANUARY 1923, Page 14

THE MONUMENTS OF THE ABBEY.

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

SIR,—The proposal referred to in Mr. Carew Mildmay's letter to you for removing the most inappropriate monuments from Westminster Abbey is one which should win the earnest support of all who love and honour our great Cathedral. Not only do the numerous statues, incongruous as they are in their present position, conceal or mar the grand proportions and beautiful features of the interior of the building and so become a constant source of irritation to the lover of architecture but—as anyone who walks round the Abbey at almost any time may notice—they divert the attention of the casual visitor from looking at the building as a whole while he examines in detail the very varied memorials erected to the great dead, and prevent him from grasping or even properly perceiving its beauties, which ought to excite his wonder and delight.

These monuments could be far better studied and appreci- ated in a special cloister such as Lord Eversley proposed, while the Abbey would be seen in its majesty and beauty as never before.—I am, Sir, &c.,

12 Cambridge Square, W.2. TRAVFRS Burrow.