Page:King Edward VII, his life & reign; the record of a noble career 3.djvu/250

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194
KING EDWARD THE SEVENTH

record, we note the meeting held on December 13, 1881, in the Chapter-house at the Abbey, presided over by the new Dean, Dr. Bradley. The purpose of the gathering was to promote a scheme for a fitting memorial to Dr. Stanley. The chairman was supported by the Prince of Wales, the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Tait, one of Stanley's chief friends), the Marquis of Salisbury, Earl Granville, the Duke of West- minster, and many other eminent persons in Church and State. The Prince proposed the first resolution: "That the genius, the character, and the public services of the late Dean of West- minster eminently entitle him to a national memorial ". In his speech the mover declared his sorrow, and his sad pleasure in taking part on such an occasion, and, referring to his own long friendship with the deceased, first as his pupil at Oxford, and then as his fellow traveller, he uttered a spirited eulogy of one whose " loss was deeply felt by my beloved mother the Queen, who bore for the late Dean the greatest possible friendship and affec- tion, and also by all the members of her family. As the church- man, as the scholar, as the man of letters, as the philanthropist, and, above all, as the true friend, his name must always go down to posterity as that of a great and good man." The resolution was seconded by Earl Granville, and then the Minister of the United States, the Hon. J. Russell Lowell, bore testimony to the honour in which the memory of Dean Stanley was held in that country. The result of this meeting was that a recumbent monument in white marble was placed over the grave, and painted windows were put in the Chapter-house, one of which was a gift from the Queen, as tributes to his memory from friends of every

class in Great Britain and the United States.