It was a
distinguished assembly in a famous place. Beneath were the illustrious
dead; around were the illustrious living.
The members of the bereaved family sat in the stall nearest the
bier--Mrs. Gladstone, her sons Henry, Herbert and Stephen; with other
members of the family, children and grand-children, including little
Dorothy Drew, Mr. Gladstone's favorite grand-child, in her new mourning.
The Princess of Wales and the Duchess of York occupied the Dean's pew
opposite. Other royalties were present in person or by their
representatives.
Within the chancel stood the Dean of Westminster, and behind him were
gathered the cathedral clergy, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the
scarlet and white surpliced choir, filling the chapel.
It was the wish of the deceased for simplicity, but he was buried with a
nation's homage in the tomb of kings. In the northern transept, known as
the "Statesmen's Corner", of Westminster Abbey, where England's greatest
dead rests, the body of Mr. Gladstone was entombed. His grave is near
the graves of Pitt, Palmerston, Canning and Peel, beside that of his
life-long political adversary, Lord Beaconsfield (Benjamin Disraeli),
whose marble effigy looks down upon it, decked with the regalia Mr.
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