fifteenth. To Langham's generous
bequest and Litlington's talent for architectural design the monks owed
the completion of this most important part of their monastery. We shall
see as we go out the head of Litlington, carved on the archway in Dean's
Yard after his death, for he did not live to see the whole work which he
had planned carried out. In walking round the cloisters it must be
remembered, however, that successive restorations and remodellings of the
window traceries have in many instances destroyed all traces of the
earlier style, and the more ancient portions are now in so decayed a
state that a fresh restoration must soon be undertaken.

* * * * * *

[Illustration: The South Transept and Chapter House from Dean's Yard]

* * * *

THE SOUTH TRANSEPT AND CHAPTER HOUSE

From Dean's Yard we get the best view of the south transept and the group
of buildings which surround it. Thus we see the Chapter House behind the
roof of the ancient dormitory, now the Chapter library and the great
school, while at the back of the old houses to the left are the leads
which cover the cloisters. To the right is the small arch which leads
into Little Dean's Yard, and the immediate foreground is filled by the
green, where the Westminster boys are allowed to play football between
school in winter. The elm trees, themselves of some antiquity, are
interesting, for their forerunners were planted by Feckenham, the last
Abbot of Westminster, and gave the name of the Elms to the whole square
which is now called Dean's Yard.

* * * * * *

From the west door we pass down the north walk, pausing to observe a
modern tablet which recalls the Boer War: it commemorates seven of the
Queen's Westminster Volunteers who fell in South Africa, fighting side by
side with their civic comrades the C.I.V.'s. Some round holes in the
stone bench below are said to be the marks of an old English game, called
"nine men's morris," which was popular in mediaeval times; and if this be
so, we can only suppose that even the more studious brethren in the
library had their lighter {124} moments, or that the novices were allowed
to play here. The lover of quaint epitaphs in our party is sure to stop
a little further on in order to decipher an almost obliterated rhyming
inscription, which tells how faithfully William Lawrence served a
Prebendary, and "gained this