We are requested to state that the Dean and Chapter
of Westminster are anxious to give every facility for seeing all parts of the Abbey to all persons of whose respectability and trust- worthiness they can be assured. The nave and transepts are open to the public at all times, from 9 to 6 in summer, and from 10 to 4 in winter. In order to see the Royal and private chapels, any visitor who sends in his address to the Dean or one of the Canons, or who leaves his address at the entrance of the chapels, has per- mission to see them at leisure. The small payments for seeing the chapels form a fund for paying the guides, who are forbidden to receive any other gratuity. Any surplus is devoted to the decora- tion of the Abbey. Artists who desire to sketch, on application to the Dean, can obtain the necessary order for a twelvemonth. For the public in general the attendance of the guides is needed in the survey of the Royal tombs and chapels, both for the protection of the monuments and for the satisfaction of those who need explana- tions. Some months ago, when the attendance of the guides was for a time dropped by way of experiment, the complaints of the visitors were so numerous as to necessitate a return to the usual arrangement. The disfigurement of the monuments in former days, and even by educated persons at the present time, unfortu- nately shows that the superintendence of the guides is absolutely. necessary. For those who prefer to dispense with the explana- tions of the attendants small guide-books, containing a full account of all the tombs, can be procured within the Abbey. The public are warned against unauthorized persona offering themselves as guides outside the Abbey, who cause considerable annoyance by exacting money and misleading visitors, on false pretences.
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