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100% found this document useful (1 vote)
35 views

Python Programming: 3 Books in 1: Ultimate Beginneru2019s, Intermediate & Advanced Guide to Learn Python Step-by-Step - Download the ebook today and own the complete version

The document promotes various Python programming ebooks available for download at ebookmass.com, including guides for beginners, intermediates, and advanced learners. It highlights the importance of machine learning and provides a brief overview of Python's capabilities and libraries relevant to the field. Additionally, it emphasizes the accessibility of Python for new learners and the resources available to support their education in programming.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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PYTHON PROGRAMMING

3 BOOKS IN 1: ULTIMATE BEGINNER’S, INTERMEDIATE &


ADVANCED GUIDE TO LEARN PYTHON STEP BY STEP
RYAN TURNER
C O NT E NT S

Python Programming: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Learn Python Step by Step
Introduction
1. What is Python Machine Learning?
2. How to Start Learning Python
3. Review of Data Samples and Visualization of Data
4. How to Create a Dataset with Visualization
5. Making Predictions with Algorithms
6. Examples of Coding
7. Decision Tree
8. Neural Networks
9. Bringing it All Together
Conclusion
Python Programming: The Ultimate Intermediate Guide to Learn Python Step by Step
Introduction
1. What Is Machine Learning
2. Supervised Machine Learning
3. Unsupervised Machine Learning
4. The Basics of Working with Python
5. Setting up Your Python Environment
6. Data Preprocessing with Machine Learning
7. Working with Linear Regression in Machine Learning
8. Using a Decision Tree for Regression
9. Random Forest for Regression
10. Working with a Support Vector Regression
11. What is Naive Bayes and How Does It Work with Machine Learning
12. K-Nearest Neighbors Algorithm for Classification
Conclusion
Python Programming: The Ultimate Expert Guide to Learn Python Step-by-Step
Introduction
1. Working with Inheritances in Python
2. Arguments in Python
3. Namespace and Python
4. Working with Iterators in Python and What These Mean
5. Exception Handling and How to Create a Unique Code with Them
6. The Python Generators
7. What are Itertools in the Python Language
8. What are Closures in Python and Why are they so Important
9. Working with Regular Expressions
10. What are the Conditional Statements and When Will I Need to Use Them?
11. Do I Need to Learn Assert Handling in This Language
12. How to Work with Loops in Your Python Code
13. When to Use User-Defined Functions in Your Code
14. Working with Memoization in Python
Conclusion
Copyright 2018 by James C. Anderson - All rights reserved.
The following eBook is reproduced below with the goal of providing information that is as
accurate and reliable as possible. Regardless, purchasing this eBook can be seen as consent to the
fact that both the publisher and the author of this book are in no way experts on the topics
discussed within and that any recommendations or suggestions that are made herein are for
entertainment purposes only. Professionals should be consulted as needed prior to undertaking
any of the action endorsed herein.
This declaration is deemed fair and valid by both the American Bar Association and the
Committee of Publishers Association and is legally binding throughout the United States.
Furthermore, the transmission, duplication or reproduction of any of the following work
including specific information will be considered an illegal act irrespective of if it is done
electronically or in print. This extends to creating a secondary or tertiary copy of the work or a
recorded copy and is only allowed with an expressed written consent from the Publisher. All
additional rights reserved.
The information in the following pages is broadly considered to be a truthful and accurate
account of facts, and as such any inattention, use or misuse of the information in question by the
reader will render any resulting actions solely under their purview. There are no scenarios in
which the publisher or the original author of this work can be in any fashion deemed liable for
any hardship or damages that may befall them after undertaking information described herein.
Additionally, the information in the following pages is intended only for informational purposes
and should thus be thought of as universal. As befitting its nature, it is presented without
assurance regarding its prolonged validity or interim quality. Trademarks that are mentioned are
done without written consent and can in no way be considered an endorsement from the
trademark holder.
PYTHON PROGRAMMING: THE
ULTIMATE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO
LEARN PYTHON STEP BY STEP
I NT R OD UC T I ON

Congratulations on downloading Python Beginners Guide: Machine


Learning for Newbies, and thank you for doing so.
In this Python Beginner’s Guide, you’re about to learn...

The Most Vital Basics of Python programming. Rapidly get the


dialect and begin applying the ideas to any code that you
compose.
The Useful features of Python for Beginners—including some
ideas you can apply to in real-world situations and even other
programs.
Different mechanics of Python programming: control stream,
factors, records/lexicons, and classes—and why taking in these
center standards are essential to Python achievement
Protest arranged programming, its impact on present-day
scripting languages, and why it makes a difference.

This guide has been composed specifically for Newbies and Beginners.
You will be taken through each step of your very first program, and we
will explain each portion of the script as you test and analyze the data.
Machine learning is defined as a subset of something called artificial
intelligence (AI). The ultimate goal of machine learning is to first
comprehend the structure of the presented data and align that data into
certain models that can then be understood and used by anyone.
Despite the fact that machine learning is a department in the computer
science field, it truly is different from normal data processing methods.
In common computing programs, formulas are groups of individually
programmed orders that are used by computers to determine outcomes and
solve problems. Instead, machine learning formulas allow computers to
focus only on data that is inputted and use proven stat analysis in order to
deliver correct values that fall within a certain probability. What this
means is that computers have the ability to break down simple data
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models which enables it to automate routine decision-making steps based
on the specific data that was inputted.
Any innovation client today has profited from machine learning. Facial
acknowledgment innovation enables internet based life stages to enable
clients to tag and offer photographs of companions. Optical character
acknowledgment (OCR) innovation changes over pictures of content into
portable kind. Proposal motors, controlled by machine learning,
recommend what motion pictures or TV programs to watch next in view of
client inclinations. Self-driving autos that depend on machine learning on
how to explore may soon be accessible to shoppers.
Machine learning is a ceaselessly growing field. Along these lines, there
are a few things to remember as you work with machine learning
philosophies, or break down the effect of machine learning forms.
In this book, we'll look at the normal machine learning strategies for
managed and unsupervised learning, the basic algorithmic methodologies
including the k-closest neighbor calculation, specific decision tree
learning, and deeply impactful techniques. We will also investigate which
programming is most used in machine learning, giving you a portion of
the positive and negative qualities. Moreover, we'll talk about some
important biases that are propagated by machine learning calculations, and
consider what can be done to avoid biases affecting your algorithm
building.
There are plenty of books on this subject on the market. Thanks for
choosing this one! Every effort was made to ensure it’s full of useful
information as possible, please enjoy!
1
WH AT I S PY T H O N MAC H I NE LE AR NI NG ?

WH AT I S PY T H O N?

P ython is an awesome decision on machine learning for a few


reasons. Most importantly, it's a basic dialect at first glance.
Regardless of whether you're not acquainted with Python, getting
up to speed is snappy in the event that you at any point have utilized some
other dialect with C-like grammar.
Second, Python has an incredible network which results in great
documentation and inviting and extensive answers in StackOverflow
(central!).
Third, coming from the colossal network, there are a lot of valuable
libraries for Python (both as "batteries included" an outsider), which take
care of essentially any issue that you can have (counting machine
learning).
Wait I thought this machine language was slow?
Unfortunately, it is a very valid question that deserves an answer. Indeed,
Python is not at all the fastest language on the planet.
However, here's the caveat: libraries can and do offload the costly
computations to the substantially more performant (yet much harder to
use) C and C++ are prime examples. There's NumPy, which is a library for
numerical calculation. It is composed in C, and it's quick. For all intents
and purposes, each library out there that includes serious estimations
utilizes it—every one of the libraries recorded next utilize it in some
shape. On the off chance that you read NumPy, think quick.
In this way, you can influence your computer scripts to run essentially as
quick as handwriting them out in a lower level dialect. So there's truly
nothing to stress over with regards to speed and agility.
If you want to know which Python libraries you should check out. Try
some of these.
“Scikit-learn”
Do you need something that completely addresses everything from testing
and training models to engineering techniques?
Then scikit-learn is your best solution. This incredible bit of free
programming gives each device important to machine learning and
information mining. It's the true standard library for machine learning in
Python; suggested for the vast majority of the 'old' ML calculations.
This library does both characterization and relapse, supporting essentially
every calculation out there (bolster vector machines, arbitrary timberland,
Bayes, you name it). It allows a simple exchanging of calculations in
which experimentation is a lot simpler. These 'more seasoned' calculations
are shockingly flexible and work extremely well in a considerable amount
of problems and case studies.
In any case, that is not all! Scikit-learn additionally does groupings, plural
dimensionalities, and so on. It's likewise exceedingly quick since it keeps
running on NumPy and SciPy.
Look at a few cases to see everything this library is prepared to do, the
instructional exercises on the website, and the need to figure out if this is a
good fit.
“NLTK”
While not a machine learning library essentially, NLTK is an
unquestionable requirement when working with regular computer
language. It is bundled with a heap of Datasets and other rhetorical data
assets, which is invaluable for preparing certain models. Aside from the
libraries for working with content, this is great for determining capacities,
for example, characterization, tokenization, stemming, labeling, and
parsing—that's just the beginning.
The handiness of having the majority of this stuff perfectly bundled can't
be exaggerated. In case you are keen on regular computer language look at
a few of their website's instructional exercises!
“Theano”
Utilized generally in research and within the scholarly community, Theano
is the granddad of all deeply profound learning systems. Since it is written
in Python, it is firmly incorporated with NumPy. Theano enables you to
make neural systems which are essential scientific articulations with
multi-dimensional clusters. Theano handles this so you that you don't need
to stress over the real usage of the math included.
It bolsters offloading figures to a considerably speedier GPU, which is an
element that everybody underpins today, yet, back when they presented it,
this wasn't the situation. The library is extremely developed now and
boasts an extensive variety of activities, which is extraordinary with
regards to contrasting it and other comparative libraries.
The greatest grievance out there about Theano is the API might be
cumbersome for a few, making the library difficult to use for beginning
learners. In any case, there are tools that relieve the agony and makes
working with Theano pretty straightforward, for example, try using Keras,
or Blocks, and even Lasagne.
“TensorFlow”
The geniuses over at Google made TensorFlow for inside use in machine
learning applications and publicly released it in late 2015. They needed
something that could supplant their more established, non-open source
machine learning structure, DistBelief. It wasn't sufficiently adaptable and
too firmly ingrained into their foundation. It was to be imparted to
different analysts around the globe.
Thus, TensorFlow was made. Despite their slip-ups in the past, many view
this library as a much-needed change over Theano, asserting greater
adaptability and more instinctive API. Another great benefit is it can be
utilized to create new conditions, supporting tremendous amounts of new
GPUs for training and learning purposes. While it doesn't bolster as wide a
scope of functionality like Theano, it has better computational diagram
representations.
TensorFlow is exceptionally famous these days. In fact, if you are familiar
with every single library on this list, you can agree that there has been a
huge influx in the number of new users and bloggers in this library and its
functionality. This is definitely a good thing for beginners.
“Keras”
Keras is a phenomenal library that gives a top-level API to neural systems
and is best for running alongside or on top of Theano or TensorFlow. It
makes bridling full intensity of these intricate bits of programming
substantially simpler than utilizing them all by themselves. The greatest
benefit of this library is its exceptional ease of understanding, putting the
end users’ needs and experiences as its number one priority. This cuts
down on a number of errors.
It is also secluded; which means that individual models like neural layers
and cost capacities can be grouped together with little to no limitations.
This additionally makes the library simple to include new models and
interface them with the current ones.
A few people have called Keras great that it is similar to cheating on your
exam. In case you're beginning with higher learning in this area, take the
illustrations and examples and discover what you can do with it. Try
exploring.
Furthermore, by chance that you need to START learning, it is
recommended that you begin with their instructional exercises and see
where you can go from that point.
Two comparative choices are Lasagne and Blocks; however, they just keep
running on Theano. If you attempted Keras and have difficulty, perhaps,
experiment with one of these contrasting options to check whether they
work out for you.
“PyTorch”
If you are looking for a popular deep learning library, then look no further
than Torch, which is written in the language called Lua. Facebook recently
open-sourced a Python model of Torch and named it PyTorch, which
allows you to easily use the exact same libraries that Torch uses, but from
Python, instead of the original language, Lua.
PyTorch is significantly easier for debugging because of one major
difference between Theano, TensorFlow, and PyTorch. The older versions
use allegorical computation while the newer does not. Allegorical
computation is simply a way of saying that coding an operation, for
example, ‘a + b’, will not be computed when that line is read. Before it is
executed it must be translated into what is called CUDA or C. This makes
the debugging much harder to execute in Theano/TensorFlow since this
error is more difficult to pinpoint with a specific line of code. It’s
basically harder to trace back to the source. Debugging is not one of this
library’s strongest features.
This is extremely beginner-friendly; as your learning increases, try some
of their more advanced tutorials and examples.

H I ST O R Y O F PY T H O N
Python was invented in the later years of the 1980s. Guido van Rossum,
the founder, started using the language in December 1989. He is Python's
only known creator and his integral role in the growth and development of
the language has earned him the nickname "Benevolent Dictator for Life".
It was created to be the successor to the language known as ABC.
Van Rossum said one the reasons he created Python back in 1996:
““...In December 1989, I was looking for a "hobby" programming project
that would keep me occupied during the week around Christmas. My office
... would be closed, but I had a home computer and not much else on my
hands. I decided to write an interpreter for the new scripting language I
had been thinking about lately: a descendant of ABC that would appeal to
Unix/C hackers. I chose Python as a working title for the project, being in
a slightly irreverent mood (and a big fan of Monty Python's Flying
Circus).”
The next version that was released was Python 2.0, in October of the year
2000 and had significant upgrades and new highlights, including a cycle-
distinguishing junk jockey and back up support for Unicode. It was most
fortunate, that this particular version, made vast improvement procedures
to the language turned out to be more straightforward and network
sponsored.
Python 3.0, which initially started its existence as Py3K. Funny right? This
version was rolled out in December of 2008 after a rigorous testing period.
This particular version of Python was hard to roll back to previous
compatible versions which are the most unfortunate. Yet, a significant
number of its real highlights have been rolled back to versions 2.6 or 2.7
(Python), and rollouts of Python 3 which utilizes the two to three utilities,
that helps to automate the interpretation of the Python script.
Python 2.7's expiry date was originally supposed to be back in 2015, but
for unidentifiable reasons, it was put off until the year 2020. It was known
that there was a major concern about data being unable to roll back but roll
FORWARD into the new version, Python 3. In 2017, Google declared that
there would be work done on Python 2.7 to enhance execution under
simultaneously running tasks.

B ASI C F E AT U R E S O F PY T H O N
Python is an unmistakable and extremely robust programming language
that is object-oriented based almost identical to Ruby, Perl, and Java,
A portion of Python's remarkable highlights:
Python uses a rich structure, influencing, and composing projects that can
be analyzed simpler.
It is a simple to utilize dialect that makes it easy to get your program
working. This makes Python perfect for model improvement and other
specially appointed programming assignments, without trading off
viability.
It accompanies a huge standard library that backs tons of simple
programming commands, for example, extremely seamless web server
connections, processing and handling files, and the ability to search
through text with commonly used expressions and commands.
Python's easy to use interactive interface makes it simple to test shorter
pieces of coding. It also comes with IDLE which is a "development
environment".
Python effortlessly extended out by including new modules executed in a
source code like C or C++.
Python can also be inserted into another application to give an easily
programmed interface.
Python will run anyplace, including OS X, Windows Environment, Linux,
and even Unix, with informal models for the Android and iOS
environments.
Python can easily be recorded, modified and re-downloaded and
distributed, be unreservedly adjusted and re-disseminated. While it is
copyrighted, it's accessible under open source.
Ultimately, Python is a free software.
Common Programming Language Features of Python
A huge array of common data types: floating point numbers, complex
numbers, infinite length integers, ASCII strings, and Unicode, as well as a
large variety of dictionaries and lists.
Python is guided in an object-oriented framework, with multiple classes
and inheritance.
Python code can be bundled together into different modules and packages.
Python is notorious for being a much cleaner language for error handling
due to the catching and raising of exceptions allowed.
Information is firmly and progressively composed. Blending incongruent
data types, for example, adding a string and a number together, raises an
exception right away where errors are caught significantly sooner than
later.
Python has advanced coding highlights such as comprehending lists and
iterators.
Python's programmed memory administration liberates you from having
to physically remove unused or unwanted code.
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his opinion that a strong navy meant peace for England. In vain
Henry pleaded with his father to set free this prisoner who had
committed no crime save that of offending Spain. But James and his
son were of very different natures, and James was always doggedly
obstinate. "No one but the King would shut up such a bird in a
cage," said the boy sadly.

INTERIOR LOOKING EAST.


In 1610 he was created Prince of Wales and there were great
festivities in the White Chamber of Westminster Palace, as there, in
the presence of the Lords and Commons, he knelt before the king,
wearing a robe of purple velvet, to receive the crown of Llewellyn.
Once again he won all hearts, and the members of Parliament
congratulated themselves that so worthy a prince was heir to the
throne. He became more and more the idol of the people, and
indeed rarely if ever since the days of Edward, the Black Prince, had
a king's son been so full of promise. But to the utter grief of the
nation he died two years later, after a short illness.
"Are you pleased to submit yourself to the will of God?" asked
the Archbishop, when all hope was given up.
"With all my heart," the boy answered simply.
"I had written him a treatise on the 'Art of War by Sea,'" said
Raleigh, when the sad news reached him. "But God hath spared me
the labour of finishing it. I leave him therefore in the hands of God."
When the long funeral procession passed through the streets
"there was a great outcry among all people," and it was to the
sounds of weeping and wailing that the boy-prince, who had won so
much love and respect, was carried to Westminster Abbey. There,
close to him, was laid more than forty years later, his dearest sister,
Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, who, after a sadly adventurous life,
spent her last few years peacefully in London, cared for and watched
over by Lord Craven, whose devotion to her had been lifelong, as
unchanging as it was chivalrous.
Another brother and sister are buried here, Anne, the little
daughter of Charles I., and Prince Henry, his third son. Anne died
before all those troubles began, which saddened the childhood of
her brothers and sisters, and made them prisoners in the hands of
their father's enemies, as she was only four when she fell into a fast
consumption.
"I am not able," she said wearily, the night she died, "to say my
long prayer, but I will say my short one. 'Lighten mine eyes, O Lord,
lest I sleep in death.'"
Little Henry, the Duke of Gloucester, was extraordinarily like his
uncle Henry in every way, old for his age, clever, thoughtful, "with a
sweet method of talking, and a judgment much beyond his years."
He was taken from his father almost before he knew him, and was,
with his sister, also a Princess Elizabeth, kept practically a prisoner in
London by the Puritan party. But he was not unkindly treated, for so
engaging was he both in conversation and in manners, that many of
the Puritans thought he would make a good ruler for England if only
he were strictly brought up, and kept away from the influence of his
mother or the court.
When the sentence of death was passed on King Charles, he
asked to see the two of his children who were in London, and after
some delay the request was granted. Awe-struck, the little couple
came into his presence, and the king seems to have grasped what
was likely to happen. He lifted the Duke of Gloucester on to his
knee. "Sweetheart," he said, "they will cut off thy father's head, and
mark, child, perhaps they will make thee a king. But you must not
be a king while your brothers Charles and James be living."
"I will be torn in pieces first," answered the white-faced child,
with a determination which made so great an impression on Charles,
that even at that sad moment he rejoiced exceedingly; while the
little Duke, who up till now had rarely seen his father, could carry
away as a last memory the picture of one whose courage was
highest when the need for it was greatest, and who, if he had faced
life weakly, met death bravely.
With his sister he was taken to Carisbrooke Castle, but here his
existence was very sad, for Princess Elizabeth, like her sister Anne,
fell into a consumption, and not being properly cared for, she died.
So lonely was he now, that those who had the charge of him, still
nursing the idea that one day he might become king, sent him
abroad to Leyden, with a tutor, and here he won for himself the
pleasant reputation of being "a most complete gentleman and rarely
accomplished."
With the Restoration Henry gladly returned to England, and at
once begged his brother to find him some work to do, as "he could
not bear an idle life." So he was made Lord Treasurer. He proved
himself to be a good man of business, while in his leisure hours he
gathered round him men of letters and learning, and soon became
as popular in London as he had been in Leyden. Then a sudden
attack of smallpox killed him, and once again a funeral procession
wended its way to Westminster amid signs of very real sorrow. For
his fair life had won him many friends and never an enemy.
Of Prince Rupert, who was buried in this vault, that gallant
soldier in the Royalist cause, more in another chapter, and this one
shall end with a few words about the luckless "Lady Arabella Stuart."
She was a cousin to James I., as her father's brother was the Earl of
Darnley who had married Mary Queen of Scots; but besides this she
was of royal birth, and her grandmother, the Countess of Lennox,
whose tomb you will find close by, claimed, as you will see inscribed
thereon, to have "to her great-grandfather Edward IV., to her
grandfather Henry VII., to her uncle Henry VIII., to her grandchild
James VI. and I." Arabella's father had committed the unpardonable
offence of marrying without Queen Elizabeth's permission Elizabeth
Cavendish, the daughter of the celebrated Bess of Hardwick, and for
so doing the young couple were promptly sent to the Tower, in
company with both the mothers-in-law, one of whom, the Countess
of Lennox, had already twice been imprisoned for matters of love—
an early attachment of her own to Thomas Howard, and the
marriage of her elder son to Mary Queen of Scots. The young Earl of
Lennox died very soon after his marriage, and Elizabeth relented so
far as to allow yearly £400 a year to his widow and £200 to his little
daughter Arabella.
When she was twelve, Arabella was sent for by the queen to
London, and being very handsome as well as clever, she soon began
to attract attention. The Roman Catholic party, always on the look-
out for a weapon to use against the crown, turned their attentions to
her, and her position became a dangerous one, though she herself
was entirely loyal and very prudent. The great Lord Burleigh,
however, was always her good friend, and when James came to the
throne, he gave him a wise hint to "deal tenderly with this high-
spirited and fascinating young lady." James took his advice, and
Arabella lived at his court, nominally as the governess of the
Princess Elizabeth, but actually as if she herself had been a
daughter. She was a favourite with all, especially with Henry Prince
of Wales, for she was highly educated and a most delightful
companion. But though she had many lovers, she would look at
none of them, declaring "she had no mind for marriage." However,
unfortunately for her, she lost her heart to William Seymour, whom
she married in spite of the disapproval of James. And then began
her troubles, for Seymour was utterly unworthy of her, and had only
married her to advance his own position. When he was put into the
Tower, and his wife was kept as a prisoner at Lambeth, his only idea
was to make good his own escape, leaving Arabella to her fate;
whilst she, still believing in him, risked everything to set him free. It
was only when she found that he had fled to Ostend without her
that the full force of her sorrows overwhelmed her.
She had hardly a friend, for even Prince Henry seems to have
sided for once with his father, and greatest of all was the bitterness
of realising that her husband cared nothing for her. He did not even
write to her, lest in so doing he might endanger his own safety.
She was sent to the Tower, where first her health, then her
mind gave way, and she became as a little child, singing nursery
songs, prattling of childish things. Death was a merciful release.
Secretly, by dead of night, she was taken from the Tower to the
Abbey on a barge, and buried without any ceremony in the vault
under the tomb of her aunt. She had often described herself as the
"most sorrowful creature living," and, indeed, I think that under this
tomb in Henry VII.'s chapel lie three royal women of the Stuart race
whose lives were all the saddest tragedies, Mary Queen of Scots,
Elizabeth of Bohemia, and the Lady Arabella. "God grant them all a
good ending," as the old chroniclers were wont to say. At least now,
after life's fitful fever, they sleep well in the calm of the old Abbey.

CHAPTER XII
FROM THE STUARTS TO OUR OWN TIMES
When James I. came to the throne, Lancelot Andrewes was Dean of
Westminster, and he devoted himself to the care of the school,
which, under Elizabeth's endowments, was now prospering greatly.
He had this excellent reputation, "that all the places where he had
preferment were better for it," and it is certain that either he must
have been a remarkable master or the Westminster boys must have
been models of their kind, for this is how Hacket, once his pupil,
rapturously describes him:—
"Who could come near the shrine of such a saint and not offer
up a few pæans of glory on it? Or how durst I omit it? For he it was
that first planted me in my tender studies and watered them
continually with his bounty.... He did often supply the place of head-
master and usher for the space of an whole week together, and gave
us not an hour of loitering time from morning till night. He never
walked to Chiswick for his recreation without a brace of this young
fry, and in that wayfaring leisure had a singular dexterity to fill those
narrow vessels with a funnel. And what was the greatest burden of
his toil, sometimes twice in the week, sometimes oftener, he sent for
the uppermost scholars to his lodgings at night and kept them with
him from eight to eleven, unfolding to them the best rudiments of
the Greek tongue and the elements of Hebrew grammar. And all this
he did to boys without any compulsion or correction; nay, I never
heard him to utter so much as a word of austerity."
Altogether Andrewes was a man of great influence and renown
both as a scholar and a preacher, so he was promoted to a bishopric
after a short time, and was succeeded by Richard Neile, who had
himself been a boy of Westminster School, and who, therefore, in his
turn carefully fostered its growth. He too became a bishop in three
years, and of the two deans who followed him, Montague and
Tounson, we know little except that the one was "a person of wit
and entertaining conversation," and the other "one of a graceful
presence and an excellent preacher, who left a widow and fifteen
children unprovided for."
It is Hacket who again gives us an amusing picture of the
excitement among all the divines when it became known that
Tounson was to be Bishop of Salisbury and that the Deanery of
Westminster was vacant.
"It was a fortunate seat," he says, "near the Court. Like the
office over the king of Persia's garden at Babylon, stored with the
most delicious fruits. He that was trusted with the garden was the
Lord of the Palace."
Among those who earnestly desired the post was John Williams,
one of the chaplains to James I., and in these words he applied for it
through Lord Burleigh:—
"MY MOST NOBLE LORD,—I am an humble suitor, first to be
acknowledged your servant, and then that I may with your happy
hand be transplanted to Westminster if the Deanery shall still prove
vacant. I trouble not your Honour for profit, but for convenience, for
being unmarried and inclining so to continue, I do find that
Westminster is fitter by much for that disposition. If your Honour be
not bent upon an ancient servitor, I beseech you to think on me."

Fortunately for Westminster he obtained his heart's desire, and in


1620 began his useful rule. He took for his exemplars Abbot Islip
and Dean Andrewes, imitating the first by carefully restoring the
many parts of the Abbey which through neglect were falling in ruins,
and the second by encouraging the school. Then, "that God might
be praised with a cheerful noise in His sanctuary," he obtained, as
Hacket tells us, "the sweetest music both for the organ and for
voices of all parts that was ever heard in an English quire;" and in
Jerusalem Chamber he gave many entertainments with music, which
"the most famous masters of this delightful faculty frequented." To
enlarge the boundaries of learning he turned one of the deserted
rooms in the cloisters, of old used by the monks, into a library,
bought out of his own means a large number of books from a
certain Mr. Baker of Highgate, and was so public-spirited that he
allowed men of learning from all parts of London to have access to
those precious works.
He was in great favour with James, who made him Lord Keeper
of the Seal and Bishop of Lincoln, allowing him to hold Westminster
at the same time, and though his enemies had much to say on the
subject of his holding so many offices, it must be said in justice that
he got through an amazing amount of work. Under him it seemed as
if some of the splendid hospitalities which had ceased since the days
when the Abbots kept open house were to be revived, for Dean
Williams entertained in Jerusalem Chamber the French ambassadors
who came over to arrange for the marriage between Prince Charles
and Princess Henriette.
Before the feast he led them into the Abbey, which was "stuck
with flambeaux everywhere that they might cast their eyes upon the
stateliness of the church," while "the best finger of the age, Dr.
Orlando Gibbons," played the organ for their entertainment.
You will see a memorial of this banquet in the carvings over the
mantelpiece in the Jerusalem Chamber for on one side is Charles I.
and on the other side his French bride.
But with the death of James I., Lord Keeper, Bishop and Dean
Williams fell upon evil days, for he was disliked by the Duke of
Buckingham and Laud, who entirely influenced the king, and was not
even allowed to officiate on the coronation day.
JERUSALEM CHAMBER.

Under the Commonwealth the Abbey fared badly, for with a


fanatical horror of anything that reminded them of royalty or of
Rome, the Parliamentarians had not the smallest regard for it, and
delighted in showing their contempt for its past. How far the soldiers
were allowed to desecrate its walls and its altars it is difficult to
clearly ascertain, and we may fairly believe that the story of how
they pulled down the organ, pawned the pipes for ale, and played
boisterous games up and down the church "to show their Christian
liberty," is a great exaggeration, even if any such thing took place at
all. Certainly the altar in Henry VII.'s chapel, under which lay buried
Edward VI., was destroyed, the copes and vestments were sold, and
many windows and monuments supposed to teach lessons of
superstition and idolatry were demolished. No dean was appointed.
The church being put under a Parliamentary Committee,
Presbyterian preachers conducted morning exercises, which took the
place of the daily services, and Bradshaw, the President of the court
which tried and condemned to death Charles I., settled himself into
the deserted deanery. A strange sight indeed it must have been to
those who noted it to watch this man going backwards and forwards
between Abbot Islip's house and the Hall of Westminster Palace,
holding in the hollow of his hand the life of the king of England!
Westminster School, which, under Elizabeth, had been set on its
new and enlarged footing, and since then had vigorously expanded
under the various head-masters, alone continued to flourish. Its
scholars naturally were closely connected with the life that centred
round Westminster: they listened to the debates of Parliament, they
flocked to hear the trials in Westminster Hall, they attended the
services in the Abbey. Their feelings ran high during the Civil War.
Pym, Cromwell, and Bradshaw they hated; the execution of Charles
roused their deepest indignation, and they listened in awed horror as
Bushby, their master, read solemnly the prayer for the king at the
very moment when the scaffold was being erected at Whitehall. It
was the strong personality of Bushby and his tactful management
which saved the school from being seriously interfered with at the
hands of the all-powerful Parliament, so that for fifty-five years this
model for head-masters "ruled with his rod and his iron will, and
successfully piloted this bark through very stormy seas." He was full
of enthusiasm and energy and he was more anxious that his pupils
should become men of action and character than accomplished
scholars. His monument, which is near the Poets' Corner shows him,
in the words of the inscription, "such as he appeared to human
eyes;" and the words which follow tell how he "sowed a plenteous
harvest of ingenious men; discovered, managed, and improved the
natural genius in every one; formed and nourished the minds of
youths, and gave to the school of Westminster the fame of which it
boasts."
But the Abbey was a national institution, too firmly builded on
the rocks to be more than shaken by the passing storms. It had
weathered the earthquake of the Reformation, it had survived the
tempests of the Revolution. With the Restoration came the calm, and
quietly the old life was resumed. I have but little more to tell you of
the inner story of the Abbey, nor from this time forward do kings and
queens play any very important part in its story. It is the tombs and
monuments which now begin, more closely even than before, to
cement the tie between Westminster and the pages of English
history. So I will only tell you in a few words how Dean Sprat busied
himself with the restoration of the great buildings, the architect
being Sir Christopher Wren, who, as you know, designed St. Paul's
Cathedral, and rebuilt so many of the old London churches which the
Great Fire had destroyed, and how Dean Atterbury carried on the
work, including the rebuilding of the great dormitory, until his
devotion to the Stuart cause and his opposition to George I. caused
him to be sent first to the Tower, and afterwards as an exile to
France. Atterbury loved well his Abbey, and his last request was that
he might walk through it once more, especially to see the glass
which was his own gift to it, and which still exists in the beautiful
rose window over the north door. But the sad thing about these so-
called restorations is that so much of the matchless old work was
destroyed, and nobody seemed in the least concerned at this. That
was an age when the glories of medieval architecture appear to have
lost all their charm in men's eyes, when the love of beautiful things
was at its lowest ebb. The Westminster boys played their games in
the chapels, and were allowed to skip from tomb to tomb in the
Confessor's shrine; hideous monuments were erected and crowded
together, nothing old was reverenced, and we can only be thankful
that more was not destroyed or hopelessly ruined. And yet, in spite
of this apparent indifference, here and there were men who found
themselves stirred when they came within those walls as they were
stirred nowhere else, so that many a writer, including Addison,
Steele, and Goldsmith, and earlier still, John Milton, has paid
homage, even in those unimaginative days, to that fair place, "so far
exceeding human excellence that a man would think it was knit
together by the fingers of angels."
One more dean I must tell you of, and that is Dean Stanley,
who, with his wife, lies in the south aisle of Henry VII.'s Chapel. For
it was when he was appointed to Westminster in 1864 that once
again the Abbey became something more than a great memory of
former days. First of all he unfolded the storied past, clearing up
many a mystery, setting right many an error, and then, impelled by a
deep reverence for all its great associations, he consistently carried
on its history. In every trace of his work we find this same wise spirit
of sympathy and understanding. To him the Abbey was our greatest
national treasure; his ideal was, not only so to keep it, but to make it
a living influence among all English-speaking people. And thanks in
no small degree to him, Westminster Abbey is to-day a very magnet
in the heart of the empire, to which high and low rich and poor,
learned and ignorant are drawn from far and near, to drink in, as
they are able, its memories and its beauties, to do homage to those
great souls whom it honours there to read as from a book stories of
Englishmen who whether as kings or statesmen, abbots or deans,
nobles or commoners, poets or patriots, added at least some stones
to that other building, not fashioned by hands alone, which grew up
side by side with Edward's church, and thus became the builders of
our nation.
But we have gone forward, quickly, and I must take you back
for a moment to Henry VII.'s Chapel, where still after the
Restoration some royal funerals took place. With the outburst of
loyal feeling, it was felt by many that Charles I., who had been
buried at Windsor, ought to be brought here, and Christopher Wren
was commanded to prepare a costly monument. But nothing further
was done in the matter. Charles II. was buried at midnight most
unceremoniously, close to the monument of General Monk, and one
who was probably present adds, by way of comment, "he was soon
forgotten." Ten children of James II. were laid in the spacious vault
under Mary Queen of Scots monument, but he himself, having fled
from his kingdom, died abroad and was buried in Paris. William and
Mary, Queen Anne and her husband, Prince George of Denmark, all
lie near Charles II., and the seventeen children of Anne are just
behind in what is really the Children's Vault. One of these children,
Prince William Henry, another Duke of Gloucester, though he only
lived to be eleven, was such a quaint little boy that his tutor wrote a
biography of him. He was always very delicate, but though his body
was weak his mind was precocious and his spirits were unfailingly
high. From the time he was two his craze was for soldiers, and he
had a company of ninety boys from Kensington for his bodyguard,
whom he drilled and ruled by martial law. These boys he called his
horse-guards, and they wore red grenadiers' caps and carried
wooden swords and muskets; but, however much they may have
pleased the little prince, who lived at Camden House, they were
somewhat of a terror to the people of Kensington, as, "presuming on
being soldiers, they were very rude and challenged men in the
streets, which caused complaints." This tutor of his, Jenkin Lewis,
who entered thoroughly into the spirit of the little Duke, gives a
delightful account of a visit paid to him by his uncle, the grave
William III., who appears to have been very fond of him.
Altogether the Duke must have been a charming little boy,
plucky, generous, and remarkably bright. If he fell down and hurt
himself, he would say, "A bullet in the war had grazed me," and
though, to please the queen, he learnt dancing from an old
Frenchman, he confided to his tutor that the only thing he loved in
that way was the English march to a drum.
Greatly to his joy the king decided to make him a Knight of the
Garter when he was only six years old, and to add to the honour
William tied on the Garter himself.
"Now," said the boy proudly, "if I fight any more battles I shall
give harder blows than ever."
He was as quick and interested at his lessons as he was at
soldiering, and we bear of his making amazing progress under the
Bishop of Marlborough in the history of the Bible, geography,
constitutional history, and many other subjects, while his tutor had
taught him "the terms of fortification and navigation, the different
parts of a ship of war, and stories about Cæsar, Alexander, Pompey,
Hannibal, and Scipio. It was his tutor who put into verse, and
persuaded Mr. Church, one of the gentlemen of Westminster Abbey,
to set to music, the Duke's words of command to his boys, which ran
thus:—

"Hark, hark! the hostile drum alarms,


Let ours too beat, and call to arms;
Prepare, my boys, to meet the foe,
Let every breast with valour glow.
Soon conquest shall our arms decide,
And Britain's sons in triumph ride.
In order charge your daring band,
Attentive to your chief's command.
Discharge your volleys, fire away;
They yield, my lads, we gain the day.
March on, pursue to yonder town;
No ambush fear, the day's our own.
Yet from your hearts let mercy flow,
And nobly spare the captive foe!"
When in 1696 a plot formed against William III. was discovered, the
Duke determined not to be behind the Houses of Parliament, who
offered their loyal addresses to the king, so he drew up a little
address of his own in these words, which was signed by himself and
all his boys: "We, your Majesty's faithful subjects, will stand by you
as long as we have a drop of blood."
On the 24th July 1700 he was eleven and had a birthday party,
which of course meant a sham fight among his boys; and when on
the next morning he complained of feeling ill, every one naturally
thought he was only over-tired or excited. But a bad throat and high
fever soon showed that there was serious mischief, and within a
week he died. "To the inexpressible grief," wrote the Bishop of
Salisbury, "of all good men who were well-wishers to the Protestant
religion and lovers of their country."
George II. was the last king to be buried in the Abbey, and he
was laid in the same stone coffin as his wife, Queen Caroline. You
will find the gravestones in the nave of Henry VII.'s Chapel, and near
to it are buried his two daughters, his son Frederick, Prince of Wales,
and several grandchildren. Horace Walpole, the son of Robert
Walpole, who had for twenty-one years been the Prime Minister of
the king, thus describes to us the last royal funeral at Westminster:—
"The procession through a line of foot-guards, every seventh
man bearing a torch, the horse-guards lining the outside, their
officers with drawn swords and crape sashes, the drums muffled, the
fifes, the bells tolling, and the minute guns, all this was very solemn.
But the charm was the entrance to the Abbey, where we were
received by the Dean and Chapter in rich robes, the choir and
almsmen bearing torches, the whole Abbey so illuminated that one
saw it to greater advantage than by day. When we came to the
Chapel of Henry VII., all solemnity and decorum ceased, no order
was observed, people sat or stood where they would or could; the
Yeomen of the Guard were crying out for help, oppressed by the
immense weight of the coffin. The Bishop read sadly and blundered
in the prayers, and the anthem, besides being immeasurably
tedious, would have served as well for a wedding.... The Duke of
Newcastle fell into a fit of crying the moment we came into the
chapel and flung himself back in a stall, the Archbishop towering
over him with a smelling-bottle; but in two minutes his curiosity got
the better of his hypocrisy, and he ran about the chapel with his
glass to spy who was or was not there. Then returned his fear of
getting cold, and the Duke of Cumberland, who felt himself weighed
down, on turning round found it was the Duke of Newcastle standing
upon his train to avoid the chill of the marble."
But though Westminster was no longer to be the church of the
royal tombs, there was one ceremony she was still to claim
undisputed as her own peculiar right. A Coronation meant the
Abbey; no other place was ever dreamt of. Charles II. here
commenced his reign with great glory. James II. characteristically
grudged spending any money excepting £100,000 for the queen's
dress and trinkets. William and Mary were crowned together, for
Mary refused to be queen unless her husband became king with her,
and it is for this joint-coronation that the second chair of state was
made, which stands with the old Coronation Chair in the Confessor's
Chapel. The members of the House of Commons were present and
"hummed applause at the eloquent ending to Bishop Burnet's
sermon, in which he prayed God "to bless the royal pair with long life
and love, with obedient subjects, wise counsellors, faithful allies,
gallant fleets and armies, and finally with crowns more glorious and
lasting than those which glittered on the altar of the Abbey."
Queen Anne, fat, gouty, and childless, found the day a weary
one. Unlike her sister Mary, she was crowned queen in her own
right, and her husband was the first of the nobles to do her homage.
When George I. was crowned many difficulties had to be
overcome, for everything had to be explained to the king, who knew
no English, by ministers who stumbled badly over their German. But
George II. had learnt the language of his people, and liking great
ceremonies as much as his father had disliked them, his coronation
day was celebrated in great state. Queen Caroline must have been
ablaze with jewels, for besides wearing all her own, she had
borrowed what pearls she could from the ladies of quality, and had
hired all manner of diamonds from the Jews and jewellers. George
IV. spent more money when he was crowned king than any other of
his race, but the day was not without a very painful scene, as he
refused to prepare any place for his wife, Queen Caroline, and she
indignantly tried in vain to insist on her rights and to force her way
into the Abbey. She failed, and her failure so broke her spirits that
she fell ill, and a few weeks later she died.
William IV. was crowned at a critical moment, for the country
was in a state of excitement concerning the Reform Bill, which, if
passed, would give a vote to a great number of people who did not
possess one, but which was being firmly opposed by the Duke of
Wellington and a strong party. To avoid any risks of riots or
demonstrations the usual procession was left out, even the usual
banquet in the old palace, while everything was as simple and
private as possible. But seven years later those old grey walls looked
down on a Coronation Day which brought untold blessings to
England. On June 28, 1838, Princess Victoria, a slender girl in the
first freshness of her youth, was publicly recognised undoubted
queen of the realm, and took her solemn oath in the sight of the
people to perform and keep the promises demanded of her by the
Archbishop. Here in the Sanctuary she was anointed; here the spurs
and the sword of state were presented to her, and then laid on the
altar; here the orb was placed in her hands and the royal robe about
her shoulders; here the ring, the sceptre, the rod were delivered to
her; here was the crown of pure gold set on her head, and the Bible,
the royal law, placed in her hands; here she ascended the throne,
while her nobles did her homage; here, taking off her crown, she
received the Holy Communion, and then passed on into the
Confessor's Chapel in accordance with the time-honoured usage.
Vastly solemn indeed was the ceremony, calling to mind as it did
the long procession of kings and queens who, without exception in
that place, almost in those identical words, had accepted the great
trust to which they had been called. Some had been faithful; some,
through weakness or through wilful wrong-doing, had violated the
vow. The strongest men had sometimes wavered, the bravest men
had faltered before their task. But Queen Victoria never failed her
people. Through weal and woe, through storm and sunshine,
through good and evil days, she watched over them and guarded
their interests. She ruled over their hearts at home and throughout
those vaster dominions beyond the seas, she bound them to her
with bonds of loyal devotion, so that when, in the dim light of a
winter's day in February 1901, the Abbey was filled with a vast
crowd of those who were there to pay their last tribute to her
memory, their universal sorrow was no mere formality, but was in
harmony with the sense of personal loss which was felt by all who
had owned her as their Sovereign Lady.

PART II
AMONG THE MONUMENTS
PRINCE RUPERT.

CHAPTER XIII
PURITANS AND CAVALIERS IN THE ABBEY
By a strange irony of fate, the royal chapel of the Tudors was
destined to be, at least for awhile, the burying-place of many
Parliamentary leaders, and perhaps stranger still it is to realise how
Roundhead and Cavalier, disgraced minister and triumphant
reformer, came at last to the old Abbey, which opened its arms to
receive them, condemning no man, but committing all unto the care
of Him who judgeth with righteous judgment. The Duke of
Buckingham and Pym, Cromwell and Prince Rupert, Admiral Blake,
Clarendon the historian of the great rebellion, Essex and General
Monk, all were buried within a few feet of each other, and their
names are still engraved on Abbey stones, though some of them
sleep there no more.
These men, in their different ways, stood in the forefront of that
hard-fought Revolution, and as I want Westminster to be something
more to you than a place of names and monuments, I will try to tell
you enough of each one for you to be able to fit them into their
proper places in the history of those stormy days.
We will begin with Buckingham, who, as young George Villiers,
was brought up to be a courtier, and taught only such
accomplishments as would fit him for that part. He was an apt pupil,
graceful, witty, versatile, full of charm, and from the moment he
entered the service of James I. as cupbearer, his upward career
began. He leapt from step to step with dazzling rapidity, and the
king became a mere puppet in his hands. "I love the Earl of
Buckingham more than anything else," he declared. "Whatsoever he
desireth must be done." For awhile Buckingham did not seriously
interfere with politics; his ambition was satisfied with personal power
and court influence, while his own position concerned him much
more closely than the affairs of the country. But eventually he was
drawn into the vortex, to his own undoing, for his brilliancy was only
superficial, his wild schemes collapsed one after the other, while his
reckless extravagance, coupled with his disastrous undertakings,
staggered the Parliament, which had for a brief moment believed in
him. However, Charles, who was now king, implicitly believed in him
through all his failures, and supported his exorbitant demands for
money to carry on his unpopular and unsuccessful foreign policy. At
last the gathering indignation burst.
"The Duke of Buckingham is the cause of all our miseries," was
the deliberate statement made in the House of Commons, followed
by a long list of charges, and the determination, for the first time, to
hold a minister responsible to Parliament for his actions. The king
was furious. "None of my servants shall be questioned by you, or it
shall be the worse for you," he said scornfully, and he dissolved
Parliament. But the trial of Buckingham was taken out of their
hands, for shortly afterwards he was stabbed to death by a certain
Fenton, a melancholy, malcontented gentleman, who declared that
he did so to rid the country of an intolerable tyrant. He was buried
quietly in the Abbey, and the king set up to his memory the
elaborate but hardly beautiful monument which you see. You must
notice, though, the three figures of his children, for one of them,
Francis, a very gallant boy, "of rare beauty and comeliness," fell
fighting for the king at Kingston, wounded nine times, yet scorning
to ask quarter, standing with his back against an oak tree till he
dropped.
General Monk, afterwards Duke of Albemarle, fought on the
Parliamentary side, and after the defeat of the Royalists in England
he was with Cromwell through his victorious campaigns in Scotland
and Ireland, remaining behind as commander-in-chief for Scotland.
But it was as a sailor rather than as a soldier that he made his
greatest reputation, for when the struggle began between England
and the Dutch for the command of the seas, the Dutch challenging
the English right to it, Monk, and another Parliamentary officer,
Blake, were appointed generals at sea, it being thought that their
ability to lead, their energy and their good sense, would more than
compensate for their lack of technical experience. So it eventually
proved, and after some close fighting Monk was able to report that
the English held the coast of Holland as if it were besieged.
Parliament rewarded Monk with a vote of thanks, a medal and a
chain worth £300, and he assured them that he had "no other
thought but to defend the nation against all enemies, whether by
sea or by land, as might be entrusted to him."
Not altogether approving of the arbitrary way in which Cromwell
treated Parliament, he determined to keep clear of politics and to
remain a "plain fighting man." But while employed by the Protector
he was entirely loyal to him, and at once sent to him a letter he
received from Charles II. suggesting negotiations. "An honest, very
simple-hearted man," was Cromwell's remark on him.
But with the death of the Protector the whole aspect of things
changed. Monk had fully intended to serve Richard Cromwell as he
had served his father, only it became palpably evident that the new
Protector was not in any way capable of controlling the country or
the army, and within a few weeks dissatisfaction and discontent
were evident everywhere—the pendulum had swung back, and
England cried for a king once more. With Richard Cromwell at the
head of affairs, Monk saw that the days of the Commonwealth were
numbered. "He forsook himself or I had never faltered in my
allegiance," he explained; for Dick Cromwell was as anxious as any
one to be rid of his office. Through his brother, Nicholas Monk, a
sturdy Royalist, afterwards made Bishop of Hereford, Charles sent a
straightforward letter to the general, judging rightly that plain words
were more likely to take effect with him. "If you take my interests to
heart," wrote the king, "I will leave the way and manner to you and
act as you advise."
For awhile Monk hesitated, then he accepted the situation. He
met the king at Dover, and served him faithfully in whatever capacity
it was desired of him, assisting in the settlement of Scotland, or
going to sea with Prince Rupert, or keeping order in London during
those years of panic when first the plague, then the Great Fire
produced the wildest terror and confusion. He died "like a Roman
general and a soldier, his chamber door open as if it had been a
tent, his officers around him," and England mourned an honest,
duty-loving man, brave on every point excepting where his wife was
concerned, and here he frankly admitted to a "terror of her tongue
and passions." The king, who had made him Duke of Albemarle, was
present at his funeral, and undertook to pay all the expenses,
besides erecting a monument to him. But his memory and gratitude
were both short-lived, so that it was left to the second Duke to see
that his father's name and fame were duly chronicled in the Abbey,
that future generations might know him as "an honest man, who
served his country."
Admiral Blake, buried in the Cromwell vault, first went to sea to
settle Prince Rupert, who with his tiny fleet was a terror to English
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