IV.-Chapel of Henry the Seventh.

SOUTH AISLE.

Here is a handsome monument, on which lies a lady, finely robed, to Lady MARGARET DOUGLAS, daugher of Margaret, Queen of Scots, by the Earl of Angus. This lady, as the English inscription says, had to her great-grandfather, King Edward IV.; to her grandfather, King Henry VII.; to her uncle, King Henry VIII.; to her cousin-german, King Edward VI.; to her brother, King James V. of Scotland; to her son, King Henry I. of Scotland; to her grandson, King James VI. having to her great-grandmother and grandmother, two Queens, both named Elizabeth; to her mother, Margaret Queen of Scots; to her aunt, Mary, the French Queen; to her cousins-german, Mary and Elizabeth, Queens of England; to her niece and daughter-in-law, Mary, Queen of Scots. This lady, who was very beautiful, was privately married in 1537, to Thomas Howard, son of the Duke of Norfolk, upon which account both of them were committed to the Tower by King Henry the Eighth, her uncle, for affiancing without his consent, and he died in prison: but this Margaret being released, was soon after married to Matthew, Earl of Lenox, by whom she had the handsome Lord Darnley, father of King James I., whose effigy is the foremost on the tomb, in a kneeling posture, with the crown over his head, having been married some time to Mary, Queen of Scots, but in the twenty-first year of his age, murdered, not without some suspicions of foul practices in the Queen. There are seven children besides round the tomb of Margaret, of whom only three are mentioned in history, the rest dying young. This great lady died March 10, 1577.

Near the tomb just mentioned, is a very magnificent one, erected to that unhappy Queen we have now been speaking of, and who, being daughter to James V. of Scotland, was, in her infancy, proclaimed Queen of that kingdom, and married to Francis, then Dauphin of France, who, in a few months after, dying without issue, Mary returned into Scotland, and married Lord Darnley, as has been said, by whom she had one son, afterwards King of England as well as Scotland.

The next is a monument of MARGARET, Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII. by Edmund Tudor, son of Owen ap Tudor, who married the widow of Henry V. of England, and daughter of Charles VI. of France. This lady was afterwards married to Humphrey Stafford, a younger son of Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham, and lastly to Thomas Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby; but by the two last had no children. The inscription mentions the charities of this excellent Princess; such as giving

a salary to two monks of Westminster, founding a grammarschool at Winbourne, and two colleges, one to Christ, the other to St. John his disciple, at Cambridge. Of this lady's bounty, forty poor women partake every Saturday forenoon, at a long table, in the south cross of the Abbey; each of them has twopence, one pound and a half of beef, and a fourpenny loaf of bread. She died in July 1509, in the reign of her grandson, Henry VIII. -Torrigiano, sculptor.

Near this is a figure of uncommon delicacy, to the memory of Lady WALPOLE, brought from Italy, by her son Horace, with the following inscription :-" To the memory of Catherine Lady "Walpole, eldest daughter of John Shorter, Esq. of Bybrook, in "Kent, and first wife of Sir Robert Walpole, afterwards Earl of “Orford, Horace, her youngest son, consecrated this monument. "She had beauty and wit, without vice or vanity, and culti"vated the arts without affectation: she was devout, though "without bigotry to any sect; and was without prejudice to 66 any party, though the wife of a Minister, whose power she "esteemed but when she could employ it to benefit the miserable, 66 or to reward the meritorious; she loved a private life, though 66 born to shine in public; and was an ornament to Courts, "untainted by them. She died August the 20th, 1737.”— Valory, sculptor.

Also a monument to the memories of GEORGE MONCK, and CHRISTOPHER, his son, both Dukes of Albemarle; also ELIZABETH, Duchess Dowager of Albemarle and Montague, relict of Christopher Duke of Albemarle.-Scheemaker, soulptor.

At this end is the Royal Vault, as it is called, in which are deposited the remains of King CHARLES II., who died February 2, 1685; King WILLIAM III., who died March 8, 1702, and Queen MARY, his consort, who died December 28, 1694; Queen ANNE, died August 1, 1714; and Prince GEORGE, who died October 28, 1708.

THE NAVE.

From this aisle you enter the nave of the chapel, the stone ceiling of which is curious, and the gates are brass. Here are installed, with great ceremony, the Knights of the most Honourable Order of the Bath, which order was revived in the reign of King George the First, in 1725. In their stalls are placed brass plates of their arms, &c., and over them hang their banners, swords, and helmets. Under the stalls are seats for the Esquires; each Knight has three, whose arms are engraved on brass plates. The small shelving stool, which the seats of the stalls form when turned up, is called a miserere. On these the monks and canons of ancient times, with the assistance of their elbows on the upper

part of the stalls, half supported themselves during certain parts of their long offices, not to be obliged always to stand or kneel. It is so contrived, that if the body became supine by sleep, it naturally fell down, and the person who rested upon it was thrown forward on the middle of the choir.

In the centre, between the Knights' stalls, is the royal vault, where their Majesties King GEORGE II. and Queen CAROLINE are buried; the Prince and Princess of Wales, two Dukes of CUMBERLAND, the Duke of YORK, Prince FREDERICK WILLIAM, the Princesses AMELIA, CAROLINE, ELIZABETH, LOUISA, ANNE, and the two infants of their late Majesties, the Princes ALFRED and OCTAVIUS. The two last-named Princes were removed, in January, 1820, to the new royal vault at Windsor.

What is chiefly to be admired here, as well for antiquity as fine workmanship, is the magnificent tomb of HENRY VII. and ELIZABETH his Queen, the last of the house of York who wore the English crown. This tomb stands in the body of the chapel, enclosed in a curious chantry of cast brass, most admirably designed and executed, and ornamented with statues, of which those only of St. George, St. James, St. Bartholomew, and St. Edward, are now remaining. Within it are the effigies of the royal pair, in their robes of state, lying close to one another, on a tomb of black marble, the head whereof is supported by a red dragon, the ensign of Cadwallader, the last King of the Britons, from whom King Henry VII. was fond of tracing his descent, and the foot by an angel. There are likewise other devices, alluding to his family and alliances; such as portcullises, signifying his relation to the Beauforts by his mother's side; roses twisted and crowned, in memory of the union of the two royal houses of York and Lancaster. There are six compartments, three on the North, and as many on the South side of its base. The first compartment, on the South side, contains the figures of the Virgin Mary, with Our Lord in her arms, and that of the Archangel St. Michael. The figures in the scales, though now mutilated, were meant for personal representations of moral good and evil; the Saint is weighing them in his balance; the good preponderates; but the Devil, who is represented by the figure under his feet, is reaching, with one of his clawed feet, at the scale which contains the figure of Evil, in order, by the addition of his own force, to render that the heaviest, The first figure in the second compartment is, doubtless, intended for St. John the Baptist, he having a book in his left hand with an Agnus Dei · impressed upon it, The other is the figure of St. John the Evangelist, and the figure of the eagle. The first figure of the third compartment is intended for St. George; the other figure in the same compartment, from the pig's head visible near him, the frequent symbol by which he is denoted, intended for St. An

thony of Vienna. The first figure in the fourth compartment North side, is meant for Mary Magdalen, supposing her to hold the box of ointment. The other figure represents St. Barbara, who was the daughter of a Pagan, and dwelt with her father in a certain Tower. To this tower adjoined a garden, in which the father determined to build a bath, with the necessary accommodation of rooms, and therein to make windows to the number of two only. Being to undertake a journey, he left his instructions with the artificers, which his daughter presumed to vary, by directing them, instead of two, to make three. Upon her father's return, he inquired into the reason of this deviation from his orders; and being told, that in allusion to three persons of the Holy Trinity, his daughter had directed it, he found that she was become a convert to Christianity; and being exasperated thereat, stimulated the emperor to a persecution of the Christians, in which she became a martyr to the faith. The first figure in the fifth compartment is intended for St. Christopher, bearing our Saviour upon his shoulder. The other figure in this compartment is thought to be St. Anne. In the sixth and last compartment, the first figure is intended for King Edward the Confessor. The other figure is a Benedictine monk. Henry VII. died April 21, 1509, and his Queen, February 11, 1502.-The work of Torrigiano.

At the head of this chantry lie the remains of EDWARD VI., grandson of Henry VII., who died July 6, 1553, in the sixteenth year of his age, and seventh of his reign. There was formerly a stately monument erected to his memory by Queen Mary, his sister and successor; but having some curious sculpture, representing the passion and resurrection of our Saviour, with two angels on the top kneeling, the whole was demolished during the great rebellion, by the Puritan party, as a relique of Romish superstition. The workmanship, Camden says, was elegantly finished.

On the south side of the tomb of Henry VII., in a small chapel, is a monument of cast brass, wherein are the effigies of LEWIS STEWART, Duke of Richmond, and FRANCES, his wife. They are represented as lying on a marble table, under a canopy of brass, curiously wrought, and supported by the figures of Faith, Hope, Charity, and Prudence. On the top is a fine figure of Fame, taking her flight, and resting only on her toe. This illustrious nobleman was son to Esme Stuart, Duke of Lennox, and grandson of James, nephew of King James I., to whom he was First Gentleman of the Bedchamber and Privy Councillor, a Knight of the Garter, and Ambassador to France in behalf of Scotland. He died February 16, 1623. His lady was daughter of Thomas Lord Howard, of Bindon, son of the Duke of Norfolk, by Elizabeth, daughter of the Duke of Buckingham. She died Oct. 8,

1639.-You will likewise see here a pyramid, supporting a small urn, in which is contained the heart of ESME STUART, son of the Duke of Richmond and Lennox, by Lady Mary, daughter of the Duke of Buckingham. He died in France, August 15, 1661, aged eleven years, and was succeeded in all his titles by Charles Earl of Lichfield, his cousin-german, who died December 12, 1672, and is here interred.

A monument to the DUKE DE MONTPENSIER, who is represented with ducal coronet and robes, and his remains are beneath. On the front of this tomb is the following inscription :"The "most illustrious and Serene Prince, ANTHONY PHILIP, Duke of "Montpensier, descended from the Kings of France, second son "of the Duke of Orleans, from his earliest youth bred to arms, "and even in chains unsubdued; of an erect mind in adversity, " and in prosperity not elated; a constant patron of the liberal "arts, polite, pleasant, and courteous to all, nor ever wanting in "the duties of brother, neighbour, friend, or the love of his "country. After experiencing the vicissitudes of fortune, he 66 was received with great hospitality by the English nation, and "at length rests in this asylum for kings. Born July 3, 1775. "Died May 18, 1807, aged thirty-one. Louis Philip, Duke of "Orleans, erects this monument, in memory of the best of "brothers."-Westmacot, sculptor.

The next is an elegant monument to the memory of JOHN SHEFFIELD, Duke of Buckingham, where, on an altar, lies his Grace's effigy, in a Roman habit, with his Duchess Catharine, natural daughter of the Duke of York, afterwards King James II., sitting at his feet weeping. In the reign of King Charles II., as the inscription sets forth, he was General of the Dutch troop of horse, Governor of Kingston Castle upon Hull, and first Gentleman of the Bedchamber; in that of King James II., Lord Chamberlain; and in that of Queen Anne, Lord Privy Seal, and President of the Council. He was in his youth an excellent poet, and, in his more advanced years, a fine writer. His love of poetry is conspicuous, by the esteem and regard he had for the two great masters of it, who flourished in his own time, Dryden and Pope, to the first of whom he extended his friendship, even after death, by erecting a monument to his memory. To the latter he did honour, by writing a poem in his praise. Over his Grace's effigy are inscribed, in Latin sentences, to the following import :-"I lived doubtful, not dissolute-I die unresolved, not "unresigned. Ignorance and error are incident to human nature. "I trust in an almighty and all good God. O! thou Being of "Beings, have compassion on me!” And underneath it,-" For my King often, for my Country ever." His Grace died in the seventy-fourth year of his age, February 24, 1720, leaving the publication of his works to the care of Mr. Pope.-Scheemaker, sculptor.

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