ment seat: and above these arcades are pointed windows, each divided in the centre by a single mullion, surmounted by a circle. Among the marked features of the whole of the upper and inner story are the mural decorations of the spandre's of the arches; above them, the gallery or triforium; and over this, a clerestory of lofty windows. (See Handbook, by H. Cole, pp. 45, 46.)

There is a vague tradition that the triforium, or upper vaulting of the Abbey, was occupied by the nuns of Kilburn when they visited the Abbey, to which their house was subordinate.

The Interior, viewed from the western entrance, shews the surpassing beauty of the long-drawn aisles, with their noble columns, harmonious arches, and fretted vaults, "a dim_religious light" streaming through the lancet windows. Altogether, Henry III.'s portions of the Abbey Church, especially the Choir, exhibit the most perfect specimens of the latest period of the Lancet, Early English, and Early Pointed style; whilst in the tombs of Crouchback and Valence, in the Choir, in the Cloisters, in the Chapels of Henry V. and VII., and in many later monuments, we may collect specimens of Pure Gothic, Decorated English, Florid Pointed or Perpendicular, Tudor, Elizabethan or Cinque-cento.

"The exquisite and airy grace of the lofty pointed arch and clustered shafts of the Farly English style, the beautiful purity of design and enrichment of the Decorated, and the elaborate profusion of ornamental detail which marks the Perpendicular or Tudor work,-each and all find here most glorious representatives.

"The Early English is exemplified in the North Transept, the South Aisle of the Nave, and in one compartment of the Nave, the narrow lancet-shaped Arch. The elegant Windows, with their beautiful and simple tracery; the Piers, with slender shafts surrounding them, connected by moulded bands; the diaperwork covering the walls; the bold and deeply cut mouldings; and the light, chaste groining of the ceiling,-are all indicative of the best and purest epoch of the style.

"The Decorated Style is shewn in the western portion of the sides of the Nave; and they differ from the eastern part only in detail, the general outline being similar.

"Of the Perpendicular we have a most gorgeous specimen in Henry VII.'s Chapel The large windows, divided into stories by transoms, the head filled with tracery formed by the vertical continuation of the mullions; the canopied niches, with images of saints and martyrs; the profusion of panelling, shields, and badges covering the walls; and above all the stupendous roof, with its magnificent fan-tracery and pendants, are all well-recognised features of the architecture of this period, and unite to form a sublime monument, without a parallel, of the consummate skill and genius of the architects of old. The Tomb of Edward III. is also a fine specimen of Perpendicular work of earlier date, and affords a good example of the ancient canopies of wood which covered many of the old tombs." See A Chart illustrative of the Architecture of Westminster Abbey, by Francis Bedford, jun.

The general plan of the Church is cruciform, and, besides the Nave. Choir, and Transepts, contains 12 Chapels; the principal of which are those dedicated to St. Edward of England, to the Blessed Virgin (Henry VII.'s), the easternmost building, and those in the northern and southern sides of the building: four on the south, viz. those of St. Blaise, St. Benedict, St. Edmund, and St. Nicholas; on the north those of St. Andrew, St. Michael, St. John the Evangelist, St. Erasmus, St. John the Baptist, and St. Paul. Of these, 10 are nearly filled with monumental tombs; the Chapel of Henry VII. containing but the monument of its founder; and that of St. Paul having but one tomb.

From Poets' Corner, (where a guide accompanies visitors through the Chapels and Choir,) in passing to the first Chapel may be seen, preserved under glass, the remains of an altar-painting, including a figure, probably intended for Christ, an angel with a palm-branch on each side, and a figure of St. Peter, considered by Sir C. L. Eastlake, P.R.A., to be "worthy of a good Italian artist of the fourteenth century," yet executed in England: of the costly enrichments there remain coloured glass, inlaid on tinfoil, and a few cameos and gems. The following is

the order of the Chapels, only the most remarkable of their monumental Curiosities being noticed:

Ground Plan of Westminster Abbey.-A. Jerusalem Chamber. B. College Dining Hall. C. Kitchen. D. Larder. E. Ancient remains. F. Confessor's building (Pix). G. Dark Cloisters. H. Hall of Refectory. 1. High Altar. 2. Henry V.'s Chapel. 3. Porch to Henry VII.'s Chapel. 4. Henry VII.'s Tomb.

1. St. Benedict's Chapel. The oldest tomb here is that of Langham, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1376), with his effigies robed and mitred. 2. St. Edmund's Chapel: Tomb of William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, and half-brother to Henry III. (d. 1296), the effigies encased in metal; tomb of John of Eltham, son of Edward II. (d. 1334); alabaster figures of William of Windsor and Blanch de la Tour, children of Edward III., the boy in a short doublet, the girl in a horned headdress; portrait brasses, in the area, of Eleanora de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester, as a nun of Barking Abbey (d. 1399), and Robert de Waldeby, Archbishop of York (d. 1397),—both the most perfect in the Church; alabaster figure of Lady Elizabeth Russell, long absurdly said by

the guides to have died from the prick of a needle; wall monuments to Lady Jane Seymour (d. 1560) and Lady Jane Grey (d. 1553); blackmarble gravestone of Lord Herbert of Cherbury (d. 1678); and Sir Bernard Brocas (d. 1470), altar statue and decorated canopy.

3. St. Nicholas's Chapel: Perpendicular stone screen, with quatrefoiled arches highly decorated, and embattled frieze of shields and roses, once coloured; entrance, over the grave of Spelman, the antiquary, (d. 1641); rich in Elizabethan tombs, bright with gold and colour, alabaster, touchstone, porphyry, and variegated marbles, Gothic canopies, Corinthian pillars, kneeling and recumbent figures, &c.: marble tomb of the wife of the Protector Somerset, (d. 1578); portrait brass of Sir Humphry Stanley, (d. 1505,) knighted by Henry VII. on Bosworth Field; gorgeous monument of the great Lord Burghley to his wife Mildred, (d. 1589,) and their daughter Anne (d. 1588); costly altartomb of Sir George Villiers, (d. 1619,) erected for his wife, by N. Stone, cost 5602, the year before her death, 1632; monument of Bishop Dudley, his original brass effigies gone, and the figure of Lady Catherine St. John in its place! Here rests Katherine of Valois, Queen of Henry V., removed on the pulling down of the old Chapel of the Virgin; her body was for nearly three centuries shewn to visitors, not being re-interred until 1776. Next is the vault of the Percys, with a large marble monument, designed by Adam: here, Feb. 22, 1847, Hugh, second Duke of Northumberland, was interred with great state.

In the Ambulatory, opposite St. Nicholas's Chapel, is the eastern side of the tomb of Edward III., and the chantry of Henry V.; looking whence," in a few square feet, we have specimens of Gothic architecture, in several of its stages, as it flourished from the time of Henry III. to Henry VII." Through a dark vestibule you ascend to

4. Henry VII's Chapel, consisting of a nave and two aisles, with five chapels at the east end. The entrance-gates are of oak, cased with brass-gilt, and richly dight with the portcullis, the crown, and twisted ruses. The vaulted porch is enriched with radiated quatrefoils and other figures, roses, fleurs-de-lis, &c.; Henry's supporters, the lion, the dragon, and the greyhound; his arms and his badges; a rose frieze and embattlement. The fan-traceried pendentive stone roof of the Chapel is encrusted with roses, knots of flowers, bosses, pendants, and armorial cognizances; the walls are covered with sunk panels, with feathered mouldings: and in a profusion of niches are statues, and angels with escutcheons; and the royal heraldic devices, the Tudor rose and the fleur-de-lis under crowns. The edifice is lighted by eight clerestory windows over the aisles.

In the nave are the dark oaken canopied stails of the Knights of the Bath, who were installed in this Chapel until 1812: these stalls are studded with portcullises, falcons on fetterlocks, fruit and flowers, dragons and angels; and above each stall hangs the banner of its knight. In the centre of the apsis, or east end, within rich and massive gates of brass, is the royal founder's tomb: a pedestal, with the effigies (supposed likenesses) of Henry and his Queen Elizabeth, originally crowned; the whole adorned with pilasters, relievos, rose-branches, and images, on graven tabernacles, of the Kings and patron Saints, all copper-gilt; at the angles are seated angels. This costly tomb is the six years' work of Pietro Torrigiano, a Florentine, who received for it the immense sum of 1500l.: the Perpendicular brazen screen, resembling a Gothic palace, is English art: it formerly had 36 statues, of which but six remain. The only remnant of old glass in the Chapel is a figure called Henry VII. in the east window.

From Henry VII. to George II., most of the English sovereigns have been interred here. Edward VI. was buried near the high altar, but

is without tomb or inscription. In the North Aisle, in the same tomb, lie the Queens Mary and Elizabeth, with a large monument to Elizabeth, by Maximilian Coulte, erected by James I.*

Near this royal monument is an alabaster cradle and effigy of the infant daughter of James I.; which King, with his Queen Anne, and son Prince Henry, the Queen of Bohemia, and Arabella Stuart, lie beneath. Next is a white marble sarcophagus, containing the supposed remains of Edward V. and his brother Richard, murdered in the Tower by order of their uncle, King Richard III. Near it is a recumbent figure, by Sir R. Westmacott, R.A., of the Duke of Montpensier (d. 1807), brother of Louis Philippe, King of the French. Next is the grave of Addison, whose elegant and impressive essay on the Abbey Church and its monuments is inseparable from its history; and close by is the great pyramidal monument of Addison's friend and patron, the Earl of Halifax, one of the Poets of Johnson's Lives. The headless corpse of Charles I. was buried at Windsor. The Protector was buried in Henry VII.'s Chapel, (1658,) but in about two years his remains were removed. In the South Aisle was interred (1685) Charles II., " without any manner of pomp, and soon forgotten" (Evelyn). James II. has no place here;† the vacant space next his brother's remains being occupied by William III. and his Queen. Anne and Prince George complete the royal occupants of the vault. In the centre of the Chapel, in another vault, are the remains of King George II. and Queen Caroline, as it were in one receptacle, a side from each coffin having been removed by the King's direction. In the same vault rests Frederick Prince of Wales, father of George III., beside the Duke of Cumberland, the hero of Culloden. In the South Aisle is the altartomb of Margaret Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII., with a brass effigy, by Torrigiano; a very fine altar-tomb, with effigy, of

• "The bigot Mary rests in the Abbey Church at Westminster, but no storied monument, no costly tomb, has been raised to her memory. She was interred, with all the solemn funeral rites used by the Roman Church, and a mass of requiem, on the north side of the Chapel of Henry VII. During the reign of her successor not the slightest mark of respect was shewn to her memory by the erection of a monument; and even at the present day no other memorial remains to point out where she lies, except two small black tablets at the base of the sumptuous tomb erected by order of King James I. over the ashes of Elizabeth and her less fortunate sister. On them we read as follow:

REGNO CONSORTES

ET VRNA HIC OBDOR-
MIMUS ELIZABETHA

ET MARIA SORORES
IN SPE RESURREC-

TIONIS.

Sir F. Madden; Privy-Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary, &c. + James II. died at St. Germain-en-Laye, and his body was kept unburied until 1793 or 1794, in the church of the English Benedictine Monastery at Paris, where it was exhibited for money. It was not until 1824 that the body, or the greater portion of it, was conveyed to St. Germain, where it was buried with great pomp in the parish church, most of the English then in Paris or the neighbourhood joining in the funeral procession. The intestines of the king were given, soon after his death, to the Irish College in Paris; where also his body lay after the destruction of the Church of the Benedictines, and before its final interment at St. Germain. The brain of the king was given to the Scotch College in Paris, and the heart to the Convent at Chaillot. In the chapel of the Scotch College in Paris is a monument, with a long Latin inscription, erected in 1703 by James Duke of Perth, to the memory of James II. An urn once stood over the monument containing the king's brain, but this was destroyed at the period of the Revolution. Near this is a slab covering the heart of his queen, and another the intestines of his daughter Louisa. A monument of white and grey marble was also erected to the King at St. Germain, by order of George IV.: it bears a Latin inscription, in which James is characterised as

"Magnus in prosperis, in adversis major."

Communicated by Dr. Wreford of Bristol to the Athenæum, Nov. 30, 1850.

Lord Darnley's mother, who "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 Darnley, (husband of Mary Queen of Scots,) King Henry I. (of Scotland), and to her grandchild King James VI. (of Scotland)," and I. of England. Here also is the tomb, with effigy, of Mary Queen of Scots, erected by Cornelius Cure for James I., who removed his mother's remains thither from Peterborough Cathedral. In the same aisle lies Monk, Duke of Albemarle, whose funeral Charles II. personally attended: the statue monument is by Kent. Here likewise are interred George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (assassinated 1628), and his son, the profligate Duke.

Henry VII. did not live to see this Chapel finished; but his will, dated A.D. 1509, contains orders and directions for its completion. In several parts of the Chapel is repeated a rebus, formed by an eye and a slip or branch of a tree, indicating the name of the founder, Islip.

5. St. Paul's Chapel is crowded with Cinque-cento tombs, rich in marble, gilding, and colour: the tombs of Sir Thomas Bromley, Queen Elizabeth's Chancellor, hung with banners; of Lord Bourchier, standard-bearer to Henry V. at Agincourt; and of Sir Giles Daubney, are among the best specimens of the period. In frigid and colossal contrast with their beauty, and hiding the Raffaelesque sculptures of Henry the Fifth's chantry, is the sitting statue of James Watt, the engineer, by Chantrey, R.A., strangely out of place in a mediæval Church: the inscription is by Lord Brougham. Next westward is

6. St. Erasmus's Chapel, with an enriched canopy, erected, as its rebuses shew, by Abbot Islip, and leading to

7. St. John the Baptist's Chapel, with a groined roof, coloured end wall, and sculptured arcades. Here are buried several early Abbots of Westminster. An altar-tomb, of freestone, bears the effigy of William de Colchester, wearing gold bracelets bordered with pearls and set with stones, and a gold mitre covered with large pearls, and crosses and stars of precious gems,-a rare piece of monumental costume. Here is a large Cinque-cento monument to Cary, Lord Hunsdon, first cousin and Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth; in the centre of the area is the altar-tomb of Thomas Cecil, Earl of Exeter, and his two wives, the second of whom refused to allow her statue to be laid in the left side space, still vacant. The alabaster monument to Colonel Edward Popham, "one of the Parliament generals at sea,' was the only one spared at the Restoration. Nearly all the old tombs have lost their canopies. The view from here is very picturesque and varied; and in leaving the Chapel, the eye ranges across the north transept, and down the north aisles of the choir and nave, through a high o'erarching vista of "dim religious light," brightened by a geniny lancet window.

8. Abbot Islip's Chapel is elegantly sculptured, and contains his altartomb, with an effigy of the Abbot in his winding-sheet. In this chapel was the Wax-work Exhibition, which originated in the olden custom of waxen figures of great persons being formerly borne in their funeral processions, then for a time deposited over their graves, and subsequently removed. Other figures were added; the sight was called by the vulgar, "The Play of the Dead Volks," and was not discontinued until 1839. Next the Chapel is the monument to General Wolfe, by Wilton, R.A., with a lead-bronzed bas-relief of the landing at Quebec, executed by Cappizoldi. We now enter the East Aisle of the North Transept, formerly divided by enriched screens into the Chapels of St. John, St. Michael, and St. Andrew. Here is the celebrated tomb of Sir Francis Vere (temp. Elizabeth), his effigy recumbent beneath a canopy on which are his helmet, breastplate, &c., supported by four kneeling knights at the four corners;