Beyond the altar is King Edward the Confessor's Chapel, surrounded with eleven or twelve other chapels replenished with monuments of the British nobility, for a particular whereof I refer the reader to the "Antiquities of St.Peter, or the Abbey-Church of Westminster,"by J.Crull, M.D.Lond.1711, 8vo, and the several supplements printed since; and shall only take notice of those of the kings and queens in the chapel of St.Edward the Confessor, which are as follows, viz., Edward I., King of England; Henry III.; Matilda, wife of Henry I.; Queen Eleanor, wife of Edward I.; St.Edward the Confessor, and Queen Editha, his wife; Henry V., and Queen Catherine of Valois, his wife; Edward III., and Queen Philippa, his wife;Richard II., and Queen Anne, his wife.And on the south side of the choir, King Sebert, and Queen Anne of Cheve, wife to Henry VIII.
East of St.Edward's Chapel is that of Henry VII., dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary, to which we ascend by twelve stone steps.At the west end whereof are three brazen doors finely wrought, which give an entrance into it.The stalls on the north and south sides are exquisitely carved.The roof is supported by twelve pillars and arches of the Gothic order, abounding with enrichments of carved figures, fruit, &c.At the east end is a spacious window with stained glass, besides which there are thirteen other windows above, and as many below on the north and south sides.Under each of the thirteen uppermost windows are five figures placed in niches, representing kings, queens, bishops, &c., and under them the figures of as many angels supporting imperial crowns.The roof, which is all stone, is divided into sixteen circles, curiously wrought, and is the admiration of all that see it.
The outside of this chapel was adorned with fourteen towers, three figures being placed in niches on each of them, which were formerly much admired; but the stone decaying and mouldering away, they make but an odd appearance at present.
In this chapel have been interred most of the English kings since Richard III., whose tombs are no small ornament to it, particularly that of Henry VII., the founder, which stands in the middle of the area towards the east end.
The tomb is composed of a curious pedestal whose sides are adorned with various figures, as the north with those of six men, the east with those of two cupids supporting the king's arms and an imperial crown; on the south side, also, six figures, circumscribed--as those on the north side--with circles of curious workmanship, the most easterly of which contains the figure of an angel treading on a dragon.Here is also a woman and a child, seeming to allude to Rev.
xii.; and on the west end the figure of a rose and an imperial crown, supported with those of a dragon and a greyhound: on the tomb are the figures of the king and queen, lying at full length, with four angels, one at each angle of the tomb, all very finely done in brass.
The screen or fence is also of solid brass, very strong and spacious, being in length 19 feet, in breadth 11, and the altitude 11, adorned with forty-two pillars and their arches; also, twenty smaller hollow columns and their arches in the front of the former, and joined at the cornice, on which cornice is a kind of acroteria, enriched with roses and portcullises interchanged in the upper part, and with the small figures of dragons and greyhounds (the supporters aforesaid) in the lower part; and at each of the four angles is a strong pillar made open, or hollow, composed in imitation of diaper and Gothic archwork; the four sides have been adorned with thirty-two figures of men, about a cubit high, placed in niches, of which there are only seven left, the rest being stolen away (one Raymond, about the 11th of Queen Elizabeth, having been twice indicted for the same); and about the middle of the upper part of each of the four sides is a spacious branch adorned with the figure of a rose, where might on occasion be placed lamps.This admirable piece of art is open at top, and has two portals, one on the north, the other on the south side, all of fine brass.
This Royal founder's epitaph:
Septimus Henricus tumulo requiescit in isto, Qui regum splendor, lumen et orbis erat.
Rex vigil et sapiens, comes virtutis, amatur, Egregius forma, strenuus atque potens.
Qui peperit pacem regno, qui bella peregit Plurima, qui victor semper ab hoste redit, Qui natas binis conjunxit regibus ambas, Regibus et cunctis faedere junctus erat.
Qui sacrum hoc struxit templum, statuitque; sepulchrum Pro se, proque sua conjuge, proque domo.
Lustra decem atque; annos tres plus compleverit annos,Nam tribus octenis regia sceptra tulit;Quindecies Domini centenus fluxerat annus, Currebat nonus, cum venit atra dies;Septima ter mensis lux tunc fulgebat Aprilis, Cum clausit summum tanta corona diem.
Nulla dedere prius tantum sibi saecula regem Anglia, vix similem posteriora dabunt.
Septimus hic situs est Henricus gloria regum Cunctorum, ipsius qui tempestate fuerunt;Ingenio atque; opibus gestarum et nomine rerum, Accessere quibus naturae dona benignae:
Frontis honos facies augusta heroica forma, Junctaque ei suavis conjux per pulchra pudica, Et faecunda fuit; felices prole parentes, Henricum quibus octavum terra Anglia debet.
Under the figure of the king.
Hic jacet Henricus ejus nominis septimus, Anglicae quondam rex, Edmundi Richmondiae comitis filius, qui die 22 Aug.Rex creatus, statim post apud Westmonasterium die 30 Octob.coronatur 1485.
Moritur deinde 21 die Aprilis anno aetat.53, regnavit annos 23, menses 8, minus uno die.
Under the queen's figure.
Hic jacet regina Elizabetha, Edvardi quarti quondam regis filia, Edvardi quinti regis quondam nominatur soror: Henrici septimi olim regis conjux, atque; Henrici octavi regis mater inclyta; obiit autem suum diem in turri Londoniarum die secund.Feb.anno Domini 1502, 37 annorum aetate functa.
