of Scotch sandstone, it seems hardly necessary to look further afield for its original home. Be this as it may, the Scotch kings down to John Balliol were crowned upon it; King Kenneth, about 850 A.D., having inscribed upon it two Latin verses, which run, when translated into English

'If fates go right, where'er this stone is found,

The Scots shall monarchs of that realm be found.'

Edward I. seized this relic, and placed it in Westminster Abbey in 1297, had the chair we now see made for its reception; and seated in it, after it has been placed before the communion table, all the sovereigns of England have been crowned. In 1603 James I. fulfilled the old Scotch prediction, and upon one occasion only has it been removed from the abbey. It was taken to Westminster Hall, and there seated in it, Oliver Cromwell was installed as Lord Protector.

Six chapels stand to the north and south of the Confessor's shrine; St. Paul, St. John Baptist, and Islip's Chapel, on the north; St Nicholas, St. Edmund and St. Benedict on the south, all crowded with monuments, many of them of very great interest. But the crown and flower of the chapel architecture of the Abbey is the gorgeous building replacing the ancient Lady Chapel, which Henry VII., under the fear of death, built in the hope of saving his soul. His his soul. His title to the throne was not so good as he could have wished, the means by which he had reached it were not free from suspicion, he had manifested a grasping and avaricious spirit during life, and expended his wealth liberally only on this object, viz., attempting to secure his safety in the next world by founding a splendid chapel to the Virgin Mary in this, 'in whom,' his will tells us, 'hath ever been my most singulier trust and confidence.' It was originally intended for the reception of the body of Henry VI. after that monarch had undergone canonization, but the amount of money demanded by the Pope ere he would perform this spiritual jugglery was too excessive for the parsimonious king, and so Henry VI. remained at Windsor, and the new chapel became Henry the Seventh's tomb. Wealth was lavished upon it, large sums being provided not only for the building, but also for the maintenance of prayers and masses for the king's soul. The building remains a splendid example of Tudor architecture; but the revenues were diverted from their special purpose even before many of those who remembered Henry VII. had died.

To enter this 'climax of the latest mediæval architecture,' the visitor pauses under the chantry of Henry V., ascends the flight of steps somewhat imperfectly seen in the dim light, and passes through the noble bronze gates, which, like the windows, walls, and roof bear the badges of the founder. Here are to be seen the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York, both separately and entwined with the crown, the portcullis of the Beauforts, which he inherited through his mother, the lions of England, the fleur-de-lys,

the dragon of Cadwallader, the last British king, from whom he claimed descent, the crown on the bush, in memory of Bosworth Field, and the

falcon and the fetterlock of Edward IV.

The building consists of a central aisle or nave, with north and south chapels, and at the eastern end five bays or chapels. Along both sides of the central aisle are the beautiful oak carved stalls, dating from different periods, but belonging now to the Knights of the Order of the Bath. Since 1725 the chapel has been used for their installation, and the Dean of Westminster is ex-officio Dean of the Order. banners of the knights. At the corner of the

Over the stalls hang the ledge, by the large stall on the north side, is a small carved effigy of Henry VII., crowned, kneeling and looking towards the east. From the east window the figure of the same king surveys the chapel. The decorations of the walls and roof are exquisite workmanship. The very walls,' wrote Washington Irving, 'are wrought into universal ornament, encrusted with tracery, and scooped into niches crowded with statues of saints and martyrs. Stone seems, by the cunning labour of the chisel, to have been robbed of its weight and density, suspended aloft as if by magic, and the fretted roof achieved with the

wonderful minuteness and airy security of a cobweb.'

In the centre of the eastern end of the nave stands the chantry and tomb of Henry VII. and his wife, Elizabeth of York. The tomb is the work of Torrigiano, a Florentine artist, who has also enriched the abbey with other examples of his skill. It cost £1500, equivalent to at least £15,000 to-day, and was finished about 1518. It is of black marble, beautifully carved and enriched with medallions representing the Virgin and saints. Effigies of the king and queen, reputed to be good portraits, and executed in gilt bronze, recline upon the tomb. The screen enclosing it on the four sides is fine English work in bronze, bearing the same devices

as the gates and roof. Close to the body of his grandfather, beneath the partly restored altar at the west end of Henry the Seventh's tomb, lies Edward VI., the son of Henry VIII. and Jane Seymour, the first Protestant King of England. Cranmer, as the last official act of his life, here read for the first time in history the funeral service of the Book of Common Prayer over the body of an English monarch. The pulpit in which Cranmer is said to have preached on that

mournful occasion stands close by in the chapel where Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, is buried. The body of James I. also rests in the vault of Henry VII.

Of the five chapels at the eastern end the most interesting are the central and the next to the south. In the former Oliver Cromwell was buried after having lain in state at Somerset House. Near him in the same vault lay the remains of Cromwell's mother, Henry Ireton, John Bradshaw, Admiral Blake, and other friends and relatives of the great Protector. But soon after the 'glorious Restoration the bodies were disinterred and reburied in the green to the north of the abbey, except Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw, who were hung and decapitated at Tyburn, their heads being exposed on Westminster Hall. Elizabeth Claypole, Cromwell's favourite daughter, was alone allowed to remain undisturbed where originally buried, to the north of Henry the Seventh's tomb. After this desecration of the dead and dishonour to the remains of some of the greatest men England has produced, the vault was used for the burial of illegitimate descendants of Charles II., whose remains lie side by side with those of the Dukes of