strians, and their rivals, the house of York. Yet it was in the
reign of her own Tudor grandson that Katherine's original sepulchre in
the old Lady Chapel was destroyed, and her embalmed body in its broken
wooden coffin placed by the side of Henry V.'s effigy. Possibly Henry
VII. intended to suitably re-inter his noble grandame's corpse in his new
chapel, but after his death nobody stirred in the matter, and there the
remains lay, a curiosity for all visitors to the Abbey to stare at, till
at last Dean Zachary Pearce buried them under the Countess of
Buckingham's tomb. Dean Stanley removed the coffin and placed it in this
chantry chapel against the east wall, where an altar dedicated to the
Virgin used to stand. The ancient altar slab, found concealed beneath
the step, now forms the cover of the Queen's tomb. On the wall behind
are the {87} badges of Henry V. The antelope and the swan, which he
inherited from his mother's family, the de Bohuns, are each chained to a
tree, between them is burning the cresset light, an emblem taken by the
young King at his coronation as a proof of his desire to be "a light and
a guide to his people to follow him in all virtue and honour." The
badges are repeated all over the stone-work inside and out, while the
niches are filled with numerous statues, representing royal personages,
mitred abbots, and saints, notably the patron saints of England and
France, St. George and St. Denis--the latter carries his head in his
hand. Upon the arch over the ambulatory is depicted Henry's coronation
in the Abbey. His figure armed _cap-a-pie_ is shown on the eastern side,
crossing a raging torrent, while a castle, with troops drawn up in front
of it, is carved in the background. The shields of England and France,
to which kingdom Henry was, as son-in-law to the French king and by right
of conquest, the acknowledged heir, are also prominent. We return below
the chantry arch and descend into the ambulatory, whence we have a good
view of the carvings alluded to, besides many others. Before us is a
flight of stone steps which leads directly up to the other royal chapel,
the mausoleum {88} of the Tudors and Stuarts. Beneath our feet is the
family vault of the Royalist historian of the civil wars, Edward Hyde,
Earl of Clarendon, who was closely connected with the Stuarts, and shared
the exile of his young master, afterwards Charles II. In later days the
powerful Lord Chancellor fell from his high p