countless multitude of minuter beauties, almost distract attention,
and overwhelm the judgment with their different claims to notice."

Some have thought the upper portion was intended to serve as a private
pew for the Lady Isabelle. To this the difficulty of access may well
be urged as a valid objection. Others have thought that the upper part
was a rood-loft. Others again have thought that the half-roof was a
platform upon which a kneeling figure (in imitation of that in the
Trinity Chapel) was placed.[25] By her will the Lady Isabelle gave
instructions that her statue was to be placed on the right hand of her
father in the choir, and that it was to represent her entirely naked
(_i.e._ without any state robes), with her hair cast backwards; with
St. Mary Magdalen (one of the saints to whom the chapel was dedicated)
laying her hands across: with St. John the Evangelist on her right
side and St. Anthony on her left. At her feet there was to be an
escutcheon, bearing her arms impaled with those of her late
husband--who had died just three months before her--supported by two
griffins; and at the side there were to be statues of poor men and
women in humble apparel with their beads in their hands. From the
Abbey Register this part of the lady's last will and testament seems
to have been carried out; but nothing remains of these added figures
or of the tomb. The chapel is less perfect on the south, or choir
side, than on that which faces the north aisle.

The appearance of the chantry when first finished, with all its rich
colour and profuse gilding, must have been very rich. Some have
thought it too elaborate and overweighted with ornament, but we may
well call it one of the most glorious specimens of its time.

Among the heraldic decorations are to be found the chevrons of the
Clares, and the arms of the deceased Earl. On the outside are to be
traced the arms of the royal ancestors of Isabelle, of the Clares, and
of the Despensers.

The arms upon the chapel are given in "Neale's Views of Tewkesbury" as
follows:

On the side of the chapel next the choir, over the door--

1. France and England, quarterly, King Edward III.

2. Castile and Leon, quarterly, and Peter, King of Castile and
Leon.

3. France and England, quarterly, Edmund of Langley, Duke of York.

4. France and England impaling Castile and Leon--for Isabelle of
Castile, Duchess of York.

5. Clare quartering Despenser (Thomas Des