ield, surmounted by a
crown, and upheld by two angels, displays the arms of Edward the
Confessor impaled with those of England. And against the western wall
there is a good example of a canopied altar-tomb, in the Tudor style,
with a memorial tablet (1741) inserted in it, which is obviously much
later than the tomb itself. This is said to have originally stood at the
eastern end of the south wall, where it was discovered during the
eighteenth century reconstruction, and then deprived of its ornamental
projections, where the marks of the chisel are seen upon the surface.

[Illustration: ANCIENT SCULPTURED TABLETS IN ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-LESS
WEST END OF NORTH WALL]

At the eastern end of the north wall there is a tablet to the memory of
the wife of Sir Thomas Bodley, whose name has been given to the famous
library at Oxford. The curious old stone beneath it, which was
discovered during the alterations, and then affixed to the wall, has the
double interest of great antiquity and a puzzling inscription beginning,
"_Ecce sub hoc tumulo Guliemus conditur_."

The exterior of the church, though spoilt by the composition laid over
the walls, has still a certain interest as part of the original fabric,
and still contains the arches of most of the old windows, viz., three on
each side, one at the west end, another immediately over the doorway,
and four in the uppermost storey of the tower. There were originally
four windows on each side, but those in the easternmost bays have been
removed, and the spaces filled up. Besides containing the memorials
above mentioned, the vestibule has more architectural interest than any
other part of the building in the surviving arches on the northern and
eastern sides of the space beneath the tower. Here there is an
aggregation of columns, with moulded bases and capitals, and banded in
the centre, varied by the introduction of half-length shafts resting on
sculptured corbels. The central area is nearly square, but has been
formed into an octagon by an arcading, on a series of clustered columns,
from each of which spring the moulded ribs of the ceiling. These ribs
are of Bath stone, and after an elaborate intertwining, are brought
together above in a central boss, from which hangs a large brass corona
to light the church. The roof is of iron, the panels within the groining
being overlaid with plaster. Above the main arcade there is a clerestory
of dwarfed windows, filled with tinte