d is ornamented in the upper part
with a series of panels, arcaded and perforated to resemble small
windows.

The Hopton Wood stone, or marble, as it is sometimes called, has a
delicate gray vein, which is brought out by polish on the cornice and
balustrade, as a relief to the unpolished surface elsewhere displayed.
There is no inscription; but visitors are usually told about Mrs.
Charlotte Hart, the apparently impecunious pew-opener at the church, who
surprised her friends by dying worth close upon L3,000, and by leaving
L600 to the restoration fund. A new pulpit happened to be wanted at the
time, and the bequest was applied in its erection.

[Illustration: THE SMALPACE MONUMENT
_E. Scamell. Photo._]

On the wall above is the #Monument of Sir Robert Chamberlayne#, an
elegant piece of Jacobean work, deserving a closer examination than can
be bestowed upon it without mounting the pulpit, and even there the
inscription is scarcely legible. The sculpture, which is extremely well
executed, represents Sir Robert kneeling in prayer within a circular
pavilion, the curtains of which are held up by an angel on either side.
The figure wears a partial suit of plate armour over the costume of the
period, and the (bearded) face is turned obliquely towards the east yet
away from the spectator, in the attitude of secret devotion. The tent is
surmounted by a rich cornice, above which the monument terminates in an
ornamental pediment displaying the crest of the deceased. The Latin
inscription beneath relates his descent, through the holders of Sherburn
Castle, Oxon, from the most ancient Tankerville family of Normandy; and
adds that he was knighted by James I, and died between Tripoli and
Cyprus, on a journey to the Holy Sepulchre, at the age of thirty-five,
in the year 1615. The monument was erected by an unknown friend (_amico
amicus_), who concludes with the pious ejaculation _Coelo tegitur qui
non habet urnam_--Heaven covers him who has no sepulchre!

On the south wall, facing this monument, there is another of some
interest and artistic merit. It is to the memory of #Percival Smalpace#
and Agnes his wife, whose boldly sculptured heads are projecting from
separate panels above the tablet containing the inscription. This is
chiefly in Latin, and informs us that the deaths occurred respectively
on 2nd February, 1568, and 3rd September, 1588, in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, and that Michael and Thomas erected the me