over the north aisle, at its entrance into the nave--is a
great arch which breaks the continuity of line in the arch of the
pillars. This is the Gervoise monument, and may have originally enclosed
a tomb. Of this, however, there is no evidence. In the chancel opposite
to the Bray tomb stands the monument of Sir Thomas More, prepared by
himself before his death, and memorable for the connection of the word
"heretics" with thieves and murderers, which word Erasmus afterwards
omitted from the inscription. More's crest, a Moor's head, is in the
centre of the upper cornice, and the coats-of-arms of himself and his two
wives are below. The inscription is on a slab of black marble, and is
very fresh, as it was restored in 1833. The question whether the body of
Sir Thomas More lies in the family vault will probably never be
definitely answered. Weever in his "Funeral Monuments" strongly inclines
to the belief that it is so. "Yet it is certain," he says, "that
Margaret, wife of Master Roper and daughter of the said Sir Thomas More,
removed her father's corpse not long after to Chelsea."

Sir Thomas More's chapel is on the south side of the chancel. It was to
his seat here that More himself came after service, in place of his
manservant, on the day when the King had taken his high office from him,
and, bowing to his wife, remarked with double meaning, "Madam, the
Chancellor has gone." The chapel contains the monuments and tombs of the
Duchess of Northumberland and Sir Robert Stanley. The latter is at the
east end, and stands up against a window. It is surmounted by three urns
standing on pedestals. The centre one of these has an eagle on the
summit, and is flanked by two female figures representing Justice and
Solitude in flowing draperies. The one holds a shield and crown, the
other a shield. In the centre pedestal is a man's head in alto-relievo,
with Puritan collar and habit. On the side-pedestals are carved the heads
of children. The whole stands on a tomb of veined marble with carved
edges, and slabs of black marble bear the inscriptions of Sir Robert
Stanley and two of his children. The tomb of the Duchess of
Northumberland which stands next, against the south wall, has been
compared to that of Chaucer in Westminster Abbey. This has a Gothic
canopy, and formerly contained two brasses, representing her eight sons
and five daughters kneeling, one behind the other, in the favourite style
of the time. The brass commemorating th