found enclosed in a shroud
and in a tomb of solid masonry, 7 feet by 2 feet 5 inches, by 2 feet 5
inches. The covering slab had a cross incised with the words "Mercy,
Lord Jhu" (Jesu). The top of the slab had traces of mortar upon it,
pointing to the fact that her tomb was built immediately over it. We
know from the chronicle that it was a "very handsome marble tomb,
exquisitely carved." It was a table tomb bearing an effigy of the Lady
Isabelle upon it, clad in a plain linen garment. At the head stood St.
Mary Magdalen, at the right stood St. John the Evangelist, and at the
left stood St. Anthony. At the foot of the tomb was an escutcheon with
her arms and the arms of the Earl of Warwick, impaling the arms of
Clare and Despenser.

In each of the two easternmost piers that support the tower (on the
north and south sides) will be seen a round-headed doorway, which gave
access to the choir from the aisles. They were walled up at an early
date, as they were probably too narrow for processional use.

Since the restoration of the choir the old stalls of the monks have
been collected from the various places in the church to which they had
been removed, and placed in their present position across the arches
of the tower, eleven on the north side and twelve on the south. Those
on the north have lost most of their misericordes, and all the canopy
work. Those on the south side are more perfect, and the backs are in
better preservation, though the plain panels have been removed.

In the majority of the misericordes the carving, originally fanciful,
has suffered at the hands of bigots. It is only possible to conjecture
what the stalls were like in monastic times, but they were probably,
though less elaborate, similar to those at Gloucester. As carvings
they cannot be compared with those at the Priory Church of Great
Malvern.

THE TOMBS AND CHANTRIES.

One of the chief glories of Tewkesbury consists in the series of
historic tombs and chantries which encircle the choir and presbytery
and the surrounding ambulatory. It may safely be asserted that in no
church, with the single exception of Westminster Abbey, can such a
noble collection of sepulchral monuments be found. They are well
worthy of detailed study, and for that reason have been grouped
together in one section. It is not possible to examine or describe
them adequately from the ambulatory only, and the most important are
best viewed from the choir or presbytery, whence