f Brazil, or a score of poor
factory lads from some northern town, the brilliancy and humor of his
speech held them spellbound. To him Westminster owes among many other
things that unrivalled volume of _Memorials_--from which I have so often
had occasion to quote--the most perfect handbook to any cathedral that I
know, save his yet more perfect _Memorials of Canterbury_, written when
he was canon of that cathedral. Dean Stanley's memory which must always
be present in the minds of those who have known him at Westminster, is
specially bound up with my recollections of St. Edmund's Chapel; it was
one of his most favorite spots in the Abbey, and John of Eltham's tomb
one of those he most delighted to show to all his visitors. And this
brings us back from nineteenth century deans to fourteenth century
princes, and to the old tombs in whose histories we can find such
inexhaustible mines of interest.

In 1340, two more young "royals" were buried beside John of Eltham in
St. Edmund's Chapel. These were his nephew and niece who died quite
young--William of Windsor and Blanche de la Tour--children of Edward
the Third. The boy was born at Windsor, which was fast becoming a rival
to Westminster as a royal residence; and little Blanche was born at the
Tower of London. The effigies in white alabaster are very small, only
about twenty inches long: but they are in full costume of the time. The
boy wears the short close-fitting jerkin, with a wide jewelled belt
round the hips, and a flowing cloak fastened with a jewelled clasp falls
to his feet. The little girl has on a full long petticoat with a tightly
fitting bodice, to the square neck of which her mantle is fastened by a
cordon with a rose and two studs. The hideous muffled chins of the last
century had given place to a horned headdress (the horns are broken in
little Blanche's effigy) and a close net of gold, each wide mesh,
through which the hair shows, being fastened at the crossing with pearls
or precious stones. Blanche's feet rest against a little lion: but her
brother's have been broken off obliquely. The tomb altogether has been
cruelly used, and no trace of the children's faces remain. Yet who can
wonder, when we see the way in which John of Eltham's splendid monument
has been mutilated.

[Illustration: TOMB OF WILLIAM OF WINDSOR AND HIS SISTER BLANCHE.]

When these two little children were laid to rest in the Abbey, their
father was just beginning his great wars with Fr