n, the 14th Earl of Oxford, who married the daughter of Thomas Howard,
Duke of Norfolk. He is conjectured to have erected this porch.

In the interior, the roof is admirably carved, and the pews belonging to
the Earls of Oxford and the Springs, though now much decayed, were
highly-finished pieces of Gothic work in wood. Some of the windows are
still embellished with painted glass, representing the arms of the De
Veres and others. Here also is a costly monument of alabaster and gold,
erected to the memory of the Rev. Henry Copinger,[1] rector of Lavenham,
with alto-relievo figures of the reverend divine and his wife.

[1] Dr. Fuller relates the following anecdote of this
divine:--Dr. Reynolds, who held the living of Lavenham, having
gone over to the Church of Rome, the Earl of Oxford, the
patron, presented Mr. Copinger, but on condition that he
should pay no tithes for his park, which comprehended almost
half the land in the parish. Mr. Copinger told his lordship,
that he would rather return the presentation, than by such a
sinful gratitude betray the rights of the church. This answer
so affected the earl, that he replied, "I scorn that my estate
should swell with church goods." His heir, however, contested
the rector's right to the tithes, and it cost Mr. Copinger
L1,600. to recover that right, and leave the quiet possession
of it to his successors.

In the north aisle is a small mural monument, upon which are represented a
man and woman, engraved on brass, kneeling before a table, and three sons
and daughters behind them. From the mouth of the man proceeds a label, on
which are these words:--In manus tuas dne commendo spiritum meum.
Underneath is this inscription, which, like that of the label, is in the
old English character:--

Contynuall prayse these lynes in brasse,
Of Allaine Dister here,
A clothier, vertuous while he was
In Lavenham many a yeare.
For as in lyefe he loved best
The poore to clothe and feede,
So with the rich and all the rest
He neighbourlie agreed;
And did appoynte before he dyed,
A special yearlie rent,
Which should be every Whitsontide
Among the poorest spent.
_Et obiit Anno Dni_ 1534.

Although this benefaction is written in _brass_, the good man's
successors have found enough of the same metal to pervert it; for it is