on the banks of the Thames, between the Bridge House and Battle Bridge, which was so called, "for that it standeth on the ground, and over a watercourse (flowing out of Thames) pertayning to that Abbey, and was therefore both builded and repayred "by the Abbots of that house, as being hard adjoyning to the Abbot's lodging.” * Its situation is known by the landing-place, called Battle Stairs.-On the opposite side of Tooley-street is a low neighbourhood of meanly-built streets and passages, still denominated the Maze, from the intricacies of a labyrinth in the gardens of the Abbot of Battle's Inn, and which fronted its entrance gate.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY.-MONUMENT OF RICHARD THE SECOND, AND ANNE OF BOHEMIA,

HIS FIRST QUEEN.

This monument, which stands on the south side of St. Edward's Chapel, was erected by command of King Richard himself, and in his own life time. It is mentioned in the King's will, and there are two indentures concerning it in Rymer's "Fœdera.† By the first Indenture, it appears that Queen Anne was interred immediately beneath the tomb, which was to be constructed after a model, bearing the seal of the Treasurer of England, to be completed in two years from Michaelmas, 1395, at the cost of 2501. besides

* Ibid. p. 788.

+ Vide Nichols's "Royal Wills," and "Fœdera," vol. vii. first edit.

a gratuity of 201. if well and properly made. In the second Indenture it is covenanted that Nicholas Broker and Godfrey Prest, Citizens and Coppersmiths of London, shall make, or cause to be made, two Images of copper and brass, gilt and crowned, with their right hands joined and clasped together, and holding sceptres in their left, with a ball and cross; the one to resemble the King, and the other the Queen; that the said figures shall be placed on a metal table, gilt, and ornamented with a fret-work of fleurs-de-lis, lions, eagles, and leopards; that there shall be a tabernacle with canopies (hovels, or gabletz'), of gilt metal and double jambs, with two lions at the feet of the King, and an eagle and a leopard at the Queen's feet; that there shall be twelve images of saints, of metal gilt, at the side of the tomb, and eight angels round it, with such inscriptions, and such escutcheons of arms engraven and enamelled, as the King or his Treasurer should assign; and that all the said work shall be executed from an attested model, within two years from Michaelmas, 1395, at the charge of 4001. ; one hundred of which was to be paid down, and the remainder in four instalments.*

Queen Anne died, without issue, on the 7th of June, 1394, having been a wife twelve years: she was daughter of the Emperor Charles the Fourth, and sister of the Emperor Wenceslaus. King Richard has

* See the Indenture in the "Fœdera," which is in old French.

been described as a Prince of surpassing beauty, but his mental powers did not correspond with his personal form, and his character was both weak and treacherous. He was the second son of Edward, the Black Prince, by Joan of Kent, called Joan the Fair, Countess of Holland; and was born in the year 1366 at Bourdeaux, in France, where Edward kept his court, whilst ruling over the Principality of Aquitain. The murder of his uncle, Thomas of Woodstock, was one of the most atrocious acts of Richard's life, and it is not undeserving of remark that it became a principal cause of his own ruin. Within a twelvemonth after he was deposed by Henry of Bolingbroke, his cousin, on whom, September the 30th, 1399, the Parliament bestowed the crown. The dethroned Sovereign was imprisoned in Pontefract Castle, Yorkshire, where, on St. Valentine's Day, 1399-1400, he breathed his last. His death was not a natural one, but whether occasioned by open violence, enforced starvation, or voluntary fasting, is not with certainty known. In the manifesto of Archbishop Scrope and the confederate Lords in Henry the IVth's time, it is affirmed that he was starved to death, and with this the older writers accord; but Fabian, and other historians, have stated that he was assassinated by Sir Piers de Exton, in what is now called the Bloody Tower, at Pontefract. Sir Piers is said to have been influenced by some obscure expressions of the new Sovereign, and taking with him eight men, to have entered Richard's chamber, where, after a severe contest, he struck out his brains with a pole-axe; four of the

assailants having been previously killed by Richard with a bill which he had snatched from one of the assassins. Walsingham says, that his death was caused by grief and voluntary hunger; but Stow asserts that he was kept for fifteen days in hunger, thirst, and cold, till he died. Whatever be the fact, the reigning King, Henry, was anxious that the knowledge of his death should be generally promulgated, and for that purpose, "he lette sere him in a lynnen clothe, save his visage," which " was left opyn, that men myght see and knowe his personne,”* and had him brought to London, where he was exposed to public view for three days in St. Paul's Cathedral. He was, at first, buried in the Church of the Fryars' Preachers at Langley, in Hertfordshire; but Henry Vth, soon after his own coronation, had his remains brought to Westminster, and interred near those of his beloved Queen.

This Monument consists of a large and broad tomb, or pedestal, of grey Petworth marble, upon which, on a metal table, lie the full-length figures of Richard and his Queen. On each side the tomb are eight canopied niches on a quatrefoil basement, separated from each other by small buttresses, and triple tiers of double arches, pannelled: each end is divided into eight compartments by similar pannelling. The original elegance of the sculptured work has been long destroyed; partly from wanton devastation, and partly from all the finest parts having crumbled away.

* Vide "Dun. Chron." fol. 164; in Bibl. Harl.

Mr. Gough states, that the quatrefoils below the niches were once covered with "shields enamelled on copper;" but not a single shield now remains.

The recumbent statues of Richard and Anne, together with the canopies, or rather pediments, of the tabernacle-work which formerly surmounted them, and the table covering the tomb, are all of a mixed metal, apparently brass and copper. Stow, speaking of these figures, says, "the moulds were made, and the images cast," by B. [Broker] and Godfrey, of Wood-street, goldsmiths; and that "the charges of gilding them exceeded four hundred marks." Scarcely any of the gilding, however, is at present visible, except on one part of Richard's mantle, which has been rubbed bright; all the other parts being thickly coated with indurated dust. The King is habited like an ecclesiastic, or religious person: his mantle has a falling cape, and his bushy hair is turned back at the sides in curls, leaving the ears exposed: he has whiskers, and a beard about two inches in length, curiously disposed into two pointed ends. His countenance, as remarked by Gough, "is rather that of a heavy debauchee, than of a jolly handsome young man. It appears from Sandford, that the King originally held the Queen's right hand in his own, as was ordered in the indenture for making the tomb : but the arms of both figures have been stolen, as well as the two lions that were at Richard's feet, and the eagle and leopard at those of the Queen. This position of the hands was indicative of the great affection which Richard bore to his consort, and which, in the