The monument is a handsome one. It was probably erected by Wheathampstead, who had been on terms of intimacy with the duke, when he for the second time became Abbot. The canopy over the grave is richly carved; the antelopes we see on it were the badge of the duke. His epitaph speaks of him, among other things, as
Fraudis ineptae Detector, dum ficta notat miracula caeci.
This refers to the story told of him by Sir Thomas More, how he convicted an impostor who claimed to have been born blind, but to have received sight at St. Alban's shrine, by asking him the colour of the garments that the duke himself and others were wearing; all these questions were correctly answered by the beggar, who forgot for the moment that one born blind who had only just received his sight, would not have known the names of the various colours, though he might distinguish one colour from another. The beggar was punished for his imposture by being set in the stocks.
This story is introduced into the first scene of the second act; of the second part of "Henry VI.," a reproduction of a St. Albans legend in which some students of the play will find an argument for attributing the play to Francis Bacon, who lived close by and would be likely to know the stories current in the town.
The Tower and Bells.—The ringing loft is reached by a staircase starting from the door near the north-west corner of the north arm of the transept. The steps were originally built of Roman bricks, but at the time of the restoration had fresh treads of stone laid on them, so that the ascent is an easy one; from this staircase one passes along the triforium gallery of the western side of the transept, and then up a staircase in the turret at the north-west angle of the tower to a room whose floor is above the flat ceiling of the lantern visible from the floor of the church. The bells are in the next story, and at no great height above the floor of the ringing loft. In the ringing loft may be seen boards on which are inscribed records of several memorable sets of changes that have been rung, with the dates, the number of changes, the time occupied, which was generally between three and four hours, and the names of the ringers and the number of the bell that each one pulled. The peal consists of eight bells; the tenor is in the key of E flat, and measures 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter, and is calculated to weigh about 28 cwt. The whole peal was originally cast in London by Philip Wightman in the year 1699; but the second, fifth, and sixth bells were recast in the middle of the eighteenth century, and the treble in 1845. On the tenor may be read the following legend: "Vivos ad coelum, moritu[r]os ad solum pulsata voco." The clock was in great measure reconstructed under Lord Grimthorpe's direction and fitted with his gravity escapement; it strikes the quarter chimes on the second, third, fourth, and seventh bells, and the hours on the tenor. The mechanism of the chimes, which play at three, six, nine, and twelve o'clock, was remade by Mr. Godman, of St. Stephen's parish; this mechanism may be described as a kind of gigantic musical box. A huge cylinder revolves, on which are projecting pegs of brass, which as the cylinder goes round catch against wooden levers which raise clappers that in their fall strike the bells. The same tune is played all through each day, but a different tune is played each day of the week; at the end of the week the barrel is automatically set so as to begin the series of tunes again. There is, moreover, another tune—the Trinity hymn—which can be set by hand, and this is used on the greater festivals.
Besides the peal of eight the sacring bell which once hung near the high altar is now hung in the tower.
It may be well to finish the description of the church with a few notes about the material used and the method of building, abbreviated from a paper by Mr. James Neale. He says that during the restoration many examples were found of lead dowels in the joints of detached shafts. Sinkings were cut in the upper surface of the lower stone and in the lower surface of the upper, so that when in place these sinkings would be opposite to each other; a small hole one-eighth inch in diameter was then bored in the upper stone, through which lead was poured into the sinkings. The mortar used between the outer stones of the fourteenth-century bays of the nave was mixed with oyster-shells, contained a large amount of lime, and was very hard. There is much clunch stone used in the interior and this is in a good state of preservation, but any that has been used externally has decayed. The abaci of the Early English capitals in the main arcade are of Barnack stone, which is harder than clunch and so more suitable for bearing a weight. The Norman stonework was cut with an axe, the Transition with a chisel. The Early English is bolster-tooled; the Decorated ashlar (including the bays on the south side of the nave) is claw-tooled, the mouldings being scraped; the Perpendicular is finely scraped.