The great pointed window was designed by our countryman, Benjamin West. The altar-piece was painted by West. Here is the tomb of Edward IV., 1483. He lies under a slab of black marble. In 1789, some workmen discovered his lead coffin, and it was opened, and the skeleton was in good preservation, and measured seven feet in length. Horace Walpole obtained a lock of his hair at this time. Here are the graves of Henry VI., and of Henry VIII. and his queen, Jane Seymour. Also of Charles I.
Lord Byron says of Henry VIII.'s tomb,
"Famed for contemptuous breach of sacred ties,
By headless Charles, see heartless Henry lies"
On the 1st of April, 1813, the coffin of Charles I. was found in Henry VIII.'s tomb; and I think you will be pleased with an account of what, transpired. I shall, therefore, copy a paper which is authentic:
"On completing the mausoleum which his present majesty has built in the Tomb House, as it is called, it was necessary to form a passage to it from under the choir of St George's Chapel. In constructing this passage, an aperture was made accidentally, in one of the walls of the vault of King Henry VIII., through which the workmen were enabled to see, not only the two coffins which were supposed to contain the bodies of King Henry VIII. and Queen Jane Seymour, but a third also, covered with a black velvet pall, which, from Mr. Herbert's narrative, might fairly be presumed to hold the remains of King Charles I.
"On representing the circumstance to the Prince Regent, his Royal Highness perceived at once that a doubtful point in history might be cleared up by opening this vault; and, accordingly, his Royal Highness ordered an examination to be made on the first convenient opportunity. This was done on the 1st of April last, 1813,—the day after the funeral of the Duchess of Brunswick,—in the presence of his Royal Highness himself; who guarantied, thereby, the most respectful care and attention to the remains of the dead during the inquiry. His Royal Highness was accompanied by his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, Count Munster, the Dean of Windsor, Benjamin Charles Stevenson, Esq., and Sir Henry Halford.
"The vault is covered by an arch half a breadth in thickness; is seven feet two inches in width, nine feet six inches in length, and four feet ten inches in height, and is situated in the centre of the choir, opposite the eleventh knight's stall, on the sovereign's side.
"On removing the pall, a plain leaden coffin, with no appearance of ever having been enclosed in wood, and bearing an inscription, 'King Charles, 1648,' in large, legible characters, on a scroll of lead encircling it, immediately presented itself to the view. A square opening was then made in the upper part of the lid, of such dimensions as to admit a clear insight into its contents. These were an internal wooden coffin, very much decayed, and the body carefully wrapped up in cerecloth, into the folds of which a quantity of unctuous or greasy matter, mixed with resin, as it seemed, had been melted, so as to exclude, as effectually as possible, the external air. The coffin was completely full, and, from-the tenacity of the cerecloth, great difficulty was experienced in detaching it successfully from the parts which it developed. Wherever the unctuous matter had insinuated itself, the separation of the cerecloth was easy; and when it came off, a correct impression of the features to which it had been applied was observed in the unctuous substance. At length the whole face was disengaged from its covering. The complexion of the skin of it was dark and discolored. The forehead and temples had lost little or nothing of their muscular substance. The cartilage of the nose was gone, but the left eye, in the first moment of exposure, was open and full, though it vanished almost immediately; and the pointed beard, so characteristic of the reign of King Charles, was perfect The shape of the face was a long oval. Many of the teeth remained, and the left ear, in consequence of the interposition of some unctuous matter between it and the cerecloth, was found entire. It was difficult at this moment to withhold a declaration, that, notwithstanding its disfigurement, the countenance did bear a strong resemblance to the coins, the busts, and especially to the picture of King Charles I. by Vandyke, by which it had been made familiar to us. It is true that the minds of the spectators of this interesting sight were well prepared to receive this impression; but it is also certain that such a facility of belief had been occasioned by the simplicity and truth of Mr. Herbert's narrative, every part of which had been confirmed by the investigation, so far as it had advanced; and it will not be denied that the shape of the face, the forehead, an eye, and the beard, are the most important features by which resemblance is determined. When the head had been entirely disengaged from the attachments which confined it; it was found to be loose, and without any difficulty was taken up and held to view. It was quite wet, and gave a greenish-red tinge to paper and linen which touched it. The back part of the scalp was entirely perfect, and had a remarkably fresh appearance—the pores of the skin being more distinct, as they usually are when soaked in moisture, and the tendons and ligaments of the neck were of considerable substance and firmness. The hair was thick at the back part of the head, and, in appearance, nearly black. A portion of it, which has since been cleaned and dried, is of a beautiful dark-brown color. That of the beard was of a redder brown. On the back part of the head it was about an inch in length, and had probably been cut so short for the convenience of the executioner, or, perhaps, in order to furnish memorials of the unhappy king. On holding up the head to examine the place of separation from the body, the muscles of the neck had evidently retracted themselves considerably, and the fourth cervical vertebra was found to be cut through its substance transversely, leaving the surfaces of the divided portions perfectly smooth and even; an appearance which could only have been produced by a heavy blow, inflicted with a very sharp instrument, and which furnished the last proof wanting to identify Charles I. After this examination, which served every purpose in view, and without examining the body below the neck; it was immediately restored to its situation, the coffin was soldered up again, and the vault closed."
This state of things precisely tallied with the account which Herbert, the faithful servant of Charles, had given as to the place of his sepulture.
In this chapel, too, is the cenotaph of the late Princess Charlotte, who was wife to Leopold, now King of Belgium. I do not much admire it.