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CASTLES AND ABBEYS OF ENGLAND.
[Thr Abort
, Fuller, writing in the time of the Commonwealth , says that “a picture ofKing Harold in glass was lately to be seen in the north window of the church,till ten years since some barbarous hand beat it down under the notion ofsuperstition.” About half a century ago another coffin was found near thesame spot, containing an entire skeleton enclosed in lead. Many personsof distinction appear to have been buried at Waltham; among them arementioned the names of Hugh Nevil, protho-forester of England, who, dyingin 1222, was interred here under a noble engraved marble sepulchre; of hisson John Nevil; and of Robert Passelew, archdeacon of Lewes , one of thefavourites of Henry III .
A very elegant pointed arch, now forming the entrance from the tower tothe interior of the church, of which we have given a representation on a
preceding page, appears to be of the reign ofHenry III. ; the defects observed in the upperpart of its ornaments were caused by somebarbarous hand, which cut away part of thesculptured stone, in order to introduce a newerection, with which the workman appears tohave proceeded no farther. The principal■Entrance, which is also an elegant sharply-pointed arch, is supposed to date from thereign of Edward III . At the south-east ex-tremity of the present building is a chapel,which bears evident marks of the age of theTudors, although much defaced and altered.Nearly the whole of the church itself, with theexception of the modem alterations which it has undergone, is the erection ofKing Harold, and formed perhaps the principal part of the church as heleft it. The interior, which in modern times has been miserably disfiguredby thick coats of plaster and whitewash, possesses still an appearance ofsolemn grandeur, although its groined roof has been taken down, and itsplace supplied by a lower flat ceiling. The close resemblance between thisinterior and the interior of the nave of Durham Cathedral (built a few yearsafter the Conquest) has frequently been noticed. The body of the nave is
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flesh of this anatomy to us became invisible, so like-wise would the bones have been in some longer con-tinuance of time. 0! what is man then, whichvanisheth thus away, like unto smoke or vapour,and is no more seen! Whosoever thou art that shaltread this passage, thou mayst find cause of humilitysufficient."