. Shakespeare's England . aguide. The oldest part of it is the Lady chapel —which, in English cathedrals, is almost invariably placedbehind the choir. Through this we strolled, alone andin silence. Every footstep there falls upon a pavement is one mass of gravestones ; and throughthe tall, stained windows of the chapel a solemn lightpours in upon the sculptured names of men and womenwho have long been dust. In one corner is an ancientstone coffin — a relic of the Roman days of is the place in which Stephen Gardiner, Bishop ofWinchester, in the days of cruel Queen Mary, h
. Shakespeare's England . aguide. The oldest part of it is the Lady chapel —which, in English cathedrals, is almost invariably placedbehind the choir. Through this we strolled, alone andin silence. Every footstep there falls upon a pavement is one mass of gravestones ; and throughthe tall, stained windows of the chapel a solemn lightpours in upon the sculptured names of men and womenwho have long been dust. In one corner is an ancientstone coffin — a relic of the Roman days of is the place in which Stephen Gardiner, Bishop ofWinchester, in the days of cruel Queen Mary, held hisecclesiastical court and doomed many a dissentientdevotee to the rack and the fagot. Here was con-demned John Rogers, — afterwards burnt at the stake,in Smithfield. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth mayoften have entered this chapel. But it is in the choirthat the pilgrim pauses with most of reverence; forthere, not far from the altar, he stands at the graves ofEdmund Shakespeare, John Fletcher, and Philip Mas-. Gowers Monument. ciiAi. IV RAMBLES IN LONDON 47 singer. They apparently rest almost side by side, andonly their names and the dates of their death are cutin the tablets that mark their sepulchres. EdmundShakespeare, the younger brother of William, was anactor in his company, and died in 1607, aged twenty-seven. lhe great poet must have stood at that grave,and suffered and wept there ; and somehow the loverof Shakespeare comes very near to the heart of themaster when he stands in that place. Massinger wasburied there, March 18, 1638, — the parish registerrecording him as a stranger. Fletcher — of theBeaumont and Fletcher alliance — was buried there, in1625 : Beaumonts grave is in the Abbey. The dust ofHenslowe the manager also rests beneath the pavementof St. Saviours. Bishop Gardiner was buried there,with pompous ceremonial, in 1555, — but subsequentlyhis remains were removed to the cathedral at Win-chester. The great prelate Lancelot Andrews, com-memo
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