St. Alban's Abbey.

This distinction marks the foreign character of the work , and the well-known examples at St . Margaret ' s , King ' s Lynn , and at Newark , of similar design , are all known to have been of Flemish workmanship . At North Mimms Church , Hertfordshire , is the brass of a priest , so nearly coinciding in date and character with that of Abbot dela Mere , that it is most probably by the same hand . J J

Mention should here be made of the series of the matrices of the brasses of other Abbots and great personages now let into the pavement before the hi gh altar . With few exceptions the brass plates have been torn from their bed in the stone , but it is possible from their outline to assign a probable date to them , and appropriate some to tbe Abbots whom they are intended to commemorate . One bthe inscriptions running round the slab have been to

y proved be m memory of John de Berkhamstede . Another slab is nearly 13 ft . long , and another very little smaller ; and these when perfect must have been among the very finest brasses in the kingdom . At Canterbury Cathedral are also the matrices of numerous very fine brasses ; but the only existing and perfect specimen of the brass of an ecclesiastic of a size to compare with these is one of Bishop Robert Wyvilin Salisbury Cathedral .

_ , It is probable that at this time also the four large mural paintings on the south face of the four western Norman piers on the north side of the nave were executed , as the various figures are under canopies similar to that on the brass of Abbot de la Mere . The fi gures are all very large , and represent : ( i . ) on the western pier , St . Christopher , as he is usuall y depicted , bearing the infant . Saviour the waterThis

over . is a common subject in mural paintings , and one which m the fifteenth century is supposed to have been painted in a conspicuous place on the walls of nearly every church in England ; many examples . still remain , ( ii . ) St . Thomas of Canterbury ( a Becket ) , also a not uncommon subject pi mural paintings ( for list of other examples see Archceolociical Journal , vol . xxxv ., pp . 278-279 ); ( iii . ) St . Citha or Osythancl ( iv ) Edward the

; . Confessor relieving St . John , who is in the guise of a pilgrim . This last , from an inscription below it , has been thought to be a portrait of William Toode , a bailiff of St . Albans , and Joan his wife , ancl not to be of earlier date than 1440 ; but it more probably represents St . Edward , as , has been suggested , no examples of contemporary portraits in mural paintings being known to exist in England in so conspicuous a position .

It was during the rule of Abbot de la Mere that the Decorated st yle of architecture began to give place to the Perpendicular , which has been called the specially English style of architecture . In this style was built the great Abbey Gatehouse , still standing at the west end of the church , a massive structure which has since been converted into various uses , such as the town gaol , etc .

I be next improvements to the fabric seem to have been made b y John de Whetehamstede , who , with an interval of ten years , presided over the Monastery from 1420 to 1464 . In his time the watching loft on the north side of theRetrochoir was erected , a wooden construction adorned with very quaint carvings , in whicli the monks could keep watch at ni ght over the shrine of St . Alban . An inscri ption on the east side of the eastern tower arch records that this abbot had the

ceiling of the Presb ytery painted with the " Agnus Dei " and the Eagle of St . John , in allusion to his titular saints—St . ° John the Baptist ancl St . John the Evangelist . This painting still remains in perfect condition . The ceiling of the Choir to the west of the tower is also said by some to have been painted in Whetehamstede ' s time , though by other authorities its date is laced at about 1390 The present beautiful ceiling

p . was only recently accidentally discovered under a more modern system of colouring , similar to that (?) still existing in the nave . The ceiling is flat , and divided into square panels , on each of which is an angel holding a shield charged with the arms of some royal or special benefactor to the Abbey , and