The Autobiography Of An Old Church Window.

chapel there can be no doubt , as there is a p iscina in the south wall , and a part of it is enclosed by a very handsome carved oak screen of fourteenth century work In a canopied niche in the wall is a coffinshaped to . nb , supposed to be that of Henry

de Elmham , on which is a simple but elegant cross in relief . Passing by many of the lords of the manor , we find that it was held hi the reigns of Henry V . and VI . b 3 Willianide-la-Pole , fourth earl , subsequently created marquis , and then Duke of Suffolk . After liis death he was succeeded by

John-dela-. Pole , who married the sister of Edward IV ., and after whom came Edward-de-la-Pole , who was beheaded by Henry VIII . in 1513 . In lul-f , Charles Brandon , Viscount LTsle , the comely and courageous friend and companion of Henry VIII ., was made Duke of Suffolk , with a grant of the estates of the deceased duke .

Jlary Tudor , the beautiful sister of Henry , was married to the aged and decrepid Louis XII . of France . After an unhappy two months of wedded life , she was left a widow , and was very soon afterwards married to Charles Brandon , wdien they took up their abode at the manor

house of Westhorpe , then no doubt a house of princely dimensions , with its chapel aud its tilt-yard , and the other usual adjuncts to the house of a great noble , including a beautiful garden which Mary had laid out under her own superintendence in the

style which she had seen iu France , and in tending which she is said to have spent much of her time . Here she lived iu quiet seclusion for eighteen 3 ears , and here , in 1-533 , she died . Her remains were first interred in the monasterj r at Bury St .

Edmund ' s , and on the dissolution of the abbey they were removed to St . Mary ' s Church , were they uov repose . The last occupant of the hall seems to have been Maurice Barrow , who died at the age of GD , in 1666 , and whose

monument , a reclining figure in marble , is in a mausoleum , which seems to have been erected for its reception , on the north side of the chancel . To the memory of his father there is a beautiful monument on the north wall of the chancel , with kneeling

figures of himself aud his two wives , in the quaint costumes of the period . it is said that the manor house was

pulled down with cart-ropes , and without any regard to the preservation of the ornaments . On the site now stands a farm house , which the present owner has eonverted into tenements for labourers . All

now left to indicate its former greatness is part of the moat , with the remains of a veiy ancient bridge . Since the demolition of the hall , Westhorpe has , as was natural , declined , and it is now a village of about 200 inhabitantsalmost exclusively engaged in

, agriculture . All that remains of its former glory is its beautiful , but dreadfully dilapidated church . This church was mainly erected in the decorated period , i . e .. in the first half of the fourteenth century , the chancel , the

nave arcade , and the south aisle belong to this period . The clerestory and roof are later , added perhaps a hundred years after , also the north aisle , and the tower , which is 70 feet in height beautif ' ullyproportioued , and contains five sweetly toned bells . The

arch opening from the nave into the tower is peculiarly beautiful . From remains it was evident that there was once in the chancel a very beautiful five-light window ; but some years ago , when it was the fashion to mutilate churches the roof of the chaucel

was destroyed , a barn-like one being substituted at a considerably lower pitch , and , I suppose , at the same time , the two side lights of the window were built up , and the Gothic heading destroyed , a square top being put in its phice . Through the liberality of friends I have been able to

restore this window , under the -able and careful superintendence of our architect , Blr . Barnes , to something like its ori ginal state , in a style corresponding with the other very handsome windows in the chancel .

For the above historical and descriptive sketch I have been mainly indebted to a very able paper , read in the church last summer , by E . Bl . Dewing , Esq ., Secretary to the Suffolk Archaeological Societ 3 ^ , before a n : eeting of that society , from whom

I now quote the following elo-Kieut passage . " And now , what shall I say about the sacred structure in which we are assembled ? As lovers of our ancient churches , aud jealous critics of all who tamper with their

beauties , vainly calling that a restoration which is but too often a destruction , it H