Having exceeded the bounds at first intended, we shall conclude in the words of an ingenious writer on the subject of this Abbey:--"I have wandered," says he, "with pleasure into the most gloomy recesses of this last resort of grandeur, to contemplate human life, and trace mankind through all the wilderness of their frailties and misfortunes, from their cradles to their graves. I have reflected on the shortness of our duration here, and that I was but one of the millions who had been employed in the same manner, in ruminating on the trophies of mortality before me; that I must moulder to dust in the same manner, and quit the scene to a new generation, without leaving the shadow of my existence behind me; that this huge fabric, the sacred depository of fame and grandeur, would only be the stage for the same performances; would receive new accessions of noble dust; would be adorned with other sepulchres of cost and magnificence; would be crowded with successive admirers; and, at last, by the unavoidable decays of time, bury the whole collection of antiquities in general obscurity, and be the monument of its own ruin." The Chapter House and Ancient House of Commons. On the left as you enter the Chapter House is a stone coffin which was found on the removal of the accumulated earth and rubbish which for many years had hidden the lower parts of the buttresses of the north side of the building; some ancient walls of considerable extent were discovered, and about five or six feet below the surface an ancient stone coffin was brought to light. It possesses great interest from its being the only Roman remains yet discovered. One side of it is beautifully wrought, with a sunk panel, having at each end the conventional Roman ornament called the Amazon shield, while the panel itself is occupied with the following inscription, in the best style of the old Roman lettering-- +-------------------------------+ | MEMORIAE·VALER·AMAN | | DINI·VALERI·SVPERVEN | |TOR·ET·MARCELLVS·PATRI·FE[CE]R.| +-------------------------------+ from which it appears to show that it is in memory of one Valerius Amandinus, and that his two sons made it to his honour. The lid is wrought with a slight cope, having a Maltese cross, terminating at the foot with a trefoil. There can be no doubt that the coffin once contained the body of this Valerius, which was afterwards displaced for the reception of an ecclesiastic, when the old lid was made in its present shape. The date of the first interment may be ascribed to the 3rd century, while the latter may belong to the 12th century. The skeleton within the coffin is in good preservation, considering the great lapse of time. There was nothing to indicate the rank of the ecclesiastic, for such he probably was; but he must have been a tall man, of great vigour, and barely of middle age.