The Chapel contains other monuments of rare beauty and exceeding interest. The most remarkable is that to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester--“Queen Elizabeth’s Leicester”--and his Countess. It is erected against the north wall, and consists of a heavy canopy, profusely ornamented, supported by Corinthian pillars, beneath which is an altar-tomb supporting the recumbent figures--that of the Earl being in armour, over which is a mantle bearing the badge of the Order of the Garter on the left shoulder, the French order of St. Michael on the left breast, and the Garter is round the knee--that of the Countess is attired in the robes of a Peeress, a circlet of jewels round the head, and wearing the high ruff of the period. A Latin inscription gives us in full the proud titles of the famous favourite of the “Maiden Queene,” who “gave up his soule to God his Saviour on the 4th day of September, in the year of Salvation, 1588,” and informs us also that “his most sorrowful wife, Lætitia, daughter of Francis Knolles, Knight of the Order of the Garter, and Treasurer to the Queen, through a sense of conjugal love and fidelity hath put up this monument to the best and dearest of husbands.” Of the other tombs “of note,” may be mentioned that to Ambrose Dudley, the virtuous brother of Elizabeth’s Peer; that to the infant son of Robert Dudley,--“a noble impe,” a “childe of grete parentage, but of farre greter hope and towardnes;” and that to the Lady Katherine Leveson, one of the Dudleys, who “taking notice of these Tombes of her noble Ancestors being much blemisht by consuming time, but more by the rude hands of impious people, were in danger of utter ruine by the decay of this Chapell, if not timely prevented, did in her life time give fifty pounds for its speedy repair.” In all respects the Beauchamp Chapel ranks among the most interesting of the venerable Ecclesiastical remains yet existing in Great Britain. Time has done it little injury; and it escaped the perils incident to the civil war--when all external tokens of piety were considered insults to the Deity they were designed to honour. Moreover, its history is nearly perfect: the very estimates, bills, and discharges of the builders, the gilders, and the glaziers may be examined, in the actual presence of the works they executed centuries ago. Viewed in association with “the Castle,” of which it may be said almost to form a part, its importance is greatly enhanced. And, in reference merely to actual beauty of the design, and the exquisite character of the work, it may be said to vie with any structure of the kind, not only in Great Britain, but in Europe. [Illustration: From a drawing by F. W. Hulme. Day & Son, Lithʳˢ. to The Queen. CHARLECOTE, WARWICKSHIRE.] CHARLECOTE, WARWICKSHIRE.