The Duchess of Buckinghamshire died in 1743. Her effigy is dressed in the robes that she wore at the Coronation of George II. This lady settled all about her own funeral with the Garter King-at-Arms, and was quite afraid lest she should die before the grand canopy came home. “Let them send it,” she said, “though all the tassels are not finished.” Buckingham House, where the Duchess lived, was built by her husband on the site of the present Buckingham Palace. In the middle of the Chantry is a glass case containing the effigy of Edmund Sheffield, last Duke of Buckinghamshire, and son of the Duchess whose effigy has just been described. The young Duke died in Rome in 1735, aged only nineteen. This effigy, which is a very fine one, was the last ever carried at a funeral. The Duchess wanted to borrow the great Duke of Marlborough’s funeral car for the funeral of her son. But Sarah, the celebrated Duchess of Marlborough, replied very haughtily that “it carried my Lord Marlborough, and it shall never be profaned by any other corpse.” Whereupon the Duchess of Buckinghamshire retorted: “I have consulted the undertaker, and he tells me I may have a finer for twenty pounds.” There are two other wax figures in the Chantry, but they are not, properly speaking, effigies, because they were not used in the funeral processions, but were only put up to attract sightseers. These figures represent two very eminent Englishmen, namely, William Pitt the elder, afterwards Lord Chatham, and Lord Nelson. Both figures are remarkably good, and must be excellent likenesses. Lord Chatham wears his peer’s robes, and a wig, such as was then the fashion. Lord Nelson’s effigy is dressed in naval uniform; all the dress, except the coat, belonged to Nelson himself. The eye-patch for Nelson’s blind eye was found attached to the inner lining of the hat when Maclise borrowed it to copy for his well-known picture, “The Death of Nelson.” These wax effigies, then, are not mere curiosities, but are interesting, both as showing us an ancient funeral custom and as representing people who played a part in the English history of their day. [Illustration: [_W. Rice, F.R.P.S._ SOUTH CLOISTER. ] CHAPTER XI THE MONASTIC BUILDINGS “_That Fabric rises high as Heaven, Whose Basis on Devotion stands._” MATTHEW PRIOR. With the help of the Abbey we have taken a long, and perhaps rather hurried, journey through many centuries of our country’s history, and have tried to think of the many links by which the Abbey is bound to all English hearts. We must now turn back again across those centuries, and try to remember something of the old monastery, of its buildings, of the Abbots who governed it, and of the sort of lives the monks lived.