In the year 1503, King Henry VII began the chapel which is known by his name, and which is so famous for its beauty. It stands on the place where Henry III’s Lady Chapel stood, but it is much larger than the older chapel, and some houses had to be pulled down to make room for it, among them being the house where the poet Chaucer is said to have lived. Henry VII’s chapel is too elaborate to describe here. The decoration is so rich and so delicate that it looks almost like lace-work, and the badges carved on the walls, the Tudor roses, the Beaufort portcullis, and the fleur-de-lys are a kind of history lesson in themselves. The fan-tracery vault is most wonderful, both in its lovely design and splendid masonry work. We have now come almost to an end of the story of the actual building of the Abbey,—at any rate of the chief parts of it. The tracery of the great west window was put up in the year 1498, in Abbot Esteney’s time, but the glass in it dates only from the reign of George II. The western towers, which were begun long before, were finished in 1739 or 1740, from a design made by a pupil of Sir Christopher Wren. In 1540, King Henry VIII made great changes in the monasteries all over England. The monks were sent away from Westminster, and their place was taken by a Dean and twelve prebendaries. For just ten years, from 1540 to 1550, the Abbey was made into a cathedral, or church where a bishop has his throne. During these years there was a Bishop of Westminster, but when the bishop resigned, in 1550, his diocese was joined once more to the See of London. Henry VIII also made new arrangements for the old School, which had existed in the monastery from the Confessor’s time. When Queen Mary Tudor came to the throne she brought the monks back, with Abbot Feckenham to rule over them, and the old services were restored for a time. Queen Elizabeth changed this again, and established the Abbey as a Collegiate Church, with a Dean and Prebendaries. The present arrangements are not very different from those of her time, in spite of certain changes which have had to be made in modern days. Queen Elizabeth also re-established the School, much on the same plan as her father had done. She settled that there should be a Head-Master, an Under-Master, and forty Scholars, who are called either King’s Scholars or Queen’s Scholars, according as the Sovereign is a king or a queen. Westminster School always remembers what Queen Elizabeth did for it, and her name is commemorated in the prayers. Now, having described something of the foundation and building of the Abbey, it is time to turn our thoughts to the many important and interesting things that have happened there, and to the great people of our nation who are resting within its walls. CHAPTER II THE CORONATIONS