(2.) The superb tomb, with effigy of EDWARD II. [Plate VI.] It has been truly said that the whole of the choir, as it at present exists, is a memorial of the murdered King; since the alterations in it were commenced after his interment here, and their cost was mainly defrayed from the rich offerings made at his tomb. The tomb itself, however, is not unworthy a greater king than Edward II. It was on the 21st of September, 1327, that King Edward was murdered in Berkeley Castle. The monasteries of Bristol, Kingswood, and Malmesbury refused to receive his body for interment, fearing the displeasure of the Queen and her party; but Abbot Thokey of Gloucester, more far-sighted, brought it from Berkeley in his own carriage, and caused it to be solemnly interred beneath the existing monument. This was erected at the cost of the King’s son, Edward III., and became at once an important place of pilgrimage. Offerings made here were thought to avert the Divine anger from the nation, and it is said that if all the oblations presented at the tomb during the reign of Edward III. had been expended on the church, it might have been built anew. Edward III. himself, when in danger of shipwreck, vowed an offering of a golden ship at his father’s tomb, which was duly presented, but afterwards redeemed, at the request of the Abbot and Convent, for £100. The Black Prince offered a golden crucifix, containing a portion of the holy Cross; the Queen of [Illustration: MONUMENT OF EDWARD II.] Scots, a necklace with a ruby; and Queen Philippa, a heart and ear of gold. Such offerings were no doubt hung about the tomb, in the usual manner. The monument itself consists of an altar-tomb with effigy, canopied by a mass of exquisite tabernacle-work, which fills up the entire arch. The great Norman piers on either side have been cut away, to give room for the lower part of the tomb, which has canopied niches for figures no longer existing, and on the side toward the choir-aisle (at which the oblations were made) a bracket for light. The effigy is of alabaster, and the King’s features were possibly chiselled from a waxen mask, taken after death. The head is very fine, and should be compared with those of Edward III. at Westminster, and of the Black Prince at Canterbury. In all these Plantagenet effigies there is a striking resemblance. The arrangement of the hair and beard should be noticed. At the head are angels, and a lion at the feet, finely rendered. On the side of the tomb (toward the aisle) is a shield, with an inscription recording the restoration of the monument by the society of Oriel College, Oxford, of which Edward II. was the founder, at the instance of his Almoner, Adam de Brome:--“Hoc fundatoris sui monumentum, situ vetustatis deformatum, instaurari curaverunt Præpos. et Soc. Coll. Oriel, Oxon. A.D. 1737-1789-1798.”