The west side of this chapel is closed by the back of Wallingford's screen, on which may be seen five statues representing St. Peter, St. John, St. Mary, St. Stephen, and St. Michael. The eastern side is closed by a low wall, erected by Lord Grimthorpe in place of the wall by which these arches were completely blocked up after the dissolution. It was here that some of the fragments of the pedestal were found. Into his new wall Lord Grimthorpe has built some old fragments of carved work found in different places of the church.
The south side of this chapel is formed of the monument over the grave of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, surnamed "good" by an admiring people, though some modern historians hold that he had little real claim to this title. He was the son of Henry IV., and therefore brother of Henry V., and was uncle of Henry VI. and guardian to the young King in the early part of his reign. He who likes may read in any history of the part he played in the affairs of the country: how he incurred the hatred of the unscrupulous and vindictive Queen of Henry VI., Margaret of Anjou, "she-wolf of France"; how he was murdered by Suffolk, with, it is said, the connivance of the Queen and Cardinal Beaufort. It was at one time supposed that he was buried in London, but there is little doubt that he found a resting-place in a grave prepared for him in St. Alban's Abbey, on March 4, 1447. This would be during the time that John Stokes was Abbot, between the two abbacies of John of Wheathampstead. The body was discovered in its leaden coffin during the reign of Queen Anne, when another grave was being dug. The coffin was opened, and the duke's body was discovered to be in a good state of preservation in the coffin, which is described as being "full of pickle." It is said that at one time the vergers would, for a due consideration, allow visitors to carry away the smaller bones when, owing to the body having been removed from the preserving fluid, nothing but a skeleton was left.
[Illustration: MONUMENT OF HUMPHREY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER.]
The monument is a handsome one. It was probably erected by Wheathampstead, who had been on terms of intimacy with the duke, when he for the second time became Abbot. The canopy over the grave is richly carved; the antelopes we see on it were the badge of the duke. His epitaph speaks of him, among other things, as