Dr. W. Cooke Taylor, in the introduction to his elegant reprint of
_Chapman's Homer_, says of George Chapman, that "he died on the 12th of
May, 1655, and was buried at the south side of St. Giles's Church." The
date here is an error; for 1655 we should read 1634.
Sir Egerton Brydges, in his edition of Phillip's _Theatrum Poetarum_
(Canterbury, 1800, p. 252.), says of the same poet, "A monument was
erected over his grave by Inigo Jones, which was destroyed with the old
church." Here also is an error. Inigo Jones's altar-tomb to the memory
of his friend is still to be seen in the churchyard, against the south
wall of the church. The inscription, {373} which has been imperfectly
re-cut, is as follows:--
"Georgius Chapman
Poëta
MDCXX
Ignatius Jones,
Architectus Regius
ob honorem
bonarum Literarum
familiari
suo hoe mon
D.S.P.F.C."
There is no proof that Inigo Jones's tomb now occupies its original
site. The statement that Chapman was studied on the south side of the
church is, I believe, mere conjecture.