Near the eastern end of the South Aisle of the Crypt, under a very
simple tomb, lie the mortal remains of the great Architect of the
Cathedral. On a black marble slab, part of which is seen in the
picture, are the following words:--_Here lieth Sir Christopher
Wren, Kt., the builder of this Cathedral Church of S. Paul, &c.,
who dyed in the year of our Lord MDCCXXIII, and of his age XCI_. A
singularly modest epitaph for so great a man, and that, too, at a
period when fulsome phrases abounded. A little westward of the tomb,
on a tablet affixed to the wall, are the memorable words, admirable
in their brevity and point:--_Lector, si monumentum requiris,
circumspice_. The tomb itself, including the black marble slab, is
only sixteen-and-a-half inches in height. Closely adjoining the tomb,
on its northern side, are buried two eminent presidents of the Royal
Academy, Sir Frederick Leighton and Sir John Millais; at the extreme
distance are seen, on the left side the bust of Sir John Alexander
Macdonald, late Premier of the Dominion of Canada; and on the right
side, that of Sir Henry Smith Park, Minister Plenipotentiary in
Japan and China. Nearer to the spectator, on the right, is the
memorial to Archdeacon Claughton, Bishop of Colombo, whilst on the
left, is dimly seen a monumental brass, commemorating the Special
Correspondents who fell in the Campaign in the Soudan; opposite to
which, on the right, is the bust of the painter, James Barry.
[Illustration: THE CRYPT: WITH THE TOMB OF SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.]