_The dotted line shews the position of Wren's Cathedral._]

[Illustration: THE SHRINE OF ST. ERKENWALD. _After W. Hollar._]

[Illustration: TOMBS OF SEBBA AND ETHELRED. _After W. Hollar._]


St. Paul's, as we see, was rich in tombs of mediæval bishops; as to
Royalty it could not be named as compared with Westminster Abbey, for
the City was not a royal residence except in very rare cases. But here
we come to two tombs of Kings. Sebba was buried in the North Aisle in
695. He had been King of the East Saxons, but being afflicted with
grievous sickness he became a monk. His tomb remained until the Great
Fire, as did that of Ethelred the Unready, next to it. On the arches
above were tablets containing the following inscriptions:--

"Hic jacet Sebba Rex Orientalium Saxonum; qui conversus fuit ad fidem
per Erkenwaldum Londonensem Episcopum, anno Christi DCLXXVII. Vir
multum Deo devotus, actibus religiosis, crebris precibus & piis
elemosynarum fructibus plurimum intentus; vitam privatam & Monasticam
cunctis Regni divitiis & honoribus præferens: Qui cum regnasset annos
XXX. habitum religiosum accepit per benedictionem Waltheri Londinensis
Antistitis, qui præfato Erkenwaldo successit. De quo Venerabilis Beda
in historia gentis Anglorum."[1]

"Hic jacet Ethelredus Anglorum Rex, filius Edgari Regis; cui in die
consecrationis his, post impositam Coronam, fertur S. Dunstanus
Archiepiscopus dira prædixisse his verbis: Quoniam aspirasti ad regnum
per mortem fratris tui, in cujus sanguinem conspiraverunt Angli, cum
ignominiosa matre tua; non deficiet gladius de domo tua, sæviens in te