John Stowe (1525-1605).
[1007]He was of the company of the Merchant Taylors, as by the scutcheon of that company[1008] doeth appeare—quaere +[1009] of that company.
St. Andrewes Undershaft, London, i.e. under, or by, the Maypole, which was anciently called a shaft. It stood over against the west end of the church, where now Mr. <Michael> Weekes's howse is.
His monument is in effige, sitting with a little table before him, with a booke. He was a handsome sanguine old man. 'Tis well carved (of wood) and painted.
On the north side of the chancel at the upper end[BS]:—
Memoriae Sacrum
Resurrectionem in Christo hic expectat Johannes Stowe, Civis Londinensis, qui, in antiquis monumentis eruendis accuratissima diligentia usus, Angliae Annales et Civitatis Londini Synopsim, bene de sua, bene de postera aetate meritus, luculenter scripsit. Vitaeque stadio pie et probe decurso, obiit aetatis anno 80
Die 5 Aprilis 1605.
Elizabetha conjux, ut perpetuum sui amoris testimonium, dolens ...
[1010]Sir William Dugdale told me that speakeing of ... Stowe to Sir Henry Spelman, Sir Henry told him that he had 'stich't us up a historie.' He was a taylor.
Note.
[BS] Aubrey gives a drawing of the monument. At the top are the arms of the Merchant Tailors' Company, viz. 'argent, a royal tent between two parliament robes gules lined ermine, on a chief azure a lion passant guardant or.' Underneath is 'his effigies.' On the right side, the legend Aut scribenda agere over the figure of his 'Annales of England'; on the left, the legend Aut legenda scribere over the figure of his 'Survey of London.'