Editing John Speed (section)

===Wall monument===
[[Richard Newcourt (historian)|Richard Newcourt]] described the monument to John Speede at St Giles without Cripplegate. "...the famous Chronologer and Historiographer John Speed, lies buried here, and hath a Monument on the South-side of the Chancel, with this inscription on one side for him, and on the other for his Wife":
[[File:Speed's Monument in the Chancel of St. Giles, Cripplegate (4672001).jpg|thumb|right|200px|1790 engraving showing the original appearance of Speed's monument]]
{{blockquote|Piæ Memoriæ Charissimorum Parentum - <br />Johannis Speed, Civis Londinensis Mercatorum Scissorum Fratris, servi fidelissimi Religiarum Majestatum, Eliz., Jacobi & Caroli nunc superstitis: Terrarum nostrarum Geographi accurati, & fidi Antiquitatis Britannicæ Historiographi, Genealogii sacræ elegantissimi delineatoris, qui postquam Annos 77. superaverat, non tam Morbo confectus, quam Mortalitatis taedio lassatus, Corpore se levavit, Julii 28. 1629. & jucundissimo Redemptoris sui desiderio sursum elatus carnem hic in custodiam posuit, denuo cum Christus venerit recepturus.<ref name=Newcourt>R. Newcourt, ''Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense'' (Bateman, Tooke, Parker, Bowyer and Clements, London 1708), I, [https://books.google.com/books?id=o2VZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA356 p. 356] (Google).</ref>
<br />(''To the Pious Memory of Most Beloved Parents"<ref>Although "grandparents" might be included in the Latin term "parentes", the meaning here is probably "parents" as this inscription was apparently already in existence in 1633, within 4 years of Speed's death.</ref> – ''[that is to say,]'' <br />of John Speed, Citizen of London of the Brethren of Merchant Taylors, a very faithful servant of their Devout Majesties Elizabeth, James and Charles that now is: the accurate Geographer of our Lands, reliable Historiographer of the Antiquity of Britain, and most elegant delineator of the sacred Genealogies, who, after he had lived 77 years, not so much defeated by illness as wearied out by the burden of Mortality, arose from the Body on 28 July 1629, and, being borne aloft in the joyous desire of his Redeemer, he laid down his flesh here in keeping, to be received anew when Christ shall come.'')}}

{{blockquote|Susannae suae suavissimae, quae postquam duodecim illi filios, & sex filias pepererat quinquaginta septem annos junctis utriusque solatiis, cum illo vixerat; liberos gravi et frequenti hortamine, ad Dei cultum solicitaverat; Pietatis et Charitatis opere quotidiano praeluxerat, emori demum erudiit suo exemplo. Quae septuagenaria placide in Christo obdormivit, et Fidei suae mercedem habuit, Martii vigesimo octavo, Anno Domini MDCXXVIII.<ref>J. Strype (ed.), ''A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster'' (1720), Book 3, Chapter 6, [https://www.dhi.ac.uk/strype/TransformServlet?page=book3_085&display=normal pp. 85-86] (HRI/University of Sheffield).</ref><ref>See also G. Ormerod, ''The History of the County Palatine of Chester'', 3 vols (Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, and Jones, London 1819), II, [https://archive.org/details/historyofcountyp02orme/page/406/mode/2up?view=theater p. 406] (Internet Archive).</ref>
<br />(''Also of his sweetest Susannah, who after she had borne him twelve sons and six daughters, lived jointly in companionship with him for fifty seven years; she encouraged her children in their duty to God by serious and frequent exhortation; she shone brightly in the daily work of piety and charity, and at last gave instruction by her example of how to surrender life. Who as a septuagenarian placidly fell asleep in Christ and received the reward of her faith on 28 March, in the Year of Our Lord 1628.'')}}

Although the monument was damaged by enemy action in 1940–1941, an engraving of 1791 by [[John Thomas Smith (engraver)|John Thomas Smith]] shows how the panels carrying the inscriptions were originally disposed as if forming the opened hinged doors of a cabinet.<ref>See also J. J. Baddeley, ''An Account of the Church and Parish of St Giles, without Cripplegate, in London'' (Author, London 1888), [https://archive.org/details/accountofchurchp00badd/page/n107/mode/2up?view=theater pp. 90-92] (Internet Archive).</ref> The church's website notes that it was "one of the few memorials that survived the bombing" of this church during the London [[The Blitz|Blitz]] of 1940–1941:<ref name=churchweb /> a modern plaque records that the monument was restored in 1971 by the Merchant Taylors' Company, in which John Speed was a citizen and brother.