The old Verses which were written on his Grave at the first, were these;
Galfridus Chaucer, Vates & Fama Poesis,
Maternæ hæc sacra sum tumulatus humo.
Thomas Occleue, or Okelefe, of the Office of the Privy Seal, sometime Chaucer's Scholar, for the love he bore to the said Geoffrey his Master, caused his Picture to be truly drawn in his Book, De Regimine Principis, dedicated to Henry the Fifth; according to which, that his Picture drawn upon his Monument was made, as also the Monument it self, at the Cost and Charges of Nicolas Brigham Gentleman, Anno 1555. who buried his Daughter Rachel, a Child of four years of Age, near to the Tomb of this old Poet, the 21th. of June 1557. Such was his Love to the Muses; and on his Tomb these Verses were inscribed:
Qui fuit Anglorum Vates ter maximus olim,
Galfridus Chaucer, conditur hoc Tumulo,
Annum si quæras Domini, si tempora Mortis,
Ecce notæ subsunt, quæ tibi cuncta notant;
25 Octobris 1400.
Ærumnarum requies Mors.
N. Brigham hos fecit Musarum nomine sumptus.
About the Ledge of the Tomb these Verses were written;
Si rogitas quis eram, forsante Fama docebit,
Quod si Fama negat, Mundi quia Gloria transit,
Hæc Monumenta lege.
The foresaid Thomas Occleve, under the Picture of Chaucer, had these Verses: