And he sums up thus:--
"And wisely do thy grieved friends forbear
Bubbles and alabaster boys to rear
On thy religious dust, for men did know
Thy life, which such illusions cannot show."
JOHN KING (1611-1621) was the last bishop buried in Old St. Paul's.
Some of the greatest English painters are buried in the present
cathedral. In Old St. Paul's rested the bones of Van Dyck, who may
almost be called the founder of English portrait painting, though he
was a foreigner by birth, and only an adopted Englishman. He was born
in Antwerp in 1599, became a pupil of Rubens, and, by general consent,
surpassed him in portrait painting. In this branch of art he is
probably unrivalled. He took up his residence in England in 1632, and
was knighted by Charles I. He died at a house which that King had
given him at Blackfriars, December 9th, 1641, and was buried close by
John of Gaunt.
We must not omit mention of John Tomkins, Organist of the Cathedral.
He died in 1638. His epitaph says that he was the most celebrated
organist of his time. He succeeded Orlando Gibbons at King's College,
Cambridge, in 1606, and came to St.
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