St. Paul's, as we see, was rich in tombs of mediaeval 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 praeferens: Qui cum regnasset annos XXX. habitum religiosum accepit per benedictionem Waltheri Londinensis Antistitis, qui praefato 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 praedixisse 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, saeviens in te omnibus diebus vitae tuae; interficiens de semine tuo quousque Regnum tuum transferatur in Regnum alienum, cujus ritum et linguam Gens cui praesides non novit; nec expiabitur nisi longa vindicta peccatum tuum, & peccatum matris tuae, & peccatum virorum qui interfuere consilio illius nequam: Quae sicut a viro sancto praedicta evenerunt; nam Ethelredus variis praeliis per Suanum Danorum Regem filiumque suum Canutum fatigatus et fugatus, ac tandem Londoni arcta obsidione conclusus, misere diem obiit Anno Dominicae Incarnationis MXVII. postquam annis XXXVI. in magna tribulatione regnasset."[2] Certainly in this latter terrible epitaph, it cannot be said that the maxim _de mortuis_ was observed. But it speaks the truth.