In 1866 the decayed lettering of the inscription was discovered and the tomb cleaned. Nearly all the engraved letters were found and re-painted. Of old the bard who struck the noblest strains Great Geoffrey Chaucer, now this tomb retains. If for the period of his life you call, the signs are under that will note you all. In the year of our Lord 1400, on the 25th day of October.
Death is the repose of cares.
N.Brigham charged himself with these in the name of the Muses 1556 William Camden, in his guide to Westminster Abbey published in 1600, says that the bones of the poet were transferred to this tomb. A stained glass window depicting scenes from The Canterbury Tales was erected above his monument in 1868 but this was destroyed in the Second World War. When Edmund Spenser, the Elizabethan poet who died in 1599, was buried near to Chaucer, the concept of a Poets Corner in the Abbey was begun.