Memorial

{On the top plaque there is a section of gilded inscribed poetry by John Dryden (1631-1700). The "three poets" are Homer, Dante and Milton.}
Three poets, in three distant ages born,
Greece, Italy, and England did adorn;
The first in loftiness of thought surpassed,
The next in majesty; in both the last:
The force of nature could no farther go,
To make a third, she joined the other two.

{This is followed by:}
John Milton was born in Bread-Street on Friday the 9th day of December 1608 and was baptised in the parish-church of All-Hallows Bread-Street on Tuesday the 20th day of December 1608.
{On the lower plaque:}
This tablet was placed on the church of All-Hallows, Bread Street early in the nineteenth century, as a memorial of the event therein recorded and was removed in the year 1876 when that church was pulled down and the parish united for ecclesiastical purposes with the parish of St. Mary-le-Bow.