<P> Three sides of the base carry inscriptions in Latin . The one on the south side describes actions taken by King Charles II following the fire . The one on the east describes how the Monument was started and brought to perfection, and under which mayors . Inscriptions on the north side describe how the fire started, how much damage it caused, and how it was eventually extinguished . The Latin words "Sed Furor Papisticus Qui Tamdiu Patravit Nondum Restingvitur" (but Popish frenzy, which wrought such horrors, is not yet quenched) were added to the end of the inscription on the orders of the Court of Aldermen in 1681 during the foment of the Popish Plot . Text on the east side originally falsely blamed Roman Catholics for the fire ("burning of this protestant city, begun and carried on by the treachery and malice of the popish faction"), which prompted Alexander Pope (himself a Catholic) to say of the area: </P> <P> Where London's column, pointing at the skies, Like a tall bully, lifts the head, and lies .--Moral Essays, Epistle iii . line 339 (1733--1734). </P> <P> The words blaming Catholics were chiselled out with Catholic Emancipation in 1830 . </P> <P> The west side of the base displays a sculpture, by Caius Gabriel Cibber, in alto and bas relief, of the destruction of the City; with Charles II and his brother, James, the Duke of York (later James II), surrounded by liberty, architecture, and science, giving directions for its restoration . </P>

The monument to the great fire of london