Most of the monuments in St. Paul's are interesting more on account of the famous men they commemorate than from an artistic point of view; the principal are those to Nelson, by Flaxman, R.A.; to Lord Cornwallis, by Rossi; to Major-General Houghton, by Chantrey; the Cadogan and Bowes monuments, and the statue of Sir Polteney Malcolm, by the same artist; the monument to Sir Ralph Abercromby, by Sir R. Westmacott; those to Sir John Moore, Howe, Rodney, and Collingwood; statues of Sir William Jones, the Orientalist, Earl St. Vincent, Astley Cooper, Dr. Babington, and, above all, the statues of John Howard and Dr. Johnson, by Bacon; of Sir Joshua Reynolds, by Flaxman; and the kneeling figure of Bishop Heber, by Chantrey.
The Duke of Wellington's monument, by Alfred G. Stevens, whose premature death has retarded its completion, will be the finest work of its kind in England when finished, and will rival, if not surpass, the far-famed tombs of Italy and Germany. The sculptural parts of the work are now being executed, and the monument itself is ready for their reception.
The crypt contains the tomb of Wren, a simple, unostentatious monument, and the sarcophagus of Nelson, placed in the centre of a circle of pillars immediately beneath the dome, the effect of which is very striking when the piers and arches are dimly lit by the guide's lantern.
This sarcophagus was prepared by Cardinal Wolsey for his own burial, but his death in disgrace prevented its being used for that purpose. Nelson's coffin was made of part of the wood of the ship "L'Orient," which was engaged in the battle of the Nile.
Dr. Boyce, the musician; George Dance, the architect; Sir Thomas Lawrence, Sir Benjamin West, John Opie, James Barry, Sir Joshua Reynolds, J. W. M. Turner, Henry Fuseli, Sir Edwin Landseer, all artists; the great Duke of Wellington and Lord Collingwood are also buried in the crypt.
A dark recess in the eastern wall contains the interesting relics of several of the monuments of old St. Paul's, including effigies of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Dean Colet, Sir Christopher Hatton, and Dr. Donne, the poet, by Nicholas Stone, one of our earliest sculptors. The last named, the only statue in anything like good preservation, is a genuine work of art.