I think the nation might employ people to
brush away the dust from the statues of its heroes. But, on the whole,
it is very fine to look through the broad arches of the cathedral, and
see, at the foot of some distant pillar, a group of sculptured figures,
commemorating some man and deed that (whether worth remembering or not)
the nation is so happy as to reverence. In Westminster Abbey, the
monuments are so crowded, and so oddly patched together upon the walls,
that they are ornamental only in a mural point of view; and, moreover,
the quaint and grotesque taste of many of them might well make the
spectator laugh,--an effect not likely to be produced by the monuments in
St. Paul's. But, after all, a man might read the walls of the Abbey day
after day with ever-fresh interest, whereas the cold propriety of the
cathedral would weary him in due time.
We did not ascend to the galleries and other points of interest aloft,
nor go down into the vaults, where Nelson's sarcophagus is shown, and
many monuments of the old Gothic cathedral, which stood on this site,
before the great fire. They say that these lower regions are comfortably
warm and dry; but as we walked round in front, within the iron railing of
the churchyard, we passed an open door, giving access to the crypt, and
it breathed out a chill like death upon us.
It is pleasant to stand in the centre of the cathedral, and hear the
noise of London, loudest all round this spot,--how it is calmed into a
sound as proper to be heard through the aisles as the tones of its own
organ.
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