The Sun.
London, England, 1827-01-22 00:00:00

ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL

In the internal arrangements of St. George's Chapel, there was
nothing particularly striking, and perhaps it was as well, from
one sees of public decorations in this country, that this beautiful
Gothic edifice was not committed very unreservedly into the
hands of the official departments who preside over these solemni-
ties, to be fitted up at will, for what is called funereal pomp. To
have covered it extensively with black drapery, would have been
to deface its architectural grandeur, which, according to the poet
Otway's conceit, was—

" Too noble to be well deserib'd or prais'd,"
and to destroy that beautiful union of neatness and simplicity,
with the rich Gothic decorations, for which this chapel is re-
markable.

The arrangements for the funeral consisted in the erection of
a covered porch lined with black cloth, which projected from the
small door of the south aisle to the pavement of she court. in the
lower ward. It was at this entrance that the coffin was received,
and a flooring was laid down (also covered with black cloth) to
make a gradual and hardly perceptible ascent from the pavement
to the door of the chapel. From this door a flooring was also
laid the whole length of the south aisle, having the form of an in-
clined plane, and enclosed with railing about four feet in height,
the whole covered with black cloth. The same platform was
constructed up the nave, into the choir, and as far as the altar..
The whole breadth of the nave was enclosed, and rows of steps
were erected along the north aisle, for the accommodation of several
hundred persons, who were admitted by tickets from the Lord
Chamberlain. Every part of this timber work was covered with
black cloth, and so were the rows of scats at each side of the choir,
the pulpit, the communion table, the lower parts of the stalls, &c.
These arrangements were not required upon so extensive a scale
as those for the funeral of the late King, when the platform
was erected from the lower ward to St. George's hall, where his
Majesty lay in state. Seventy thousand superficial feet of board-
ing, and 49,000 feet of quartering, were then used, and above
10,000 yards of black cloth, which became afterwards the perqui-
sites of the Dean and Chapter of the chapel, and of certain depart-
ments of the Board of Works. Neither was the illumination
within St. George's Chapel on Saturday night as good as at the
funeral of the late King, whea a magnificent chandelier, bearing
an immense number of wax lights, was suspended before the altar,
and immediately above the entrance of the royal vault ; nor did
we observe the altar crowned with that massive display of the
communion plate, which the chapels of Whitehall and St. James's
so abundantly contributed on the former melancholy occasion.
There were only the ordinary lights in the choir, and two candles
on the communion table. There were no additional candelebra,
and two very common sconces, each bearing a single candle, re-
sembling the plainest used in the passages of victuallers' houses,
were nailed at each side of the western door of the chapel. The
principal light was shed from the flambeaux of the military.
From this description it will be seen, that whatever gloom was
in the chapel, was not shed. by any undue predominancy of the
sable decorations of the funeral upholsterer, for these did not, in
their general arrangement ascend more than a few feet from the
ground-plan of the building, so that the harmony of the architec-
ture of the chapel was not impaired by the preparations for receiv-
ing the mournful cortege which entered it upon this occasion.
The curious carvings of the reigns of Edward IV. and Henry
VII. were fully exposed, as well as the stalls of the Knights Com-
panions of the Order of the Garter, on each side of the choir, with
their curiously wrought canopies. Some of the banners of the
knights, which had become quite faded and dim, were renewed on
Friday, and the whole of the mantles, helmets, crests, swords, of
the Knights were left entirely free from the obscurity of sombre
drapery. These ensigns of honour, which were the martial in-
signia of the illustrious order of Knighthood, of which the depart-
ed Prince was in point of rank the second member, were apposite
and tasteful embellishments for the choir in which he was interred.
The opening in the marble floor in front of the altar, which
immediately leads to the subterraneous passage of the Royal vault,
was not concealed ; it was lined in every part with black cloth,
which gave it an artificial appearance of great depth. Some seats
were erected a few paces behind and at right angles from the aper-
ture, and these were reserved for foreign Ambassadors and other
personages of high distinction. Three armed chairs were placed;
at the head of the vault for the chief mourners.

Notifications were given by placards from the Lord Chamber-
lain's office, which were exhibited at Windsor in the course of
Saturday, that no tickets of admission to the Chapel would be re-1
eeived after half-past six o'clock in the evening; and that all who
did not apply at the hack entrance of the north aisle before that
hour, would be rigidly excluded. The placards omitted to an-'
neunce the very material information of the hour when the recep-'