"The funeral of Nelson was a signal day in the annals of S. Paul's. The
Cathedral opened wide her doors to receive the remains of the great
Admiral, followed, it might almost be said, by the whole nation as
mourners. The death of Nelson in the hour of victory, of Nelson whose
victories at Aboukir and Copenhagen had raised his name above any other
in our naval history, had stirred the English heart to its depths,
its depths of pride and sorrow. The manifest result of that splendid
victory at Trafalgar was the annihilation of the fleets of France and
Spain, and, it might seem, the absolute conquest of the ocean, held
for many years as a subject province of Great Britain. The procession,
first by water, then by land, was of course magnificent, at least as
far as prodigal cost could command magnificence. The body was preceded
to S. Paul's by all that was noble and distinguished in the land, more
immediately by all the Princes of the blood and the Prince of Wales."
This account is taken from Dean Milman's _Annals of S. Paul's_. The
Dean, then a youth, was present at the funeral, and could remember the
solemn effect of the sinking of the coffin to its resting place, and
the low wail of the sailors who bore and encircled the remains of their
admiral.
The monument, by Flaxman, originally stood at the entrance to the
Choir. When the Choir was extended westward in 1870, it was removed to
its present much more favourable position in the South Transept.
[Illustration: THE MONUMENT TO LORD NELSON.]