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Book: London and Its Environs, 1927
Chapter: 25 St Paul's Cathedral

Nave of St Paul's Cathedral

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The NAVE has a temporary altar at its east end. At its west end are two tall bronze Candlesticks (from the choir), copied from four now in St. Bavon's, in Ghent, which were made by Benedetto da Rovezzano for the tomb of Henry VIII. at Windsor, but were sold under the Commonwealth. SOUTH NAVE AISLE. The chapel at the west end, separated from the aisle by a wooden screen carved by Grinling Gibbons, was at one time used as the baptistery; but since 1906 it has been the Chapel of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, with the banners of the Knights Grand Cross (G.C.M.G.). The order (instituted in 1818) is conferred for distinguished services in colonial or foreign affairs. The central panel of the reredos is a copy of Raphael's painting of St. Michael (in the Louvre); above is a statue of St. George. The prelate's throne (1923) is a memorial of Lord Forrest (died 1918), of Bunbury, Western Australia, 'explorer and statesman,' who was the first Australian peer but died at sea on his way to take his seat in the House of Lords. On the last piers in the south aisle hang 'Time, Death, and Judgment' and 'Peace and Goodwill,' two paintings by G. F. Watts, and 'The Light of the World', by Holman Hunt, a variant of the painting in Keble College, Oxford. We now cross the church to visit the NORTH NAVE AISLE. In the first recess is a monument, by Marochetti, representing two angels at the Gate of Death, in memory of Viscount Melbourne (1779-1848) and his brother. Against the wall, bust of Lord Roberts (1833-1914), by Tweed. In the next recess, Major-General Gordon (1833-85), who perished at Khartum, by Boehm; and in the last recess, Lord Leighton (1830-96), the painter, by Brock. Beneath the arch opposite Gordon's monument is a dignified Monument to the Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), by Alfred Stevens. Above the pediments at either end are groups representing Truth plucking out the tongue of Falsehood and Valour thrusting down Cowardice. The equestrian statue on the top was executed by Tweed in 1912 from a sketchmodel by Stevens. At the west end of this aisle, beyond St. Dunstan's Chapel (reserved for private prayer), is All Souls' Chapel (open 11-1 & 2-3), dedicated in December 1925 as the Kitchener Memorial Chapel, with a recumbent figure (by Reid Dick) of Field-Marshal Lord Kitchener (1850-1916). The Pieta above the altar and the figures of St. Michael and St. George are likewise by Reid Dick. Behind the gilt grille in the north wall is a roll of honour with the names of the Royal Engineers of all ranks who fell in the Great War. We now once more walk up the church to the east end of the south aisle, to the ticket office for the crypt and upper parts of the church.