ON THE SHAMEFUL EXHIBITION AT ST. PAUL’S.
Brave Nelson was doubtless a lion in war,
With terror his enemies filling;
But now he is dead, they are safe from his paw,
And the Lion is shewn for a shilling.”[25]
“THE INVITATION.
Lo! where the relics of brave Nelson lie!
And, lo! each heart with saddest sorrow weeping!
Come then, ye throng, and gaze with anxious eye—
But, ah! remember, you must—pay for peeping.”[26]
The cost of this funeral figures, in the expenses of the year, at £14,698 11s. 6d.
Yet another death: the great Statesman, William Pitt, who had been sinking for some time, paid the debt of Nature on the 23rd of January. Parliament voted him, by a majority of 258 to 89, a public funeral, and sepulture in Westminster Abbey; and also a sum not exceeding £40,000 was voted, without opposition, to pay his debts.
He lay in state, in the Painted Chamber of the Palace of Westminster, on the 20th and 21st of February, and people flocked to the sight—19,800 persons passing through in the six hours the doors were kept open; or, in other words, they entered and went out at the rate of fifty-five a minute. This average was exceeded next day, when the number of visitors rose to 27,000, or seventy-five a minute.
Of course the accessories of this funeral, which took place on the 22nd of February, were nothing like so gorgeous as at that of Nelson; but there was a vast amount of State, and the Dukes of York, Cumberland, and Cambridge, were among the long line of the Nobility who paid their last respects to William Pitt. The cost of the funeral was £6,045 2s. 6d.