The church is very wide in proportion to its length, and is said to seat 2,000 people easily. The reredos, a handsome piece of wood carving with a central group of the pelican in her piety, typical of Christ giving His life's blood for fainting souls, is the work of Grinling Gibbons. The organ, in the western gallery, is supposed to have been the work of Bernard Schmidt and was built for the Roman Catholic Oratory at Whitehall, but was given to St. James's by Queen Mary, 1691.
The font which stands in the vestibule at the west end is a most excellent piece of work. It was carved from a block of white marble by Grinling Gibbons, and is about 5 feet in height. The shaft is the tree of life, round which is twined the serpent, while figures of Adam and Eve stand on either side. It is well worth going into the church to see this alone. The font originally possessed a cover, which was stolen in 1800, and is said to have been hung up in a spirit shop. In the church are many monuments hanging on the walls, and on the pillars. One or two of these at the east end are very cumbrous, and many are heavily decorated, but none are worthy of note for any intrinsic beauty they possess. Walcott notes as the most important those of the eighth Earl of Huntingdon, 1704, and Count de la Roche Foucault, 1741. James Dodsley, the well-known bookseller, 1797, was buried here, also Haysman, the rival of Lely, and Lieutenant-General Sir Colin Campbell, K.C.B., 1847.
Among the entries in the register we have the burials of the two Vanderveldes, father and son.
In the old graveyard there are stones in abundance, one or two on the wall of the church, and many alternating with the flagstones over which the feet of the living carelessly pass.
In Sackville Street, just opposite to the church, Sheridan died.
There are various other public buildings of more or less interest before we come to Burlington House. No less than three mansions stood here in the times of the later Stuarts. These belonged to Lord Chancellor Clarendon and Lords Berkeley and Burlington, of which the latter name has alone survived.
The third Earl was an architect, and added several embellishments to his mansion, including a stone frontage and a colonnade taken down in 1868.
Handel was a guest at Burlington House for three years from 1715. After the death of Lord Burlington in 1753 the title became extinct. Among the memorable scenes witnessed by the house was a brilliant ball and fête, given by the members of White's Club to the allied Sovereigns in 1814.
Lord George Cavendish, who bought the house in 1815, considerably altered the interior of the building, and built the Burlington Arcade in 1819. He was afterwards created Earl of Burlington. In 1854 Government bought the house and garden. The University of London, now in Burlington Gardens, temporarily occupied the building, and the societies occupying Somerset House were offered quarters in Burlington House. In 1866 the mansion was leased to the Royal Academy, and fundamental changes began.
On the east side of Burlington House are the Geographical and Chemical Societies, and on the west the Linnæan. In the courtyard, the Royal Society is in the east wing, and the Royal Astronomical and the Society of Antiquaries in the western.