MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 81 



The one specimen of granite giving a result so much below that of the 

 other two specimens, was of a coarse texture, showing in the fracture the 

 crystals of its ingredients, large and distinct in form and color. 



THE WELLINGTON SARCOPHAGUS. 



In one of the chambers into which the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral is 

 divided by the massive pillars which help to support that vast structure, and 

 under the very centre of the dome, is a sarcophagus, of black marble, in 

 which are inclosed the remains of England's greatest naval hero. No more 

 worthy resting-place could have been found for the glorious dead; and no 

 more fitting spot could possibly have been chosen than the adjacent chamber 

 for the tomb of the hero who, next to Nelson, holds the highest place in the 

 estimation of his countrymen. They rest there side by side the great ad- 

 miral and the great general examples alike of England's glory and of 

 England's gratitude. 



When the country had provided so munificently for the burial of her favor- 

 ite commander, it was felt that the tomb no less than the monument should 

 testify to the national feeling. The chamber immediately to the east of that 

 in which Nelson lies was appropriated to Wellington, and it was decided 

 to place the coffin in a sarcophagus bearing a general correspondence to 

 Nelson's. 



Some difficulty was found in obtaining a suitable block of stone for the 

 sarcophagus, either on the continent or in Great Britain. At length one was 

 discovered in a huge boulder of porphyry one of several lying in the 

 parish of Luxulion, on the southern coast of Cornwall. So excessively hard 

 was this stone, that tools had to be constructed specially for the purpose of 

 working it ; and as only one man could work there at the same time, the 

 carving of the inside took nearly two years to complete. The sarcophagus 

 was hewn into form, as a geologist would say, in situ : it being found far 

 easier to cany workmen and tools to the field, than to carry the stone to the 

 workshop. The cutting was done by hand; the polishing, for the sake of 

 expedition, by steam-power. The boulder was sawn in two to form the sar- 

 cophagus, the larger portion being hollowed out to provide a receptacle for 

 the coffin, the smaller forming the lid. Its massiveness will be understood 

 when Ave state that the sarcophagus as completed weighs upwards of twelve 

 tons : the rude block was some five times that weight. Whilst the sarcopha- 

 gus was in progress, the chamber was being adapted to receive it; and the 

 whole has, nearly five years after the death of the Great Duke, been at length 

 finished. 



The chamber has a very impressive effect. In the centre, the massive sar- 

 cophagus, reared on a more massive base, reaches nearly to the low vaulted 

 roof; and no object interferes to lessen its majestic proportions. The porphyry, 

 of which it is composed, is of a deep chocolate color nearly black, in fact 

 feldspar crystals vaiying its surface with splashes of a light but dusky red. 

 In form, it is, of course, oblong, the angles not being rounded; but the mas- 

 siveness is not destroyed, as in the Nelson sarcophagus, by the lower part 

 being cut away : the full width of the base is preserved, very much to the 

 advantage of the general effect. On one side of the sarcophagus is inscribed, 

 in gold letters, "ARTHUR, DUKE OF WELLINGTON; " on the other, the dates 

 of his birth and death. At each end, on a plain circular boss, is a Greek 

 cross, its shape being indicated by a gilt outline. No other inscription or 



