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PAGES
FROM the PAST

FTER a study of English Coronations, one can
not' fail to be impressed with the fact that the
most gorgeous and ostentatious of these cere
monies were not always by any means the most
popular, and that the true character of the
Monarch seemed to determine the success or non
isuccess of the Coronation much more than the
mere amount of glare and glitter connected with it.
At some of the very grandest, the people preserved
the attitude of interested but apathetic onlookers,
while at others of a much simpler nature they
threw themselves into the rejoicings .with a genuine
ness which was unmistakable.
IN olden days kings were not wont to wait a year or more to
receive the round and top of sovereignty upon their brows.
Indeed, the rite was so highly esteemed as necessary for the
sanction and security of the new ruler that in some instances
the heir was crowned in his father's lifetime. Coronation, ex
cept in the cases of Edward I., who was absent in the Holy
Land when his father died, and of the infant Henry VI., took
place at a date varying only between a few days and. a few
months from the demise of the Crown; and this not only in
the case of disputable successions, such as those of Henry I.,
Henry V., Mary, Elizabeth, and Anne. but in all simple cases,
such as those of Edward II., Henry VIII., Edward VI., Charles
I., when there was no shadow of pretender in the field. Edward
V., alone of all our kings, went to his grave uncrowned.

Although in the matter of ceremon
ial observed at English Coronations,
a most remarkable similarity has been
preserved from very early ages down
to the present day, a special interest
nevertheless attaches to each sep
arate Coronation, for not only has the
character of the Monarch been pretty
plainly shown by the scale on which
he held his Coronation, whether lay
ish and ostentations or the reverse,
but, in addition to this, the form
which the rejoicings of the people
took on such occasions sheds an in
teresting light on the manner in which
the nation has progressed. The child
ish pageants, for instance, which ae
lighted all eyes at Queen Elizabeth's
Coronation would be laughed at now
as the merest folly, and the same fate
would undoubtedly overtake many of
the other amusements provided in
past times to secure the favour of the
people for the new Monarch.
After a study of English Corona
tions, one cannot fail to be impressed
with the fact that the most gorgeous
and ostentatious of these ceremonies
were not always by any means the
most popular, and that the true char
acter of the Monarch seemed to deter
mine the success or non-success of
the Coronation much more than the
mere amount of glare and glitter con
nected with it. At some of the very
grandest, the people preserved the
attitude of interested but apathetic
onlookers, while at others of a much
simpler nature they threw themselves
into the rejoicings with a genuineness
which was unmistakable.
In olden days kings were not wont
to wait a year or more to receive
the round and top of soveri..-, y
upon their brows. Indeed, the rite
was so highly esteemea as neý.. ..
for the sanction and security of the
new ruler that in some instances the
heir was crowned in his father's life
time. Coronation, bxcept in the cases
of Edward I., who was absent in the
Holy Land when his father died, and
of the infant Henry VI., took place
at a date varying only between a
few days and a few months from a
demise of the Crown; and this not
only in the case of disputable succes
sions, such as those of Henry I., Henry

V., Mary, Elizabeth, and Anne, but
in all simple cases, such as those of
Edward II., Henry VIII., Edward VI.,
Charles I., when there was no shadow
of pretender in the field. Edward
V., alone of all our kings, went to
his grave uncrowned.
Several of our old Anglo-Saxon
kings were crowned at Kingston-on
Thames, where the ancient Coronation
Stone is still carefully preserved, and
authorities now agree In thinking that
the first Coronation which took place
in Westminster Abbey was that of
Harold II., in the year 1066. On that
marvellous work of art, the Bayeux
tapestry, a faithful representation is
shown of Harold's Coronation and of
his death at the Battle of Hastings.
In the same year, on Christmas Day.
William the Conqueror was also
crowned in the ,Abbey.
The Coronation of William II. was
without any features of especial in
terest, but that of his successor was
remarkable in that it was made the
occasion of a solemn condemnation
of the misdeeds of the previous Sov
ereign.
Stephen was crowned by William
Corboil, and the ceremony was note
worthy in that it was attended by "no
abbots and scarcely any of the no
bility."
The Coronation ceremonial of Henry
II. and his Queen Eleanor was dis
tinguished mainly by the sumptuous
magnificence of the dresses; at this
Coronation ecclesiastics were for the.
first time to be seen dressed in robes
of silk and velvet worked with gold,
in imitation of the Greek Church.
Richard Coeur-de-Lion was crowned
twice, for the second time on his re
turn from the Crusades, to make sure
of his claim to the sovereignty
usurped by John.
Coronations have not always been
free from a painful element; great
loss of life, chiefly owing to riots,
has marred the splendour of more
than one. Perhaps the saddest Cor
onation. looked at from this point
of view, was that of Richard 1 in
1189, when a terrific massacre of the
Jews took place. The King had

given orders on the preceding day
that neither Jews nor women should
be present at thesolemnity. Un
fortunately, in spite of this, a num
ber of Jews, anxious to conciliate
the favour of the new Monarch, en
deavoured to gain admittance to the
Abbey, so that they might present
him with some magnificent gifts. They
were repulsed by the Royal attend
ants, and a rumour immediately spread
through the crowd that the King
had commanded them to be put to
death. Under this impression, an old
writer tells us," the unruely people,
falling uppon the Jews with staves,
battes, and stones, beate them to their
houses, and after assayling them
therein, sette them on fire, and burnt
them in their houses, or slewe them
at their coming out." King Richard,
to his honour be it said, showed his
abhorrence of this dreadful tumult by
causing the ringleaders to be arrest

QUEEN ANNE Help

QUEEN ANNE

ed and executed on the following
day.
John, in addition to being crowned
in Westminster Abbey, was crowned
King of Ireland by his father, with
permission from the Pope, who sent a
crown of peacock's feathers and gold
for the ceremony. The crown John
lost in the Wash shortly before his
death was probably a diadem such
as kings wore habitually until the
end of the Plantagenets, not the crown
of St. Edward, which was guarded
in the Treasury of Westminster Ab
bey. Yet neither was that crown
available for the Coronation of Henry
III., for the Abbey was in the posses
sion of the Dauphin, 'and Henry was
crowned speedily at Gloucester with
a simple chaplet, without anointing.
In 1220, when the Abbey was re
covered, he was crowned anew and
anointed. May 17. Then he asked
Grossetete, Bishop of Lincoln, what
was the special grace of unction, ner
haps wondering how he had done

without it for years. He was told
that it conferred the sevenfold gifts
of the Holy Ghost, as in Confirma
tion.
Edward I.'s was the first Corona
tion in the Abbey we know, as re
built by his father on the Confessor's
foundation. Eight years later he
hung up at the shrine of the Con
fessor the golden coronet of Llewel
lyn, last Prince of Wales. In 1296
he set the Stone of Destiny, under
the ancient throne of St. Edward. His
ill-fated son. Edward II., sat upon it
at Westminster, first of the long line
of English Sovereigns who have been
crowned upon it since.
Edward at the same time carried offi
the Scottish crown, taken, says Wyn
town, from the very person of John
Balliol when he surrendered after his
defeat at Dunbar.
No feature of especial note distin
"uished the Coronation of the third
rTdward, who was, of course, crowned
-hiring his father's lifetime.
At the Coronation of Richard II.,
Dymoke the Champion first anneared.
Innovations seemed to bring bad luck.
In the seventh year of his reign
Richard pledged the crown and re
galia of England to the City of Lon
don for £2000. Struggles with pea
sants and barons, disastrous foreign
wars, led on to his deposition in 1399,
when his cousin, Henry of Lancaster,
assumed the crown. Like other usurp
ers, Henry tried to sanctify his trea
son by special sanctities of ceremony.
Coronation was anticipated too hastily
by his wild son, Prince Hal, who, tak
ing one of his father's deep swoons
for death, picked up the crown from
his bedside and set it on his own head.
The old man's protest when he dis
covers his loss has been commemorat
ed by Shakesneare in these memorable
and pathetic lines:
"Thy wish was father, Harry to that
thought:
I stay too long by thee, I weary
thee,
That thou so hunger for my empty
chair,
That thou wilt needs invest thee
with mine honours
Before thy hour be ripe? O foolish
youth!
Thou seek'st the greatness that will
overwhelm thee."
On the shrine of Henry V., at West
minster, a representation may be seen
of that monarch at the moment when
the crown is being olaced on his head.
Never did the touch of oil and
crown work such miracle as in the
case of that 'mad prince." Like
Richard I., he was crowned in the
midst of a thunderstorm, in a dark
and trembling Abbey. It was Passion
Sunday, April 9. In that moment
he was transformed from the, riotous
Hal of Eastcheap and the highway to
the Christian hero of Agincourt.
His little son, Henry VI., was not
crowned King of England until 1429,
seven years after his father's death.
But he was still barely in his ninth

year when he was crowned with much
state and ceremony in Westminster
Abbey. It is pathetic to read of the
little King sitting at the head of the
great banqueting-table. When only
eleven years of age he was crowned
once more at Notre Dame. as King
of France.
What may be described as the most
ghastly Coronation on record took
place in this reign, when Henry's wife,
Margaret of Anjou, caused the head
of the Duke of York, who was slain
at the Battle of Wakefield. to be cut
off, and then in derision held a paper
crown over it.
Edward IV. was crowned at West
minster on the deposition of Henry
VI., the ceremony being performed
by Archbishop-afterwards Cardinal
-Bouchier.
Edward V., as has been already
remarked, was the only onoe of our
kings who was never crowned.
It has been asserted that the Coro
nation of Richard III. was actually at
tended by Edward V. himself, thougl
it is impossible to ascertain the truti.
of the statement. Shortly after his
accession Richard made a journey to
York, where he was "a second tyme
crowned."
Then followed the wars of the Roses,
which ended with the picking up of
Richard's fallen diadem on Bosworth
field, and its placing by Sir John
Stanley on the head of victorious
Richmond, who thus became Henr.
VII., a formal Coronation afterwards
taking place in Westminster Abbey.
The next monarch, Henry VIII., was
fond of shows and gaudy displays of
every kind. "These exnibitions," we
are told of his Coronation, "were
sufficiently absurd and puerile - the
person of which the pageants were
composed still consisting of a rabble
rout of giants, dragons, hobby-horses,
monsters, virtues, vices; religious
personifications, and the Nine Wor
thies, as in much earlier times; and
the common accompaniments of the
show being the hissing and blazing
of fireworks, the pealing of bells,
the thundering of ordnance, and the
deafenintg clangour of all kinds of
music."
Edward VI. was only ten years old
when he had to undergo the ordeal
of Coronation; but in his case some
consideration was shown for his youth,
and many of the wearisome cere
monies were mercifully dispensed
with. His demeanour and self-pos
session seem to have been most re
markable. When the three sworas
of his three kingdoms were carried
before him he observed that there
was one awanting and called for the
Bible. "That," he said, "is the sword
of the Spirit, and ought in all right
to govern us who use these for the
people's safety, by God's appointment.
Without that sword we are nothing.
we can do nothing."
Dickens, in his "Child's History of
England," describes the Coronation of
Mary, the first female sovereign of

the realm, in a few terse sentences.
"Mary was now crowned Queen. She
was thirty-seven years of age, short
and stout, wrinkled in the face, and
very unhealthy. But she had a great
liking for show and for bright col
ours, and all the ladies of her Court
were magnificently diessed. She had
a great liking, too, for old customs,
without much sense in them, and she
was oiled in the oldest way, and
blessed in the oldest way, at her
Coronation. I hope they did her
good." Grafton describes Mary's
procession through London previous
to her Coronation, and tells us that
"at the upper ,end of Gracechurch
street there was a pageant made by
the Florentines. It was very high,
and on the top thereof stood four pic
tures; and in the midst of them, and
in the highest, there stood an angel
all in green, with a trumpet in his
hand; and when the trumpeter, who

QUEEN VICTORIA Help

QUEEN VICTORIA

stood secretly within the pageant, did
sound his trumpet, the angel did put
his trumpet to his mouth, as though
it had been the same that had sound
ed."
Similar pageants were the chief
characteristic of Elizabeth's Corona
tion, a large number of which were
shown on the streets as she drove
in her state carriage from the Tower
to Westminster.
Great preparations were made for
the Coronation of Elizabeth's succes
sor, James 1., who determined that
everything connected with it should
be on a scale of the greatest mag
nificence. He took a month to travel
to London from Scotland, showering
titles and honours with a lavish hand
all the way. Yet, in spite of great
expectations, this Coronation was one
of the quietest on record. The plague
was raging in London at the time, and
the procession had in consequence to
be abandoned, the King going by

ALTHOUGH in the matter of ceremonial observed at
English Coronations, a most remarkable similarity
has been preserved from very early ages down to the
present day, a special interest nevertheless attaches to
each separate Coronation, for not only has the character
of the Monarch been pretty plainly shown by the scale
on which he held his Coronation, whether lavish and
ostenatious or the reverse, but, in addition to this. the
form which the rejoicings of the people took on such
occasions sheds an interesting light on the manner in
which the nation has progressed. The childish pageants,
for instance, which delighted all eyes at Queen Eliza
beth's Coronation would be laughed at now as the merest
folly, and the same fate would undoubtedly overtake
many of the other amusements provided in past times
to secure the favour of the people for the new M"onarch.

water to Westminster; while, for fear
of spreading the infection, a pro
clamation was issued forbidding all
persons except the Lord Mayor, al
dermen, and twelve principal citizens
of London to attend the ceremony.
Many unlucky incidents are said to
have marked the Coronation of that
unfortunate monarch Charles 1, No
doubt the only one of these which
he himself considered so was the ab
solute refusal of his wife, Queen Hen
rietta Maria, to share in the Corona
tion, owing to her religious prejudices.
The King entreated her to be present
in the Abbey even as a spectator, but
this she refused to do with an ob
stinacy for which the people of Eng
land never forgave her. She con
tented herself with viewing the pro
cession from a window at Whitehall.
When Laud presented the King to the
people, in the formal speech ending
with the words, "And therefore I de
sire you by your general acclama
tion, to testify your consent and wil
lingness thereunto," strange and un
accountable as it seems, not a voice
nor a cheer answered. There was a
death-like silence. At length the Earl
Marshal told the spectators they
should cry, "God save King Charles."
And they then did so." The fact
that the King chose to be crowned
in white robes rather than in purple,
was looked upon as extremely un
lucky, and even the text of the Cor
onation sermon, "I will give thee a.
crown of life," was looked upon as
nutting the King in mind of his death.
Further, distinct tremors of an earth
quake were said to have been felt
during the solemnity, and when Sir
Edward Zouch was proclaiming the
King at the "court-gate" at Theobald s.
instead of "indubitable," he said
"dubitable heir to the throne."
A feature of the Coronation of
Charles I. was the refusal of rebel
lious Scotland to send her ancient
crown to London at the bidding of
the new King, who was compelled to
journey to Edinburgh, that he might
wear it. He was crowned King of
Scots at Holyrood on June 18, 1633.
Cromwell's installation as Protector
closely resembled a Coronation cere
mony, but without its most importsnt
element-the crown, which, with the
offer of the title of King, he had so
sternly refused from his Second Par
liament. The element of pageantry
was also, of course, entirely absent
from the occasion.
Charles II. was crowned at Scone
on the first day of 1651. Thr. came
fresh tumult and war, and the vic
torious advance of Cromwell upon
Scotland, so that the custodians of the
"honours" of the King's Scottish
Coronation, fearing they might share
the fate of the English regalia, which
had already been despoiled by the
Roundheads, transported them to Dun
ottar Castle, and the care of the
Earl-Mareschal of Scotland. For

their defence, too, artillery was car
ried there, and Ogilvy of Barras was
placed in command of the guard.
But Dunottar soon became unsafe
from the victorious English arms, and
Ogilvy was vainly urged to send the
"honours" to some Highland castle.
On Janc.ry 3, 1652, General Lambert
blockaded Dunottar. The Dowager
Countess-Mareschal and Mrs. Oklvy
then craftily, with a pass from Lam
bert himself, admitted to the Castle
the minister's wife of Knieif, a par
ish four or five miles oiff. This lady
carried away the crown, her maid
following with the sword and sceptre
concealed in bundles of lint., They
passed safely through the English
army, Lambert himself having put
the minister's wife on her horse! The
regalia was then safely deposited in
a hole dug at night by the loyal min
ister under the' pavement of Knieff
Church, where they remained until the
Restoration, in spite of the severe
punishment which fell upon the
Ogilvys from the furious Roundheads
when they found their prize castle
bereft of its most interesting trea
sures. New regalia were made for
the Coronation of Charles II. at West
minster Abbey in 1661.
Charles II. was careful that his
Coronation should take place previous
to his marriage with Catherine of
Braganza, so that the trouble his
father had been involved in, owing to
the Queen's refusal to be crowned,
might in his own case be avoided.
The Coronation of James II. is par
ticularly interesting from the fact that
at it many ancient customs which had
fallen into disuse were revived at the
King's desire. This unhappy King
was most particular regarding all the
details and arrangements for the cere
mony, and instructed Sandford, the
Lancaster Herald, to prepare a book,
.with plates, descriptive of his Corona
tlion, so that it might form a pre-.
cedent for all succeeding ones.
One of the most picturesque cus
toms revived by James was that of
having flowers strewn before the
Royal procession by herb-women. Miss
Strickland tells us that "baskets con
taining two bushels of flowers and
sweet herbs each, were carried-no
light weight for the fair strewers
two women to every basket, and nine
basketsful were strewn. As it was
April," she continues. "we may pre
sume that violets, primroses, pansies,
bluebells, and jonquils with stores
of sweetbriar sprigs and other herbs
of grace. formed the staple commod
ity, over which the gold-broidered
slippers of the Queen and her noble
attendants trod daintily on that proud
day as they proceeded from the hall
to the western entrance of the Abbey."
(Continued in column one,
next page).

PAGES FROM THE PAST
Continued from Previous Page
TIHE beautiful Queen Consort
of James II., Mary of
Modena, was crowned along
with him, and her presence
must have added greatly to the
picturesqueness of the scene.
She was popular at the thne of
her Coronation, chiefly owing to the
fact that, in honour of Lth, occa
sion, she had liberated all those
persons in prison for small debts;
from Newgate alone eighty prisoners
were discharged. King James, ac
cording to an -ancient observance,
washed the feet of fifty-two poor men,
on the Maundy Thursday previous to
the Coronation, which took place in
Easter week. He seems to have
made every effort to make his Corona
tion a success in the truest sense of
the word; yet, according to many con
temporary writers, unlucky incidents
were plentiful at it, which, regarded
at the time as evil omens, were held
to have been only too truly fulfilled
in later years.
The King, with what seems a praise
worthy unselfishness, was most an
xious that his Consort's crown should
be of the most magnificent descrip
tion-it cost, when completed, the
princely sum of £111,1000-but he ut
terly neglected to see to his own, with
the result that it did not fit him
properly, and at the Coronation was
continually slipping from his head.
Mr. Henry Sidney, who prevented it
from falling off by supporting it with
his hand, remarked pleasantly to the
King that "it was not the first time
his family had supported the Crown."
By a strange Irony of fate this gen
tleman was the first to join in the
conspiracy against James in favour of
King William.
Old Customs Revived
At the banquet most of the curious
customs of the Anglo-Norman and
Plantagenet sovereigns were revived
by 'James. One of the most curious
of these was the tasting of the dishes.
The Master of the Horse officiated
as Sergeant of the Silver Scullery, and
went in person to the'kitchen, where,
"having called for a dish of meat,
he wiped the bottom of the dish and
also the cover, within and without,
tasted it, covered it, and caused it
to be conveyed to the Royal table,
and, attended by a procession of all
the great officers of the household,
Including the Earl Marshal with his
rod, the Lord High Steward with his
white staff, the Lord High Constable
with his constable's staff, rode up the
hall on horseback, preceding the first
course."
The mess of grout was presented
to their Majesties by the Lord of the
Manbr of Addington, who was knight
ed for his service. This dish con
sisted of a sort of coarse meal boiled
in water till soft, and then mixed
with mace, wine, sugar, and currants.
It was served in a bowl with toast
laid round 'it, cut into narrow pieces.
There was a certain tragic element
connected with the Coronation of the
joint sovereigns. William and Mary,
whibh marked it out from all others.
Jttst as the King and Queen had fin
ished robing, and the procession was
about to be formed ir Westminster
Hall; the alarming news arrived that
James II. had landed in Ireland, and
Mary at the same time received a
terrible letter of denunciation from
the 'exiled father whose throne she
had usurped. "If," he wrote, "she
were crowned while he and the Prince
of Wales were living, the curse of
an outraged father would light upon
her, as well as of that God who has
commanded duty to parents." This
letter caused some bitter words to
pass between the King and Queen,
and they must have gone through all
the gorgeous ceremonies of the day
with heavy and anxious hearts. Lit
tle wonder that Mary looked hot and
flustered, and that her sister Anne is
reported to have said to her, "Madam,
I pity your fatigue." a svmnathy not
well received, for the Queen replied
sharply, "A crown. sister, is not so
heavy as it seems."
Awkward Hitch
In the Abbey an awkward pause in
the ceremony took place when the
offering of twenty guineas was about
to be taken, and their Majesties were
already kneeling at the altar. The
envelope which ought to have con
tained the money was found to be
empty, and no one could supply the
loss, till at length Lord Danby came
to the rescue and counted out twenty
sovereigns from his own purse into
the gold basin. It is also related
that an old woman on crutches ac
cepted the challenge at the banquet.
and threw down a lady's glove, con
taining a note appointing time and
place in Hyde Park.
The shortness of the King in com
parison with the Queen must have had
rather a ludicrous effect. Dean Stan
ley tells us that there were many
peculiarities in the spectacle. "The
short King and the tall Queen walked
side by side (under the same canopy),
not as King and Consort, but as joint
sovereigns, with the sword of state
between them."
The Coronation of William III. and
his Queen approximated so nearly to
that of the former reign that little
need be said of it. Evelyn, however,
remarks that "much of the splen
dour of the proceedings was abated
by the absence of divers who had
contributed to it, there being but five
bishops, four judges (no more being
yet sworn) and several noblemen and
great ladies wanting."
At the Coronation of Queen Anne
the curious spectacle was seen of
the Monarch being carried at some parts
of the-procession in a low armchair,
for, though a comparatively young
woman, the Queen was already a
great sufferer from gout. Her hus
band, Prince George of Denmark, was
the first to offer her homage in exact
ly the same form as the other nobil
ity. It was said that this was done
intentionally, to show that he Queen
"had no intention of conferring upon
him the crown matrimonial."
One very unpleasant incident mark
ed this Coronation, w;hich, with this
exception, was a most successful one
in every way. The entire plate used
at the banquet, and an immense quan
tity of valuable table linen, were
stolen by a number of audacious
thieves.
All in Latin
Nothing of special interest marks
the Coronation of George I., except
that, as he was unable to speak Eng
lish, and scarcely anyone round him
could, speak German, recourse had
to be had to Latin. As all the vari
ous ceremonies had to be laboriously
explained to him in this language, the
Coronation was consequently a long
and tedious affair, with many inter
ruptions. In connection with this a
common joke among the people at the
SCENE OF TRADITIONAL CEREMONY
time was that mlucll bad languuge had
passed between the King and his
ministers on the day of the Corona
tion. The wife of George I., like the
wife of his descendant, George IV.,
was not permitted to take any part
in the great celebration, but was left
a prisoner in Germany, where she re
mained in captivity for thirty years.
The Coronation of George II. and
Queen Caroline was also of a some
what uninteresting nature, and, indeed,
it is said that the King himself grew
heartily tired of all the forms and
ceremonies, and retired very early
from the Coronation banquet.
With the exception of one pearl
necklace, Queen Caroline had not a
single crown jewel to adorn herself
with, thanks to the lavish manner in
which George I. had bestowed these
on his favourites. In this emer
gency the Queen borrowed largely
from the nobility and Jews, and her
Coronation robes are said to have been
literally blazing with gems. "So,"
said Lord Hervey. "the appearance
and truth of her finery was a mix
ture of magnificence and meanness."
One of the most popular Corona
tions wIich has ever taken place in
England was that of George III. It
was immediately preceded by his man
riage, and the enthusiastic loyalty of
the people for their Sovereign and
his youthful bride was still at its
height when the Coronation took place.
The procession from Westminster
Hall to the Abbey was a magnifieent
and impressive one, and so intense
was the anxiety of the people to get
·v'en linmpse of it, that many of
t,"e widrlows on the route. and seats
in icitpon'ary erections, called "Coroe
ni:;cn theatres." brought exorbitant
prices: yet many soeculators lost
heavily by foolishly demanding fabul
ous sums which no one felt inclined
to pay.
Abbey Strike
Immediately before the Coronation
took place there was the curious fea
ture of a strike of the workmen en
gaged at the Abbey, and also of the
chairmen and drivers of hired
vehicles, the latter declaring "that
if there were a sight worth seeing,
the full dressed public might get to
it how they could, they should not
ride to it. and that not a hired
vehicle of any description should ply
on the streets at all on the day in
question." The chairman's strike
was caused by the authorities threat
ening to interfere with their scale of
charges, which was to be enormous
ly increased for the occasion. Mat
ters were at length compromised by
the sum of a guinea being fixed upon
for a ride from the West End to the
point nearest the Abbey. Many of
the unfortunate fares were, however,
taken no further than Charing Cross,
and had to fight their way from there
as best they could on foot through
the crowd, which was a particularly
rough one.
Contemporary writers agree as to
the magnificence of the spectacle in
the Abbey; one quaintly remarks that
it was "the finest exhibition of gen
teel people the world ever saw."
Curiously enough, however, in spite
of the elaborate preparations which
had been made for the Coronation,
some of the most important articles
were forgotten, and the greatest con
fusion and delay occurred in West
minster Hall when their absence was
discovered. These were, among
others, the Sword of State, the state
banqueting chairs, and the canopy.
The sword of the Lord Mayor had
to be borrowed for the occasion, and
a canopy actually built by workmen
at the time within Westminster Itall.
The ceremony of the Coronation was
unmarked by any special incident ex
cept that the King showed a praise
worthy and devout spirit in asking his
crown to be removed while he took
the Holy Sacrament, a request which
was granted after some discussion. It
was considered an evil omen that
while the King was moving with the
crown on his head, the great dia
mond fell out of it on to the ground.
Waited in Darkness
Tihe Coronation ceremony in the Ab
bey lasted six hours, and the return
to Westminster I-lall was, in conse
quence, so late that the unfortunate
people waiting there were left for a
time in total darkness, as the hall
was not lit up ttil the King entered.
Sixty haunches of venison, in addi
tion to a great quantity of all sorts
of game, were consumed at the great
banquet, 120 dishes being served up
to the King's table at three different
times. We can imagine, therefore,
the chagrin of the poor Knights of
the Bath when it was found that by
some oversight no table had been pro
vided for them, and they were left
with nothing to satisfy their natural
cravings but an apology and a smell
of the good things. The ladies in
the galleries were determined, how
ever, that they should have a more
satisfying share in the feast, and with
praiseworthy enterprise and ingenuity
they "clubbed their handkerchiefs to
be tied together - nay, even garters
were united for the same purpose-to
draw up a chicken or a bottle of
wine." Some had been so provi
dential as to bring baskets with them.
which were let down, like prisoners'
boxes at Ludgate or the Gate-House,
with a "Pray remember the poor."
A very curious rumour got abroad
at the time that the young Pre
tender, Charles Stuart, was present
at the banquet in the disguise of a
woman, and when the Chanmpion threw
down his gauntlet for the third time,
and a small white glove fell from
among the spectators, this incident
was at once connected with Prince
Charles, many believing that it was
he who had thrown it. From want
of sufmfient proof, however, this
story was ultimately entirely dis
credited.
If George Ill.'s Coronation was the
most popular, George IV.'s may be
said to have been the most gorgeous
ever witnessed in England. It is
said to have surpassed all others in
magnilicence and extrhavagant display,
and it is easy to believe that this was
the case when we learn that it cost
the nation the enormous sum of
.£ 250,000.
George IV. was by no means a
favourite of the people when he came
to the throne. and a natural wish to
gain their favour, and also a strong
inclination to gratify his own love of
display, led him to make his Corona
tion one of peculiar splendour. His
own dress for the occasion caused
him the most intense anxiety.: and
when tile costly garments were at
length completed, he is said to have
ordered one of his servants to put
them on and walk up and down, so
that he might feast his eyes on their
magnificence.
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