considerable a part in that very Hall, where so few years ago one saw his father, Lord Kilmarnock, condemned to the block. The champion acted his part admirably, and dashed down his gauntlet with proud defiance. His associates, Lord Effingham, Lord Talbot, and the Duke of Bedford, were woeful; Lord Talbot piqued himself on backing his horse down the Hall, and not turning its rump towards the King, but he had taken such pains to dress it to that duty, that it entered backwards: and at his retreat the spectators clapped, a terrible indecorum, but suitable to such Bartholomew-fair doings. He had twenty demelés, and came out of none creditably. He had taken away the table of the Knights of the Bath, and was forced to admit two in their old place, and dine the others in the Court of Requests. Sir William Stanhope said, 'We are ill-treated, 'for some of us are gentlemen.' Beckford told the Earl, it was hard to refuse a table to the city of London, whom it would cost ten thousand pounds to banquet the King, and that his lordship would repent it, if they had not a table in the Hall; they had. To the barons of the Cinque-ports, who made the same complaint, he said, 'If you come 'to me as Lord Steward, I tell you, it is impossible; if, as Lord 'Talbot, I am a match for any of you;' and then he said to Lord Bute, If I were a minister, thus I would talk to France, to Spain, 'to the Dutch-none of your half measures.'1 He had not much more dignity than the figure of General Monk in the Abbey. . . . Well, it was all delightful, but not half so charming as its being over. The English representatives of the Dukes of Aquitaine and Normandy appeared for the last time, and with them the last relics of our dominion over France vanished. Another incident, interpreted in a more ominous manner, was the fall of the largest jewel from the crown, which was afterwards believed to have foretold the loss of America.1 When Pitt resign'd, a nation's tears will own, Walpole's Letters, iii. 437, 438, 440-445. The most diverting in'cident' of the day is told in iii. 440. See also the account by Bonnell Thornton in Chapters, pp. 185-192; and Gent. Mag. (1761), pp. 414-416. The Champion rode the white charger that carried George II. on the battlefield of Dettingen. (Ann. Reg. 1861, p. 232.) 419.-They 2 Gent. Mag., 1761, p. ranked before the Archbishop of Canterbury. 3 The claims of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster were made in Old French and English. (Chapter Book, July 31, 1761.) Hughes's England, xiv. 49; Anecdotes of Chatham, iii. 383. Appear- Archbishop Secker, who officiated, had baptized, confirmed, and married the King. Bishop Drummond preached on 1 Kings x. 9. The princely style in which the young King seated himself after the ceremony attracted general notice. 'No actor in the character of Pyrrhus in the Distrest Mother' (says an eye-witness') 'not even Booth himself, ever as'cended the throne with so much grace and dignity.' It was also observed that as the King was about to receive the Holy Communion, he enquired of the Archbishop whether he should not lay aside his crown. The Archbishop asked the Dean of Westminster (Zachary Pearce), but neither knew, nor could say, what was the usual form.2 The King then took it off, saying, 'There ought to be one.' He wished the Queen to do the same, but the crown was fastened to her hair. It is not clearly known what George IV. and William IV. did; but in the coronation of Queen Victoria, the Rubric ran, and doubtless henceforth will run, 'The Queen, taking off her crown, kneels down.' 666 But the most interesting peculiarity of George III.'s coronation was the unseen attendance of the rival to the throne— Prince Charles Edward. I asked my Lord Marshal,' says David Hume,' the reason of this strange fact. "Aye," says he, ""a gentleman told me so who saw him there, and whispered "“in his ear, 'Your Royal Highness is the last of all mortals """whom I should expect to see here.' 'It was curiosity "that led me,' said the other; but I assure you,' added "he, that the person who is the cause of all this pomp and """magnificence is the man I envy least.'"'6 1 Life of Bishop Newton (by himself), 2 Maskell, iii. pp. li. & liii. The crown was worn at that part (Maskell, iii. p. liii.) 5 He was in London under the name of Mr. Brown. (Gent. Mag. 1764, p. 24.) See also the scene in Westminster Hall, described in Redgauntlet. Hume, in Gent. Mag., 1773. tion of 1821. 35. The splendour of the coronation of George IV. has Coronabeen described by Sir Walter Scott too fully to need repe- George IV. tition. Many smaller incidents still survive in the recollection July 19, of those who were present. The heat of the day and the fatigue of the ceremony almost exhausted the somewhat portly Prince, who was found cooling himself, stripped of all his robes, in the Confessor's Chapel, and at another part of the service was only revived by smelling salts accidentally provided by the Archbishop's secretary. During the long ceremony of the homage which he received with visible expressions of disgust or satisfaction, as the peers of the contending parties came up, he was perpetually wiping his streaming face with innumerable handkerchiefs, which he handed in rapid succession to the Primate, who stood beside him. The form of the coronation oath, on which so many political struggles hinged during this and the preceding reign, had been forgotten; and the omission could only be rectified by requesting the King to make his signature at the foot of the oath, as printed in the service book, which was accordingly enrolled, instead of the usual engrossment on vellum.2 But the most remarkable feature of the day was that it furnished the materials for what was, in fact, a political battle between the King and his Queen, almost between the 1 See Gent. Mag., 1821, pt. ii. pp. 104-110. The Duke of Wellington acted as Lord High Constable, Lord Anglesey as Lord High Steward. The banquet was celebrated, and the Champion then appeared, probably for the last time. The sermon was preached by the Archbishop of York (Vernon), on the same text as that selected by Burnet for William III. (See p. 96.) The ceremony was rehearsed the week before in the Abbey and Hall. (Ann. Register, 1821, p. 344.) Amongst the ⚫ feudal services the two falcons of Lord 'Derby, for the Isle of Man, were con- 2 I owe these incidents to various entrance of Queen Caroline. 2 King and his people. Everyone went in the morning with ' very uncomfortable feelings and dread.' On the one side the magnificence of the pageant, on the other side the failure of the ill-advised attempt of Queen Caroline to enter the Abbey, by a combination of feelings not altogether unusual, and not creditable to the judgment of the English people, produced a complete reaction in favour of the successful husband against the unsuccessful wife. The Queen, after vainly appealing to the Privy Council, to the Prime Minister, and to the Earl Marshal, rashly determined to be present. Attempted At 6 o'clock on the morning of the day, she drove from South Audley Street to Dean's Yard. Within the Precincts at that hour there were as yet but a few of the Abbey officials on the alert. One of them was standing in the West Cloister when he saw the Queen approach, accompanied by Lord Hood. Just at the point where the Woodfall monument is now placed, they encountered a gentleman, in court costume, belonging to the opposite party, who hissed repeatedly in her face. Whilst Lord Hood motioned him aside with a deprecating gesture, she passed on into the North Cloister, and thence to the East Cloister door, the only one on that side available, where she was repulsed by two stalwart porters, who (in the absence of our modern police) were guarding the entrance. She then hastened back, and crossed the great platform in St. Margaret's Churchyard, erected for the outside procession. It was observed by those who watched her closely that her under lip quivered incessantly, the only mark of agitation. She thus reached the regular approach by Poets' Corner. Sir Robert Inglis, then a young man, was 1 Life of Lord Eldon, ii. 428. Gent. Mag. 1824, pt. ii. p. 73; Ann. Register, 1831, p. 347. From this young official, now and for many years the respected organist of the Abbey, I derive this part of the narrative. This part is from Mr. Almack, who was on the platform, and followed her. charged with the duty of keeping order at that point. He heard a cry that the Queen was coming. He flew (such was his account), rather than ran, to the door of the South Transept. She was leaning on Lord Hood's arm. He had but a moment to make up his mind how to meet her. It is my 'duty,' he said, 'to announce to your Majesty that there is 'no place in the Abbey prepared for your Majesty.' The Queen paused, and replied, Am I to understand that you pre'vent me from entering the Abbey ?' 'Madam,' he answered, in the same words, it is my duty to announce to you that 'there is no place provided for your Majesty in the Abbey.' She turned without a word.' This was the final repulse. She who had come with deafening cheers retired in dead silence. She was seen to weep as she reentered3 her carriage. Her old coachman, it is said, had for the first time that morning harnessed the horses reluctantly, conscious that the attempt would be a failure. On the following day she wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury (Manners-Sutton), expressing her desire to be crowned some days after the King, and before the arrangements were done away with, so that there might be no additional expense. The Primate answered that he could not act except under orders from the King. In a few weeks she was dead; and her remains-carried with difficulty through the tumultuous streets of London, where the tide of popularity had again turned in her favour, and greeted with funeral welcomes at every halting-place in Germany-reposed finally, not in Windsor or Westminster, but in her ancestral vault at Brunswick.5 I have given this account as I heard it from Sir R. Inglis. A longer narrative of the dialogue between Lord Hood and the doorkeepers is given in the Gent. Mag. 1821, pt. i. p. 74. 2 Or with mingled cries of 'The 'Queen! - the Queen!' or 'Shame! shame!' (Ibid. p. 37.) 3 Life of Lord Eldon, ii. 428. 5 It is recorded that the town boys of Westminster School first acquired at George IV.'s Coronation the privilege of attending, which had been before confined to the scholars, |