The National Register. — London, England, 1821-07-23 00:00:00

pow MDt patio nal(3i toisittr. MI rim Our Ling, Consititutton, anb ROA. PRICE Sid. MONDAY, JULY U, 3821. No. 1,31111 —VOL. XIV.] CORONATION of MS _MAJESTY GEORGE THE FOURTH, OR THURSDAY, JULY 19,1811. The extensive preparations for this ceremony have occupied many months, and we have from time to time detailed their ;ingress. The whole of the neighbourhood of Palace-yard and the Abbey, was occupied with erections to accommodate spectators of the procession, and we fear many persons who had speculated on an avidity of application for seats will be most serious losers—such was the paucity of demand, that the proprietors of scats for which TWENTY GUINFAS each were demanded a month ago, were glad to take twenty shillings the day be fore the Coronation, and subsequently a crown was not refused by the chagrined Erectors of these splen did buildings. Very early on Thursday morning, as soon as shortly after three o'clock, a few ladies and gentle men were seen in court-costume, coining on foot across Bridge-street and towards Westminster-hall. There was nothing like a crowd in the streets at that time—scarcely a spectator was seen in the booths, and along the royal platform the Guards lay slumbering with little apparent comfort. Before 4 o'clock the line of coaches was full on the eastern side of the division from Parliament-street to Cha ring -cross; on the other side it extended only to the Horse Guards. The general effect was greatly re duced by the large proportion of hackney coaches, with all their squalid accompaniments, which occu pied this space. Through St. James's-park ele g ant carriages began early to pass, and great numbers wandered slowly along on foot, manifestly anxious to learn the motions of the illustrious lady who was refused any part in the pomp and ceremony of the day. Every where, indeed, the only topic of interest and of conversation was the situation of her Majesty THE QUEEN. _ _ _ A. considerable crowd assembled about her Ma jesty's house, in South Audley-street, soon after 4 o'clock, As soon as it was ascertained that her Ma jesty's coach was making ready in the yard, the crowd, both in South Audley street and in Hill street, became very great. The wall opposite to her Majesty's house in Hill-street was soon covered with spectators, who announced to the crowd below each successive step of preparation. " The horses are to ;" " every thing is quite ready ;" " the Queen has en tered the coach," were the gradual communications, and they were received with the loudest cheers. Lady Anne I lamilton arrived a few minutes before five, and was most cordially and respectfully greeted. Soon after five the gate was thrown open, and a shout was raised, " the Queen !" " The Queen !" The Queen immediately appeared in her couch of state, drawn by six bays. Lady Hood and Lady Anne Hamilton sat opposite to her Majesty. Lord Hood thllowed in his own carriage. Her Majesty looked extraordinarily well, and acknowledged, with great dignity and composure, the gratulations of the people on cacti side of her coach. The course taken was, through Great-Stanhope-street, Park-lane, Hyde-park-corner, Green-park, St. James's-park, Bird 'cage-walk, and by Storey's-;,•ate, along Prince's street, to llean's-yard---a way, it must be observed, the least likely to attract notice, or to gather crowds. The crowd accumulated immensely along this line : the soldiers every where presented arms with the utmost promptitude and respect ; and a thousand voices kept up a tonstant cry of " The Queen !" " The Queen for ever !" The coup (tail from the road along the Green-park, which was the most striking that can be imagined ; the whole space presented one mass of well-dressed males and females hurrying with every possibility rapidity to accompany the Queen, and shouting their attach ment and admiration. The two torrents that poured along the south side of the park and the eastern end occasioned the greatest conflux at Storey's-gate.— As soon as the Queen's arrival was known i❑ the scene of the king's coronation, shouts of—" Queen," at once arose from all the booths, and hats and handkerchiefs were every where waved in token of respect. As soon as her Majesty Caine in sight of the coronation platform and Westminster-abbey, the coach stopt for a few minutes. The cheering of tee crowd all the while was cordial and incessant.— the coach advanced towards Deau'a-yard eison .11 tiro box behind, who stout the coluar of his countenance ought to be a tar, but whose long sunned coat eloquently prayed for promotion, at tempted to utter some hisses. But this unmanly and most unnaval effort was sneakingly covered from general observation by a filthy handkerchief held over his mouth. The cowardly act of servility was, however datected, and the loud demand of the mul titude below, happily aided by the general and de cisive approbation of the respectable spectators in the booths, obliged this solitary hisser to desist. The particulars of her Majesty's demands for ad mission, of the refusal she received, and of her return home, will be found in a subsequent column. About nine o'clock we remarked but a few idle loungers at Charing-cross and along Parliament street. In Piccadilly the shops were open and bu siness carried on much in the usual way. The chief interest of the coronation seemed to have left it with the Queen. In every direction we saw numbers moving towards the Parks. WESTMINSTER HALL. Two tiers of spacious galleries were erected against the eastern and western walls of the hall ; over the principal entrance from Palace-yard, an orchestra was constructed, in a style of architecture corresponding in design with the noble Gothic roof of the building ; but as well as the designs deco• rating the front of the galleries very inferior in exe cution to the grandeur of the original model. The throne was placed at the southern extremity of the building, immediately under the fine window at that side, and erected upon a spacious platform, which extended over the site lately occupied by the Courts of King's Bench and Chancery : it was superbly gilt upon a ground of rich crimson velvet, and placed under a canopy decorated in a similar style of gorgeous richness, and displaying the royal arms emblazoned in gold ; before the throne stood a square table, covered with cloth of blue and gold. The platform was ascended by three flights of steps, each extending across the Hall. The first and second from the area were covered with crimson cloth, and the upper flight immediately leading to the table at the foot of the throne was, as well as the floor itself, covered with a rich carpet. On the right of the throne, at the east side of the Hall, the box was constructed for the female branches of the Royal Family admitted to the ceremony ; at the opposite side, and also on the royal platform, was the box appropriated to Foreign Ambassadors and their ladies : over the former were the boxes sub divided between the Earl Marshal, the Lord High Steward, and the Lord High Constable, and above the first mentioned, boxes were fitted up for the suits of the Foreign Embassies. These boxes, the lower ones in particular, were splendidly ornamented with crimson cloth richly embroidered with gold. The lower gallery on the east side was devoted to persons having the Lord Great Chamberlain's and Peers tickets ; the upper, at the same side, was divided into sections marked by the windows, for the Lord High Steward of Scotland, the Lord Steward, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Surveyor and Auditors General, the Board of Green Cloth, the Board of Works, and other public depart ments. The lower tier at the west side was appro.. priatcd to the Peeresses alone, for about one third of its length, and the remainder to Peers' tickets. The upper tier was sub-divided into sections, and, like that of the eastern side, was allotted to difE.Tent official personages, principally for the ticket of the Lord Great Chamberlain and Lord Chamberlain At each side of the hall a long dinner table was placed, with marked scuts for the peers : these were separated by a railing front the area which was ap propriated for the ceremonies, and the floor in the centre was covered with superfine blue cloth, laid upon neatly manufactitred matting ; the galleries were accessible through small winding staircases at each side of the hall. From the cantalivers orna mented with angels bearing shields, which support the antique roof, gilt chandeliers were suspended, to shed a light upon the dining tables ; they were formed of circular wreaths of cut-glass, and too plain fin. the florid Gothic architecture which they ilhuninated.. The.A; ecru the chief arrangements for the com pany assembled on this grand occasion; and it is due to the acting Lord Great Chamberlain, Lord Gwydvr, and his deputy Air. Fellowes. who were on duty in the Hall the whole of the preceding night, to state, that their arrangements were it mirabi j adapted to ensure admis•:ion to the respcc- tive places appropriated for spectators, and to afford the utmost accommodation to every person whose .. . duty it was to attend the Hall throiiihout the day. Lord Gwydyr and his deputy were both personally superintending the arrangements, and most active in facilitating the necessary accommodation for the visitors, many of them of the highest rank, who arrived at the Hall at. day-break. At that hose the arrival of different official attendants, in draws, all of them brilliant, but some of them fantastical, began to develope some of the chivalrous pomp attending the coronation ceremony. The first set of official personages who entered in form were the Barons of the Cinque Ports, with their canopy. They were attired in richly embroidered dresses, and attended by eight gentlemen in full dress, who practised as bearers, the duty of supporting toe canopy along the area of the Hall;, it was of straw colour silk, richly embroidered with gold, the frame studded with silver ornaments, and the supporting rods of silver, richly embossed ; it had a light and elegant appearance. At six o'clock, their Royal Highnesses the Duchesses of Glo cester, Kent, and Clarence, and the Princess Feo dore, daughter to the Duchess of Kent, entered their box, with a large retinue of ladies. About the same time the Prince and Princess Esterhazy and a number of foreigners of distinction, entered their box at the opposite side. The foreign am bassadors and their suite were chiefly in military costume, and decorated with orders. At 20 minutes before seven o'clock the Yeomen of the Guard entered in due form, and at that time the arrivals of peers and peeresses at Palace-yard became so rapid that the gates were constantly thrown open; they, were however rather rudely closed while a number of privileged persons seemed to be in the act of producing their tickets entitling them to ingress, when shouts from the people assembled iu Palace yard announced the arrival of her Majesty the Queen to claim her right of being present at the coronation. There was a considerable bustle within the Hall when this intelligence was commuuicated. Mr. Fellowes, immediately followed by Lord Gwydyr, repaired to the gate, and some anxiety was manifested within the hall, while the Queen was known to be within the verge of the palace, and while her Majesty was ei:gaged in the act of assert ing her right to be present at the ceremony of the coronation. About seven o'clock, her approach was announced by loud acclamations without the barrier, and a kind of confusion and anxious agitation within. The burst of applause when her carriage appeared completely overpowered the ill directed and irreso lute ettinas of a portion of the spectators whose in terests and connexions prejudiced them against her person. Her carriage drawn by six horses, passed the barrier without interruption, and proceeded by the King's Arms tavern to nearly opposite the door of Westminster-hall. Hur Majesty there stopped for a few moments, apparently uncertain what course to take, as she had hitherto met with no obstruction, and yet had received nothing like an invitation to approach. At this moment the teeling-s of the spec tators were wound up to a pitch of the most painful anxiety. Tile persons who immediately surrounded her carriage knew no bounds in expressing their enthusiastic attachment, while many of those in the galleries, apprehensive of the tonscquence attic ex periment which she vas making, could not restrain their fears and alarms. In the mean time great confusion seemed to prevail among the officers and soldiers on and near the platforni ; the former giving orders and retracting them, and the latter running to their arms, uncertain whether they should salute her by presenting them or not. Astonishment, hurry, and doubt, seamed to agitate the whole mul titude assembled either to wetness or comp Lee the ensuing pageant. We never remember to have observed inure unequivocal symptoms of pain or horror than were maiiik•sted b people of the most opposite sentiments, when they saw their Queen treated like an alien or otttea , i, by the servants, and at the festive hall of her husband. Every heart thrilled with pity or indignation. These feeliii 6 s were increased as she alighted from her cirriage and proceeded on foot Irani. g on the arm of Lord Hood, and accompanied by liar faithful comp..ninns of affliction, Lady Hood and Lady Aline lialin!tcm, to demand admission. The applistch of the Queen towards the ball-door produced it cuasi krable sensa tion within : there ryas sets iaimedi ite rtisn to. too naor, %Tits cloticki amidst muds 4.-oul'usLa ' eta