The Sun.
London, England, 1801-11-09 00:00:00

CORONATION:

The ceremony of the 'Coronation *as then begun
%MA performed in the following manner
'the Archbishop of goscow (the celebrated Plato)
'who officiated on the, occasions alter having gone
through the previous part of Divine Services proceed_
ed to read,and read the Gospel. His Imperial Majesty
brdered the Imperial Mantle to be taken from the
„table on. Which it had been piaced, and to be put up-
. c'ti, his shouldersi This was done by the Archbishop,
WiTit, accompanied the aft With the usual prayer. '
the
prayer being finished, His
.IVlajesty,called for
le Imperial. Crown. This one of the bearers of the
imi6erialla carried to the Archbishop, and he present-
ed it Upon a cushion to His Majesty‘ His Majesty
took the Crown and placed it Upon hit head, This
of t)le Archbishop also accompanied with a prayer.
}lis Majesty next called lot the Sceptre and the
Staff of Command, which were likewise presented
to him by the Archbishop, and he then seated him-
self upon the Imperial Throne, holding the Sceptre
in his right, and the Staff of Command in his left
hand.
His Majesty next replaced these Impr;dia upon •
the cushions on which they had been presented to.
him, and made a sign to Her Imperial Majesty to
draw near him. He then took off his Crown, in..
dined it towards, and suspended it over Her Ma..
iesty's- head, and again replaced it on his own,
The small Imilerial Crown was then brought to
tlis Majesty, which he placed upon the head of the.
Empress, while four of the Ladies of the Bed-Chham-.
ber advanced and adjusted it on her hair.
The Imperial Mantle and the Chain of the Order
of St. Andrew were next brought to His Majesty,
;''ith which he invested the Empress, and the same
Ladies. of the Bedchamber advanced and fitted them
on.

The Archrieatort then recited all the titles of His
Imperial Majesty, and concluded by exclaiming
tinortett serieix—grant him a. length of years !-
NOW all the bells began to ring, and on a signal
elven from the cupola of the church, 101 pieces of
cannon, which lined the walls of the Kremlin, were
fired off. The different Regiments drawn up in
the adjoining squares and streets, also fired a first
one.y.
While the Choir were singing the words annoriun
triem, all the Dignitaries of the Church and the
4N. obilitY of both sexes stood up and bowed three
antes, in congratulation to His Majesty. •

When the singing in the choir, the ringing of the
bells, and the roaring of the cannon had ceased., Hit
Imperial Majesty rose up from the Throne, returned
the Sceptre and the Staff of Command to ,the
persons whose office it was to carry them, and then
knelt down. In this posture he read' from a book
the prayer prescribed for the occasion ; and when
he concluded it, the Archbishop and the whole of
the Assembly threw themselves also upon their
knees, and repeated a prayer, while His Imperial
Majesty alone stood up.
At the conclusion of this prayer the Archbishop
'rose and delivered a discourse adapted to the nature
of the ceremony, and as he concluded, the whole
choir began to sing the psalm Nomen tuum, Domine
celebramus. The bells were again rung, and the Di-
vine Service commenced. On the reading of the
Gospel, Their Majesties took off and laid down
their Crowns; and the Gospel being afterwards pre-
sented to them, they bowed down and kissed it with
profound reverence.
As the service advanced towards the consecra-
tion of the Sacrament, and as, at the words " take

and eat," the Choir began to sing the Canons, the
Vice-Governor of Moscow, attended by two Co-
lonels, proceeded to stretch a carpetting of crimson
velvet, fringed with gold, down from the Throne
to the doors of the Sanduary. Immediately before
the doors of the Sanauary, the velvet was covered
over with gold tissue. Over this carpetting Their
Majesties walked down to receive the Holy Unaion
and the Sacrament.

As soon as the singing of the canons had ceased,
and the Bishops, &c. had taken the communion at
the Altar, the doors of the Santuary were thrown
open, and two Bishops, followed by two Archdea.
cons, came forth and informed His Majesty that the
hour of his Consecration was come. Upon this His
Majesty proceeded straight to the doors of the
shrine. He was followed by Her Majesty. Before
them walked the different Masters of Ceremonies,
the Marshals of the Court, the Grand Marshal, &c.
in the same order as in the procession.
As His Majesty approached the steps of the Al-
tar, he knelt down upon the golden tissue which had
been spread there for the purpose. Her Majesty
stopped before she reached the door of the Santua-
ry. His Majesty then returned his Imperial in-
signia, viz. the Crown, the Sceptre, and' the Staff
of Command to the bearers, until- he had gone
through the ceremony of the Consecration, and
taken the Sacrament,

The Archbishop now proceeded to perform the
ceremony : He dipped a small branch (ramulas) of
gold into the holy oil, which was contained in a.
golden vase, and applied it to the forehead, to
the eyes, the nostrils, the mouth, the beard, and the
fingers of each hand of His Majesty, while he pro-
nounced these words—S;gillum doni spititus santh,
The eldest of the assisting Bishops then wiped off
the oil with white cotton. As soon as His Majesty
had received the Sacred Unetion all the bells were
again rung, a similar number .of .cannon, viz. 1.01,
as at the Coronation ceremony, were discharged,
and the Regiments around fired a second volley.
Her Imperial Majesty then placed herself upon
the same golden tissue, and received the Sacred
Unction on her forehead only.
The Archbishop next conduced His Majesty
through the holy doors of the shrine into the inte-
rior of the Sanduary, where he knelt down upon a
gold cloth, and received the Sacrament, the body
and blood of Christ, from the hands of the Arch-
bishop.-( The Emperor alone of all the faithful, is
permitted to enter the Santuary, and communicate
in this solemn manner.)
After the Communion His Majesty returned.to
his Imperial seat, the irn.wialia being carried be-
fore him.. .
The EMpress next advanced to the doors of the
Shrine (no woman is allowed to enter, it), and receiv-
ed the Satrament in the ordinary way. His Ma-
jesty then restimed the Imperialia, walked up with
fler Majesty► to the Throne, and remained seated
on it till the Divine Service was concluded.
Such were the more prominent formalities that
Marked the performance of this solemn ceremony.
Previously to the arrival of Their Imperial Ma-
jesties in the Cathedral, the Empress Dowager and
the two Great Dutchesses Maria and Catharine took
their places in the Church. The Einpress Dowager
was seated in a separate box under a canopy, on the
right of the Throne: She wore a Crown and the
Imperial Mantle ; had no ornament on her head but
the Crown ; a Medallion hungat her breast, suspend_
ed by two rows of very large pearls: The body
and train of her robe was a gold tissue ; the petti-
coat a silver tissue, with flounces of gold flowers.

Next to the Empress Dowager, on the same side, I
but nearer the Shrine, were placed in a separate box 1
the two Great Datchesses‘ They wore the Orders
of St, Catharine and of Malta; their dress was rich
and elegant ; their hair was all braided with bril-
liants— The elder was dressed in a white silver
tissue, the petticoats flounced with gold flowers.
The younger -also in a silver .tissue, with coloured
silk flowers. The sleeves of their robes were made
of rows oflacc. •
• The Reigning Empress wore a prorusioh'of dia_
!hands : her dresS was all white ; a silver tissue
petticoat and white flowers: -
•
His Imperial Majesty was dressed ih the uniform
of his Regiment. •
On the left of the Throne, within the circle of
the Church, was a box prepared for the reception.
of the Foreign Ministers. Here were placed the
Austrian and English AmbassadorS, Cotint SourOu
and Lord Si. Helens.; also the Envoys from Russia,
Denmark, Sardinia, Wirtembargh, &c. The Eng-
lish Noblemen and Gentlemen now here on their
travels had also seats in the sane box.-
In the middle of the Church was suspended a
rich canopy of crimson velvet, laced and fringed
with gold. In the middle of the ceiling of it were
embroidered the arms of the Russian Empire, and
around them the arms of Kiof, of Waldimir, of
Casanza, cif Astracan, of Liber, anti of Tauris..
On the sides were embroidered cyphers of His Ma-
jesty's name.
Under this stood two state chairs ; 'one for the Em-
peror, the other for his Imperial Consort. Twelve
steps, descended from the Throne, all covered with
crimson velvet. The rest of the Cathedral was