Star.
London, England, 1820-04-15 00:00:00

ALMACK'S.

Wednesday evening was the most splendid of the
present season ; there being not less than three hun-
dred persons of distinction in the talon before eleven
o'clock. The rooms were one blaze of splendour.—
Waltzes and Quadrilles • were danced alternately
throughout the evening.
Among the most conspicuous of the performers
on the " light fantastic toe" were—
Lady Georgiara Fane, the 'Honourable Miss *lens Lords
Walseourt and Clanwilliam, Miss Calcraft, Lady Clarks.,
Butler, the Earl of Uxbridge and the Ladies Paget, Miss Palk,
Miss Rowley., Lady Greville, Miss Frederick Seymour, Cap.
min and the Mis*s Fitzclarence.
The following were also part of the distinguished
company present :
The Princes Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg, Philip of Hesse-Horn'
bourg, and Prince Francavilla ; the Duke of Wellington, the
Duke and Duchess of Argyle, Lord and Lady Castlereagh,
and the lion. Miss Fitzroy; the Earls of Westmoreland and
Uxbridge; toe Ladies Paget, Lord and Miss Chetwynd, Lord
Charles and Miss Somerset, lord Auckland, Lord Ellenbo-
rough, Lady Elisabeth Palk, the Earl of Dartmouth, the Coun-
tess of Aboyne, Ladies Gordon, Countess and Ladies Forte/cue;
Lady, Mr. and Mrs. Harrington; Lord, Lady, and Miss Ana-
kerst ; the Marquis and Marchioness of Downshire; Lord John
Thyme; Lady Louisa and Miss Harvey ; Lady Charlotte Bug-
gin; Lady Julia and the Hon. Major Gore ; Sir C. Ogle, Sir
Thomas Liddell; Lieutenant-Colonel Bowater ; Lady C. and
Miss Seymour, Sic. Sec.
The assembly did not separate till day-light.

Ulm). Ilan.—Yesterday, a man named Daniel Hyde?' was
brought in the custody of Hammond, the officer, and trunk od
before L. B. Attest, Fan. charged with having spoken certain
seditious expressions of and concerning hi; present Majesty and
his Government. The officer stated, that on Thursday night,
berveen eight and nine o'clock, be went into the Cliteen'a head
üblic-honse, iu Maze Pond, where he caw the prisoner, and
several otherr, drinking: prisoner was nearly intoxicated. The
discourse turred ou political subjects, particularly the question
'of keratin, the accession of his Majesty to the Throne, and the
general conduct of his Ministers. The prisontr said" the Kb g is
a d-- vagabond for keeping company with such rogues as
Castlereagh and George Canning!" Winitss sold him Ito be
cautious how he indulged in such repreheasible language, as he
was an officer, and would not allow it in his presence. Prisoner
repeated the same expressions again twice, - adding something
very foul each time, on which he immediately took him into
custody and lodged him in the watch-house. The r..st of the
company, who professed themselves to be Radizal Reform rs,
did not at all resist his apprehensian.—The defendant said be
was very drunk at the time he uttered the expressions he was
charged with, and knew not what he sall—The worthy Ma-
gistrate observed, that ia times like the present, when the fiend
anarchy had nearly over-run the 17.:14, overturning in its course
every basis of social order—when sedition' and disaffection
stalked abroad, sounding the tocsin of alarm and rapine, men
should not have rectium to lialf.nwasures. The conduct of the
man at the bar he viewed a; every loyal man must view itr as
extremely criminal, and he.should feel it his ditty tacall in him
for baiL--The prisoner, having no sureties, was co:twitted.

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LITERATURE, Av.

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OF THE CORO7IATION CHAIR AND STONE. •
Fr.),n Mr. ARTI:I:7. TAVLO2.'S " Glory of Regality ; an His
toril Treatise cs the. Anointing and Crowning of the Kings
aatl, Queens of Brgltud"l.

Chair on xhich our Kings sit to receive the
Cror a is principally remarkable for its marble seat,
wit; :h bath acquired no trivial fame, from.: the pens
of old historians. Their legends inform' us that this
the very stone on which the patriarch Jacob laid
his head in the plain of Luz ; that it was brought
from Egypt into Spain by Gatbelits, the supposed
founder of the Scottish nation (I); that it was thence
transported into Ireland " amongst _other princelie
iewells and regal] monuments," by Simon Brach,
who was crowned upon it about 700 years before the
birth of Christ, and that it was thence earned to!
.. Scotland by King Fergus, 330 years before the same
zia. After such adventures, it will not be surprising
that the stone should' once more be removed, and
find its way to the Abbey of Westminster (2).
Such are the legends relating to the Fatal Stone.
But its probable history is so remai kable, and is car-
ried back to a period so remote, that the aid of fic-
tion was scarcely wanting to procure it reverence
and regard. Mr. 'Nand (3) justly styles this " the,
antientest respected monument in the world, for tho'
some others may be more antient as to duration, yet
thus superstitiously regarded they are not."
The object of our inquiries may undOubtedly be
traced to Ireland (4). It was most probably one of
those stones which the Druids or Priests of the coun-
try were used to consecrate for particular sacred or
political purposes : its place was the hill of Tara,
and upon it the Kings of Ireland for many ages re-
ceived their authority. The Irish names of the stone
were, The Fatal Stone, and The Stone of Fortune ;
these it probably obtained from a power which it
was said to possess of shewing the legitimacy of Royal
descent, which it acknowledged by an oracular sound
when a Prince of the true line was placed on it :
under a Pretender, it was silent. The Irish have .an
antient prophecy (5) respecting the stone, implying
that the possession of it was necessary to the preser-
vation of the regal power.
It is remarkable that in later times this prophecy
assumed a different form :

fallat Fatum, Scoti quovinque locaturn
" Inveniunt kpidem, regnarr tenentur ibidem."

Or in the Lowland Scotch of Wyntotznis Cronykil,
But gyf werelys filyhand be,
Quhare evyr nine yhe segyt se,
" Dare sall re Scottis be regnand,
" And lorddys hale oure all pat land" (6).
In either way the prediction continues to be fulfilled
in that branch of the family of James I. which now
fills the British throne ! (7).
From Ireland the Fatal Stone was conveyed to the
settlement which the people of that country had made
on the north-western part of our island, from them
called Scotland. Whether we receive or reject the
tradition that it was brought over by Fergus, there
is no doubt that the stone was removed to Scotland
at a very early period, and that it was always re-
garded as a sacred monument by the people of that
cnuntry. This opinion appears to be countenanced
by the late ingenious Mr. King, who says "it is
clear enough that before the time of Kennith, that is,
before the year 884, it had been placed simply and
plainly as a stone of great import and of great no-
toriety in Argyleshire, and, on account of the' reve-
rence paid to it, was removed by Kennith" j 8). This
King, having taken it feJm the Castle of nnstuf•
nage, its ancient station, placed it in the Abbey-
church of Scone, in the year 850 (9): he also in-
closed it in a chair of wood, on which he caused to
be engraven the Leonine di'-tich Which we have
already clamed (10). Here all the Scottish Kings
were crowned upon it till the year 1296, when the
victorious Edward I. brought it to England, and
left it as an offering of conquest at the shrine of the
Confessor, wheue it is still preserved (11).
By •the Treaty of Northampton, in 1328, which
was confirmed by Parliament, it was agreed that the
stone should be returned to Scotland : and, for this
end, writs were issued by Edward 111. which, how-
ever, were never executed. After its arrival in Eng-
land, Edward I. caused it to be placed in a new
chair with a step, richly painted and adorned with
gilding. In the wardrobe account of that King,
under the year 1.500, are the sums which were then
laid out upon.it, amounting to Jel. 19s. 7d.—a con-
s'.derable expense in those days. In order to illustrate
the dignity of the relique, and to celebrate " the crested
pride of the First tiveard," a tablet was suspended
near the Chair, with the following inscriptioh :

1, Si quid habeat yeti vel cbronica cans hdesve
" Clauditur hac Cathedra nobilis ecce•
" Ad caput eximius Jacob quondam patriarcha
" Quern insult cemens numina mica poli :
1, Quem tulit cx Scotis spolians quasi victor honoris
Edwardus Primus, liars velut armipotens,
Seutorum domitor, noster validissimus Hector,
" Anglorum dents, et gloria militiz."
• Me, Aucle,ll. 111.

But this has long since shared the fate of many
§..lier written memorials with which the Abbey
abounded.

'the. Coronation Chair is of oak, of an architec-
tur-.1 2esign, and ornamented on the back and sides
with rows of pointed archCs, the form of which con-
f.l-ms the reported age of this venerable relique.
Some remains are yet to be seen of the painting
c.nd gilding with which it was once adorned. It is
in height about six feet seven inches, in depth 24.
inches, and the width of the seat, withinside, is 28
inches. At nine inches from the groundtis a frame
to support the Stone, upon the surface of which is
'the seat. - The block appears to be of a reddish sand-
stone, and at each end a short iron chain is fastened
in it; but these are nearly concealed by the wood-
weak. The lover of antient art must .regret that so
beautiful a fabric should Ise exposed to external in-
jitry as well as decay, and must wish, if possible, thati
the Chair of King Edward might rather, be restored '
1;; its original styleof decoration, than concealed (as
the custom' bath been at the time of Coronations) by
a covering even pi cbecichest material.
Another -Chair, in imitation of that above de-
scribed, was made for the Queen of William 111.
and is kept in the same place.
4,1.1 Of this Qatheltits a Inn termite may be found in Hal-
ittslars Hintoris cia-Wettd. lie is thire said to be a Greek,
the P.e*ne of Cecrops who budded tbt aide of Athens." Lear.;
erg Cerseee, tte-reqided ore Arpt, and mulled Bents,
the daughter uf King rintrach ; but behig alarmed a: the de-

nunclations of Mows, who was then in the land of /Egypt, he
sailed with many 'followers and landed in . Spain. where he
builded a citie which he named Brigands:, now COmpoetellar
After much oppoAtion from the native Spa:list*. the historian
relates, " that GaiSelus hailing peace with hi•.; esillitlaora sat 'port
hiemarble stone in Brigantia, where he game lawrs, and oil.
nistred iustice veto his people. thereby to Mainteine them in
wealth and quietnesse. This stone was in fashion like a seat or
chaise, hauing such a fatal! destinie, as the Scots say, following
it, that wheresoeuer it should be found, there should the Seotish-
men reigne and haue the supreme governance. Hereof it came
to passe, that first in Spaine, after in Ireland, and then in Scot-
land, the. Kings which ruled ouer the Scotishmen receiued the
Crowße sitting vpnn that stone, vntill the time of Robert the First
King of Scotland."—Hoi:asted, Kist. of Scotland, ( Uathcluv.
42) tan not the gentle reader be amazed at the travels of our
:garble Seat ; in the Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester
he may read how the massy pillars of Stonehenge were conveyed
not only from Ireland to their present'site, but froth the furthest
parts of Africa to the hill of Kildar !
(5) History If the Druids, p. 104.
(4) The Irish pretend to have records concerning it for two
thousand years, and say that it was brought into their Island by
the colony of Math-de-Dr:ann. The virtues of the stone were
described in the Bonk of linallt.—Tolard /sc. cit. See Sir J.
Ware's Anti?. of Ireland, by Harris, ii. pp. 10. 124: also Ver-
dun Scoli-Chron. c:27.

(5) " The race of Scots of the true blood, if the prophecy be
not false., unless they possess th: Stone of Fate, shall fail to ob-
tain regal power,' Dr. liorlts.:, avlti other Celtic schdlarf, jodg-1
ing from the metre, say that these lines are not improbably of
Druid original.—See Anti?. of C '-wall, p. 135.
(6) B. iii. c. 9 ; the whole of which Chapter is devoted to the
history of this curious monument. See likewise the Croniklis If'
Scotland, by Hector fleece, D. i. c. 2. •
(7) This prophecy is said to have reconciled many of the Scot- ,
tish lotion to the Union with this•country !
(8) lifunimenia 'intern, vol. I. p. 118.
• (9) " King Kenneth, ' saith our historian ITnlinshed, " hauing
destroied the Pictish Kingdoms, caused the Marble Stone
(which Simon Breke sometime broug;ht out of Spaine into Ire-
land, and the first Fergose nut of Ireland into Albion, as before
is recited) to be brought now foorth of Argile (where till that
time it bad . beetle diligentlie kept) into Gourie, which region
before apperteined to the I'icts, there to moraine from thence-
foorth as a sacred token for th' establishment ob the Icotish
Kingdoms in that puntrie he placed it at Scone upon a raised
plot of ground. there, bicause that the last hattell which he had
with the Picts was fought ucare veto the same place."—/iist. of
Scalland (Kenneth).
(10) Mr. Pennant, in his Tyur to the licbrifin 409), has
published an Engraving of an a:aient Ivory Carving, found in
the ruins of Dunstatluage, repreteuting a King sitting in this
Chair, with a hook in his hand.
(11) " In this Chair," sank Hector Boece, " all Kingis of
Scotland war ay crownit quhil ye tyme of Kyng Robert Brim.
In quhais tyme besyde iirony ethic cruelteis done be Kyng Ed-
ward Lang Scbankis, the said Chia" co? blerbyll wee talkin be
Inglismen and brocht out of Saone to London and put in to'
Westmonistar, quhare•it remains to our dayis."—Cots. of Scot-
land, B. i. e. 2.
The fullovring authentic notice of the Stone is from the ward-
robe account of Edward I.
_ _

" Joealia rentanencia in fine aoni zrvijmi de jocalituts quo
fuerunt quondam reel' Scocie, inventis in castro de Edeneburgk
anno xxvto videlicet. Cipbus argenti, &c. Una,rsvita 'racy&
super quam reges &sale solebant eorotuui.“—Liier Quotidian its,
&c. 4to. p. 353. See alsoi Chalmers 's Colatlirsits, vol. i. p. 465.
Mr. Camden thus records the existence of the Stone in his
time :—a Quad guldens solium adhuc ih bac regii sepal!' say*.
tur, cum sun Jacobi, ut vocant, impositto.“—See Gentleman's
Meg. vol li. lit. -