The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-07-02 00:00:00

ON CORON477ONS.

[7q4rl THE NtW MONTHLY KAGAZIXI 701 MS.]

Now, noble peers, the cause why we are met.
Is to determine of the Coronation :
Whets is the royal day t—lttrnaso 111.
Of the imposing ceremony that is shortly to regale
all ryes, either through the more direct and favoured
theiliain of personal observation, or ingenuity of our
us-lista, and the descriptive powers of the public press,
we !hall not presume to set before our readers any thing
like a regular programme. It is for the conductors of
such a festival to furnish the proper bill of fare, in
or in quarto, as to the duty and dignity of the
several guests appertaineth. We only claim to have
l'een enjoying ourselves amongst the historical recipes
of former periods, and to furnish a whet to the public
appetite in the shape of a few light dishes, made up
from the copious records of the royal day which have
cons.. down to us.

And first gentle reader, let not miracles astound
thre—as contributing essentially to the dignity of
England's monarch on this occasion. He is enthroned
thou linowest, as a king ; but when thou shalt further
understand that be is anointed with " holy oil," as
" kings and propfiela were anointed ;" that is arrayed
at the time of his coronation, " as a bishop that should
sing maw'. with a dalmatic like a tunic, and a stole
:Jima his neck" (the latter, as some learned antique-
riii. affirm, " in imitation of that the high priests
hail. which they laid on the back of the sacrifice when
thet• ledd it to the alter;") and that every order of
bi,hop, priest, and deacon, is represented in one part
or other of hist • d vestments—what mortal canal
thou ~ttp:.ose to have miracles attend his steps if this
be nut He? According to our n.ost respectable chro-
niclers, one prugidy of this kind furnishes him with a
,ith.tatotial regal seat or coronation-chair; another
With the firm and manner, at least, of his anointing,
if Not %rah the identical I through which the
s3ere.l hnetion is poured ; while a third supplies " the
weddit:•r-ring of England" with which lie is married
.iyiet:to:NeAlly, to the state. As thus writeth Peter
tigt

" To William the cede king
la gyven the meow',
At V 6 estmynstere tok he ryng
In the abbey of Londoun.."
An lusts monarch, we are told, of very credible
n 'toe, i 1111 l ta lb. rip, brought from Spain the marble
sewt of that which will now be the chair of the United
kitl,,dom, (and no longer the " England's chair" of
Slial•speair, merely,) about 700 years before the
Fla:stoat' era ; having received it from a tired:, as '
Ifolit.slieJ says, (the tonne of ('errops, who buildeti
the .atie of Athens," and was contemporary with
16Iie-,s. It is the identical stone, it is added, on which
Jacob originally slept and " poured oil," at Bethel :
&Wool:ell it escaped the patriateli himself on his second
sisit to that place, and lie seems to have consecrated
another. We are quite sure that the identity and
Ira ilsin;ssion of this stone must be allowed to invoke
a so t ies of miracles, equal to any that were wrought at
•hrine of St. Thomas a Becket, who is deeply con-
e... red, however, with the next in order. The martyr,
e r I. now, was for a while sent into banishment by the
ais rilrquus prince, who afterwards instigated his
eii! pier. Ilere, at Sens in France, the blessed Virgin
is so to have appeared to him, while at his devotions,
aril to have presented him with a golden eagle and a
small vial of stone or glass ; assuring him of the happy
effects which would be produced upon those kings that
should be anointed with the oil it contained. These
vessels were afterwards brought to England, and de-
posited in the Tower, I ienry IV. being the first prince
'I he nag anointed with them. Happily, when the re•
giei !es destroyed the regalia there deposited, in the
crest rebellion. they left an inventory of what, " ac-
rordinge to older of Parliament," were " totallie
I.rolten and defaced," in which the sacred eagle is net
" a dove of gould, sett with stun..'
and pearle, in a box sett with studds of silver gilt,"
valned at ;Nil. We fear the sacred oil of King Clovis
has not been I. is irreverently treated by the regicides
of the Erenuli Revolution—although, according to
. Irnin, the Holy njoirit itself, " in the visible form of
a d0t...," brought it to the hands of the minister : and
it renr.ti.wil ever after undiminished, though constantly
used in th.: anointing of the French kings. for 900
yeurs. 'I Ile of " faith" and " kingly dignity"
lens received froal St. John the Evangelist, says the
blen Legends (.In!van Notary, I. 5113), through the
ii in.'s of Edward the Confessor. A certain favre
ill man ' asking alms of the king, he presented hint
v id. a ring, %%hid' he r. ceived with great thsukful-
vc,+. Shortly atter two English pilgrims lust their
..y in the Holy Land, when " there came to them a
fig r ancient man wvth nbvte heer for age. Thenne
the ol:le man axed thirsts; what they were and of what
te7yon. And they adswerde that they were pylgryws
of Fuglontl, and hadde lost theyre fellyshyp and way
Thenne thys olde man comforted theyin goodly,
and brought theyin in to a fayr cytee ; and whanne
limy had well refreshyd theym, and rested there stile
nvhte, on the morne, this favre olde MID weute with
tli..ym, and broughte theytu in the ryglit ways aq;syne.
And be was gladde to hear theyme talky of the wel-
layre and holynesse of theyre kynge Saynt Edward.
And n-han he shold departs fro they'll, thrum. lie tokie
them what he was, and sayd, I atm Johan the Erale•
y:st, and says ye unto Edward your kyng that 1
grete hym well by the token that he gait to me, tors
rynge, with hys one hinnies." Neinier again, reader,
is this or any other ring among " all the plate and
jeweils" destroyed by the regicides.
If from miracles we could descend to trace the Ida-
1-ry of the regalia, we should lis:cl amongst them some
very interesting memorials of the monarchy, and 4 f
the manners and policy of our ancestors. he Fatal
Stone is unquestionably a relic ot remote antiquity. It
is called by one learned person, " the antientest re-
spected monument in the world, for though some
others may be more autient es to duration, yet tints
superstitiously regarded they are not ;" and way be
traced, after the best authorities, to Ireland, from
*hence it had been brought into Argyleshire sometime
Lef ire the reign of Kenneth, or A. D. b3l. That
prince removed it to the abbey of Scone, wlte.e all the
Scottish Kings were crowned upon it until the year
1296, when our Edward I. brought it into England.
An Irish prophecy is still extant, and quoted by Mr.
Taylor, which, declares the possession ut this stone ne-
cessary to the p tion of the regal power of that
country ; and the Scottish prediction of similar impor.
is well known. It is remarkable that George IV. in
a...rialieg the thrJne of the I:Mica Kingdom, and as