Morris tribune., 1885-12-02
In Windsor Castle.

The queen of England's finest resi-
dence is Windsor castle. In fact, in
telligent Londoners often said to me
that Buckingham palace was a miser'
able old rat-trap, not fit for Victoria
and her family to live in, while they
were as ready to declare that Windsor
castle was the finest royal palace in the
world. The queen spends large por'
ton of the year at Windsor, and there
she transacts large proportion Of
that formal yet mainly rather amusing
ly useless court business, the details OF
which are daily paraded in The Cour'
Journal. These remarks are mostly
quite familiar to average readers, yet
one or two curious illustrations of the
point in hand are too singular to be
omitted.
Here, for instance, is The Court CIR
cuIar for a day in early spring. In it
this item: The sheriff of Lancashire, at
a private audience which the queen
gave the chancellor of the duchy OF
Lancaster, was pricked by the queen.
The sherifts for England and Wales
were pricked by her majesty at the
council on Thursday last, the 5th inst.
and not after it, as stated in The Court
Circular for that date.
Now what does all this mean? The
explanation is simply this: Every year
the judges of assizes make return to
the queen of three persons for every
county in England, from whom she is
to select one to serve as sheriff of each
county.
When these names, written upon a
sheet of paper, are presented to the
queen, she takes in her fingers pin
and sticks it through one of them, being
thus supposed to indicate her choice =
to make her selection.
The old phrase of 'stick a pin there, "
in such common use in New England,
must have taken its origin in this very
ancient royal custom OF making q Sc
lection which l have just described.
But the pin-sticking of the queen at
Windsor is, of course, a mere meaning
less form; for all the appointments of
the officers whom she is supposed to
select are settled upon by the govern
ment before being submitted to her.
There is another and more lifting use
of q pin which the queen sometimes
makes. When officers or soldiers have
particularly distinguished themselves in
the field decorations are often bestowed
upon them. Aud in such cases the
heroes are sometimes summoned to the
palace of the queen and personally re-
ceived and Hospitality entertained by
her. Then, in her presence, the SER
vices of the men are read over to her
majesty, after which she pins upon
their breasts with her own hands the
decorations granted to them. 1t is not
uncommon for such an audience as this
to close with i personal introduction
to the soldiers and members of the
household at Windsor, often including
the three little princesses of the palace,
the grandchildren of Victoria.
There are many other palace public
ceremonies which are of a somewhat
similar character to those l have been
describing. But l have space to men
ton only two more. When the govern
ment has made an appointment of
diplomatic representative. the minister
selected makes Il journey to the palace
of the queen before he goes forth as
her representative, and on his Bonded
knee kisses her hand in recognition of
the honor he has received.
The forms gone through at the palace
when an address of the queen is to be
presented to parliament are peculiar.
The ministry-the prime minister-pre-
pares the speech, and then the cabinet
makes a stately and most formal jour-
ney to Windsor for the purpose of read
ing the documents to her majesty.
After it has been read in her presence
it is supposed to become her speech
from the throne.-B0ston Commercial
Bulletin.