The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-13
VICTORIA FIFTY YEARS AGO.
The Coronation Ring Too Tight and the
Royal Orb TOO Heavy.

Royal Orb 100 Heavy.
Perhaps the best rem picture of Queen
victoria's coronation fifty years ago was
drawn by Gu rles Greville; certainly 1t
contains many little touches which escaped
the reporters of the day. His description
Of the poor little queenling, distracted and
worried for want OF proper direction as to
the ceremony, is very entertaining and not
without pathos. 1t has been recently re-
printed, just as 1t was written forty-seVen
years ago.
THE coronation (which, thank God, is
over went Off very well. The day was fine,
without heat or rain-the 1nnumerable
multitude which thronged the streets orderly
aud satisfied. The appearance of the abbey
was beautiful, particularly the benches OF
the peeresseS, who wee blazing with dia-
monds. The entry of Soult was striking.
he was saluted with a murmnr of curl sity
and applause as he passed through the nave
and nearly the same as he advanced along
the choir. His appearance is that OF vet
eran warrior, and be walked alone with MS
numerous suit following at a respectful
distance, preceded by heralds and ushers,
who received him with marked attention.
more, certainly, than any of the other am
basSadors. The queen looked verv dlmlnu-
tive, and the effect of the procession Itself
was spoilt by being too crowded; there was
not interval enough between the queen and
the lords and Others going before her. he
bishop of London (B.omiield) preached
very good sermon
The different actors in the ceremonial
were very imperfect in their parts and had
neglected to rehearse them. Lori John
Thyme, who OBLIGATED for the dean of
estminster, told me that nobody knew
what was to be done, except the al chb shop
himself, who had rehearsed; Lord Will
loughby, who is experienced in these mat
ters, and the duke of wellington, aud
consequently there was a continual difficulty
and embarrassment and the queen never
knew what she was to do next. They m de
her leave her chair and enter into st. Ed
wards chapel before the prayers were con-
cluded, much to the discontinue of tho
| archbiship. She said to Lord john Thyme:
| Pray, tell me what | am 10 do for they
| don't know and at the end, when the orb
was put into her hand, she said to him:
What am l to do with it Your majesty
| is to carry it, il you please, III your hand
Am | 2 she said, 1T is very heavy
''The ruby ring was made for her little
finger instead of her fourth, on which the
rubic prescribes that it should be put.
When the archbishop was to put it on she
extended the former, but he said it must be
Oh the latter. She said it was too small,
and she could not get it on He said it was
right to put it there and, as he insisted she
Ylclutu, bub utu liEol W Utlho OlI LtI OInSl
rings, and then this was forced on, but it
hurt her very much, and as soon as the
ceremony was over she was obliged to
batho her finger in iced water in order to
get it off. The noise and confusion were
very great when the medals were thrown
about by Lord Surrey, everybody scram-
Ling with all their might and main to get
them, and none more vigorously than the
maids of honor
tpVbara -
plause when the2Iukc of Wellington did
homage. Lord Role, who is between so
and 90, fell down as he was getting up the
steps of the throne. Her first impulse was
to rise, and when afterward he came again
to do homage she said: May not get up
and meet nimn and then rose from the
throne and advanced down one or two of
| the steps to prevent his coming up-au act
| OF graciousness and kindness which made
great sensation. Tine queen sent IN the
| evening to inquire after Lord Rolle). 1t is,
| in fact, the remarkable union of naivete,
| kindness, good nature, with propriety and
| dignity, which makes her so admirable and
| so endearing to those about her, as she GER
tainly is. have been repeatedly told that
| they are all warmly attached to her, but
that all feel the impoS iibility of for
moment losing sight OF the respect which
they owe her. Sic never CEASES to be
| queen, but is always the most charming,
cheerful, obiging, unaffected queen in the
world. -
''The procession was very handsome, and
| the extraordinary ambassadors produced
some gorgeous equipages This sort OF pro
cession is incomparably better than the old
ceremonial, which so much fuss was made
| about, for the banquet would only have
benefited the privileged few ami rich, and
for one person who would have witnessed
| the procession on the platform 500 enjoyed
a sight of this In fact, the thing best
| worth seeing was the town itself, and the
countless multitudes through which the
procession passed. The chancellor of the
i, exchequer told me that he had been in
| formed 9300, 900 had been paid for seats
alone, and the number of people who have
fiocSed into London has been estimated at
| 100000. 1t is said that ,000, 900 have had
a sight OF the show one way or another
These numbers are possibly exaggerated,
but they really were prodiSious.
"From Buckingham palace to West
minister abbey, by the way they took, which
must be two or three miles in length, there
benches were all full, every window was
occupied, the roofs of the houses were COW
cred with spectators, for the most part well
| dressed, ana from the great space through
which they were distributed there was no
| extraordinary pressure, and consequently
| no room for violence or iii humor. In the
evening met Prince Esterhasy, and asked
him what the foreigners said. He replied
that they admired it all very much. Strogo-
nof ana the others don't like you, but they
feel it, and it makes a great impression on
them; in fact, nothing can be seen like it in
any other country. went into the park,
where the fair Is going on; vast multitude,
| but all of the lower orders, not very anus
ing. The great merit of this coronation is
that so much has been done for the people
to amuse and interest them seems to have
been the principal object.