The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-15
BRITISH CORONATION
SCHEME TO REVIVE THE ROYAL PROGRESS FROM THE TOWER.
Custom Three Hundred Years Ago Ran Red and White Wine. "The Passage of
 Elizabeth"

London Mail.
 Even thousands of pounds will not buy | seat in the Abbey at the Kings cor onation next June. To say that hun dred out of every million of his subjects will achieve a place within that sacred edifice is probably to place the favored percenta ge far too high. For most the streets will be the only point of view obtainable, and a very restricted point at that. if the coronation procession fol- lows in shortness of route the examples set by His Majesty's predecessors. Queen Victoria's procession went from Buckingham Palace to the west door of
 Even so far back as i7si. when George | III. was crowned. the route lay merely between St. James's and Westminster Hall and the Abbey.
 True, we hear rumors- of much more | generous arrangements The precedent | of the Jubilee, it Is stated, Is to be fol- ] lowed. There will be two processions. | so on.
 But there Is a more ancient custom. | long since fallen into desuetude. which sequences-that is, the royal progress from the Tower to Westminster. usually | on the day preceding the actual coro-
 space of 300 years--that is, from the reign | of Richard II. to the reign of Charles H.. | who 'dned'' at g o'clock in the morning
 and spent the rest of the day showing himself to his people.
 | The description of the first such royal progress. that of Richard 1T. on July | Is. 1877. is calculated to make later and
 more prosaic generations envious. The | young sovereign. clothed in white robes, | rode forth. attended by a multitude of
 nobles, knights and esauires; the con | duits in the streets flowed with wine.
 and at the principal thoroughfares the l procession was delayed to witness the
 exhibition of pageants. The Goldsmiths
 Company. in particular. shone in i., this hope that the Guild will emulate its ex-
 emple of 1877, when it erected castle | at the upper end of Cheap. with fou, | towers. on two sides of which ran wine. In these towers four beautiful damsels, | with white vestures. blew on the Kings face leaves of gold. and threw before
 fiorins-an offense in itself against tn laws regulating the coinage. When Rich
 ard reached the castle the four young
 ladies took cups of gold. and filling them
 presented the same to the King and his
 nobles. On the top of the castle. be-
 tween the towers. stood golden angel,
 holding a crown in his hand and so con
 trived that, when the King came,
 angel bowed down and gave him {
 crown.
 The gratuitous circulation of alcoh.
 beverages on these occasions would seer
 to have made most impression on the
 old chroniclers
 Thus Froissart. in his account of the progress
 of Henry IV-the welcome Roinsbroker of
 Shakespeare-relates how the Duke of Lancas
 ner. rsa e,1 on his his return return to Westminster He was
 bareheaded and had around his neck the Or
 der of the King of France; His dress com !,
 cloth of gold. white hose with blue garter
 on his left leg. Mounted on a white horse: | and accompanied by the Prince of Wales and
 a multitude of horsemen CDukes. nobles. an
 their servants. and the different companies of
 the new King passed through the streets of
 London. which were all handsomely decorated
 were nine fountains in Cheapside and other | streets he passed through which perpetually
 ran with white and red wines.
 | The Goldsmiths are to the fore again when
 1t comes to the progress of Henry VIu. ani
 Catharine of Aras1n: the rst Of ,o1 hif Tu,ti, barred the one side. from Gracechurch to Bread Street in Cheapsde. where every oc- equation stode in their liveries of ordre be } ginnyng with base and meane occupations, } and so aseendyng to the worshipful crafts Ih I aldermen" The goldsmths' stalls. at the end of Old Change 'beeing replenshed with vir-
 gins in white. with braunches of white waxe.
 At Edward WIS progress an attempt was made to amuse this poor litle lad of ten. In . tation of Valentine and Orson''-a younger = generation car remember 1t at Drmy Lane moi
 80 many thy years ag9was 1 GiVep th i9 GneapS'ge ' | eral Sciences, who "declared certain goodlS ! speeches. for the edihcation of the young | King. Various other allegorical personages s harangued him by the way.
 e But the grandest of them all "The I | = Quene Elizabeth" through the City of Londor n to Westminster, on Saturday, Jan. 3. 1858 n the day before her coronation.
 Her Majesty entered the City. drawn in . sumptuous chariot preceded by trumpeters ir
 | scarlet gowns and heralds in their coat armor She was surrounded by the principal nobilf, l and gentlemen of the realm. and attended bl
 vet, Along the streets were placed railing r covered with rich drapery, within which stoo' e in close ranks the Trades Companies bearinl . heads foated banners and pennons with loya s inscriptions in letters of gold. while festoon
 of rare neadlswork, cloth of gold, cmbroid e cred silks, and costly hangings were taste a fully arranged in awnings or suspended iron
 The Queen was enthusiastically greeted ol - her leaving the Tower. On approachn d Fenchurch Street she was saluted by strain a of merry music and a beautiful child sta r tioned on a sort of triumphal arch bade he e neither better nor worse than the iiteratur @ that adorns similar national festivals at tn Il present day. There was another stop present. IT in Gratious CGrac achurCh) Street, where if number of children were arranged upon al It arch in series of "tableaux vivants," to Il . lustrate the Queens ancestry. Henry VIII. be y ing represented as side by side with Ann Bo r leyn More symbolical arches delayed tn g Queen on her way to the Standard in Cheap h side. Here band of musicians were statiDne IS to mark. doubt. the termination of the pro
 streets all the way from Fenchurch Street
 The Aldermen and Recorder of the City a
 this point presented her Majesty with an em
 broidered crimson purse containing thousan
 marks in gold
 IS One more arch, and we must leave thl If tale of the richest progress any English sov h ereign has made. At the little Conduit " was allegorical device which displayed i S | lively contrast the images of q decayed an S of a lourshing republic. From cave be e heath the pictorial representa- issued fort IL an old man with wings and scythe. conduct a ing a young female arrayed in spotless white le who held book in her hand on which wa B. written in Latin, "The Word of Truth" He m | Majesty asked the name of the old man. an ir | some one answered Time " Time" repeat nH nH ed the Queen. "and time has brought m V | here" And time has taken her away but nc .e the might of the great England which sh T. helped to mold through the spacious years - her most memorable reign.
 ne So the ceremony continued until 1t came If the turn of James IL. who. having ordere ie an estimate to be made of the cost of such ,o procession. and found 1t would amount o about half as much he meant to spend i q; covering his wife with trinkets decided tha T the Progress should be discontinued. Mor a than a hundred thousand pounds was laid ou b. in dressing the Queen, and the procession frof n. the Tower omitted. That fifty thousan as pounds, spent and not saved might conceiN ia ably have preserved his throne.
 ir Shooting the Hat"
 I- Shooting the hat" Is custom whic O. prevails during the fall festivities in Ne VI orleans The hat is always straw an DO i+ ie sbot ou the date when in the ger