Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1902-06-27
GROWING OF EDWARD
Description of Chair Ensland's
King VIII Sit On.
NEARLY SEVEN FEET II HEIGHT.

NEARLY SEVEN thbI II hL4SAl'
Made by order of Edward !. 10 Hold
the stone of Destiny on which
scotInnd's sovereigns Used ca sis
when commandments About the
stone-Chair Is Made of solid Oak.
The coronation chair on which the
sovereigns of England sit when the,
are crowned and which will be used
by the present king is often called ST.
Edwards chair out of respect TO the
Confessor, near whose shrine in West
minister abbey it usually stands. says
the New York World. Ii was made
by order of Edward |. TO hold the
coronation stone, or stone of destiny,
on which the Scottish kings used TO
sit when they were crowned and which
stone Edward |. captured and sent To
Westminster in the year l296. The
chair is made of solid oak, the parts
being pinned together, and is still
firm and sound, though much disiig-
urcd by wanton mutations us well as
by the hand of time. The whole chair
was originally gilded and covered with
ornamental work, much of which may
yet be distinguished upon close in
spection. At each coronation ii is COW
cred with cloth of gold or tissue and Is
disfigured with the nails, tacks and
brass pins that have been used to
fasten the coverings.
The chairs dimensions are as fol
lows: Entire height, q feet o inches;
breadth at the bottom, 3 feet > inches;
width at the bottom, = feet; breadth OF
the seat, feet inches; depth of the
seat, foot & inches.
At the coronation ceremony the chair
is brought out of St Edwards chapel
and placed before the altar in the east
ern limb of the abbey church. Except
Mary l., who was crowned in a chair
that was sent to England by the pope,
all the sovereigns of England begin
ming with Edward H., have sat in this
chair at their coronations. On the oc-
caSion of the installation of Oliver
Cromwell the chair was brought into
Westminster hall, and this was the
only time it ever left the abbey since
it was made by Master Walter in or
about the year 1897.
The chair owes its importance to
the stone called the stone of destiny,
which it was made to preserve and
which rests under its seat on kind
of middle frame supported by fouI
crouching lions on bottom frame OF
plinth. This stone was placed in the
abbey of Scone, in the county of Perth
in the year $50 by King Kenneth, who
is said to have caused to be inscribed
on it in Gaelic an ancient prophecy t.
this effect:
If fate speak sooth, where'er this stone i,
found
The Scots shall monarchs of that realm b,
crownd.
A prophecy to this effect was un
doubtedly eXtant long before the tim,
of King Kenneth, and the belief in i
is said to have reconciled many Scot
fish people to the union of Scotlan(
and England. The kings of Scotland
We're unquestionably crowned 70
some centuries while sitting on Thu
stone in the abbey of Scone Blu
whence did it come originally?
According to one account, it is TIT
identical stone upon which the patri
arch Jacob laid his head on the plains
of Luz when he had the vision of thu
angels ascending and descending TIN
ladder that reached to heaven. Som
say that it found its way from tn
land of Luz to Egypt, that from
Egypt it was taken to Spain by &c
thalus, the son of Cecrops, a viii,
young man who, having been banishe'
to Egypt from Athens by his father
married Scotia (hence the words Scot
land and Scottish, the daughter o
Pharaoh, and fled from the plague
with her from Spain, they taking tn
stone with them. From Spain it wa
taken to Ireland and thence to Scot
land by their descendants.
Others say that from the plains O
Luz it was taken to the temple of Jerr
salem, thence to the shores of Asi
Minor and thence direct by sea to Ire
land. The earliest documentary ALT
sion to the stone as having been tina
used as a pillow by Jacob occurs in
work called 'Processus Baldredi Coz
ira Figmenta Regis Anglie," whic
was compiled in 1901.
Another legend says that it was tai
en- to Ireland from Denmark by til
Tuatha de Dannaans an ancient Iris
people The Irish historians deny thu
the liza fail (stone of destiny on whic
the Irish kings were crowned has eve
left Ireland and maintain that it sti
stands proudly at the head of the rel
els grave on Tara hill.
The biologists rudely say that Il
stone is certainly of Scottish origi
and that it was probably quarrie
there good many hundred years ag
A War Memorial at Cape Town.
III; -