Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-05
KINGS INVEST|TURE
Notable Ceremony Held at
Buckingham Palace.
LITERARY MEMS FEAST
HALL GAINES DISCOURSE AT NEW
vAGABoND, CLUB DINNER.
Hawkers and Their Novel Wares q,
Observation-Disclosures Recalls
Tradesmen's Quarrel.

LONDON, December %, 1904.
The king held an investiture on Monday
at Buckingham Palace at which a number
of gentlemen received honors at the hands
of their sovereign. The ceremony is an in
teresting one and since King Edward came
to the throne, though it said that
fewer honors would be given, the wheels
of the title and decoration mill have turned
faster than ever.
For the three years, from 1901 to 1908,
fourteen peerages and forty-nine baronet-
cies were created, 573 persons received
knighthoods, and no fewer than 2.S70 per-
sons were made companions Of various Or
ders, and these figures do not take account
of the innumerable promotions which have
taken place in the same period. The great
majority of these 3.443 knights and COM
panions were personally invested by the
sovereign. The ceremony is very rarely
performed by deputy.
An investiture Is not like court, or
levee, or drawing room, where the sover-
eign has little or nothing to do himself.
Each new knight has to be invested with
the insignia of the order conferred upon
him. the riband being fastened obliquely
across his manly bosom. 1t must be re-
membered, too, that 1t is King Edwards
custom, in performing this ceremony, to
new knight, especially if he is personally
known to his majesty. In fact, it is prob
able that no one works harder at an in
vestiture than the king himself. The great
officers of state, such as the lord steward
and the lord chamberlain, the master of
the horse, the master the controller and
the treasurer of the household, well as
gold stick and silver stick, and the quaint
ly named field officer in brigade waiting.
have not much to do except to wear their
picturesque costumes Colonel Douglas
Dawson, as the gink's master of the cere-
monies, is responsible for the general con-
duct of the function, and the officials of
the various orders of knighthood have
their part to perform in looking each after
his particular little flock of new-made
knights and companions.
The guard on duty, respondent in their
brass helmets and white plumes in the
throne room, where the investiture takes
place, is the honorable corps of gentlemen
alarms, who have guarded the person of
the sovereign for nearly 400 years. They
will not thank you if you confuse them
with the Beefeaters, Yeomen of the
stoned officers. The gentlemen-at-arms
number forty retired officers of the army
or marines, of unstained honor and valor,
who must have at least two medals, and
a distinguished record of service.
The throne room in Buckingham Palace
is a finely proportional chamber about six
ty feet by thirty-fve feet. Apart from the
throne ITSELF which is a splendid but I'M
vet, surmounted by an enormous canopy
hung with the same material, the room is
chiefly notable for two chimneypieces Of
sculptured marble, some turquoise blue
Sevres vases, portraits of Hanoverian
princes and prncesses by Zoffany and other
painters, and curious tortoiseshell clock,
which furnishes astronomical information
as we'll as the time of the day.
The actual investiture of knights is now
adays shorn of much of the picturesque old
ceremonial. In the case of Knights of the
Garter and the Thistle, who should, ac-
cording to the statutes, be invested in full
pensed with by royal warrant; indeed no
Chapter of the Garter has been held since
Louis Philippe was admitted to the order.
Knights of st. Patrick, however are regu-
larly invested with much pomp and cir
cumstance at Dublin Castle
But Mondays ceremony was concerned
with the less eminent orders, and in these al
SO the ancient observances have been neceS-
sarily good deal modified. No longer
have the eminent but elderly persons who
receive knighthoods of the Bath to undergo
the ordeal of special bathing and of keep
ing lonely vigil over their arms in some
consecrated fame. The king confers the
honor of knighthood in the usual way with
a blunt word-.Rise, Sir John''-and then
invests the knight with the riband and
badge of the order, and affixes the star TO
his left breast. The full dress of the cr-
Gers, consisting of mantle, surcoat, under
habit and cap, is not worn at investitures,
out Iuli-QTeSS UNIFORM IS, Oh course, WOTjl
by officers of the navy and army. The
riband of the Bath is of crimson silk, that of
ST. Michael and ST George Saxon blue, with
a scarlet stripe; that of the Star of India
light blue. edged with white; that of the
Indian Empire imperial blue. The badges
and stars, enameled and jeweled, are OF
various patterns, which it would be tedious
to enumerate.
But the mere millinery of an investi-
ture is subordinated to the human interest.
OF course the variety of uniforms makes
a brave show, but to the considering mind
il is the people inside them that count.
Here you see a boyish subaltern, whose
pink complexion has suffered from tropical
suns, side by side with grizzled High
land chieftain. There, again, is savant
of European fame emerged from his be-
loved laboratory and looking as uncom-
Portable an owl in the daylight, col
lcoung with a brown sailor from the Pa
cific squadron. These stand out from or
are set off by, the throng of carpet knights
from the shady side of Pail Mall, cou1-
try gentlemen in yeomanry military