The next event of interest was the coronation. A council was held at St. James's to consider it, when the king made a request that the ceremonies might be short, and that all those not connected with the church might be dispensed with. His object was to make it less tedious and less expensive than the last, which had occupied the whole day, and cost two hundred and forty thousand pounds. Greville, who occupied a position in the council, gives an account of the queen's decision with regard to her crown. He says: "I rode to Windsor to settle with the queen what sort of a crown she would have. I was ushered into the king's presence; he was sitting at a red table in the sitting-room of George IV. looking over the flower-garden. He sent for the queen, who came with two ladies. She tried to be civil to me in her ungracious way, and said she would have none of our crowns, and asked me if I thought it was right that she should. I said, 'Madam, I can only say that the late king wore one at his coronation.' However, she said, 'I do not like it, and I have got jewels enough, so I will have them made up myself.' The king said to me, 'Very well; then _you_ will have to pay for the setting?' 'Oh, no,' replied the queen, 'I shall pay for it all myself.'" {295}When the estimates for the coronation were presented, they amounted to less than thirty-one thousand pounds, which was a moderate sum compared with similar preceding ceremonies. The king objected very seriously to being kissed on the cheek, as an act of homage, by the bishops, and ordered that part of the ceremony to be struck out; but it had been the custom for ages, and he had to give in, whether he liked it or no. The coronation was announced for September 8, and very extensive alterations were made in Westminster Abbey for the occasion. About forty private gentlemen acted as pages of the Earl-Marshal, attired in blue frock-coats, white breeches and stockings, crimson silk sashes, and small oddly-shaped hats, with black ostrich feathers. Each carried a gilt staff, bearing the arms of the Earl-Marshal, and it was his duty to conduct people provided with tickets to their proper seats. Shortly after five o'clock in the morning a royal salute was fired by the artillery stationed in the Green Park, and that was a signal for every one interested in the proceedings of the day to be on the move. At six the troops distributed themselves along the line of procession in St. James's Park. The members of the House of Commons, some in military, others in Highland costumes, had a covered platform all to themselves in Westminster Hall.