[Footnote 18: 1 Sam. x. 10; xvi. 1; 1 Kings, xiv. 15; &c.] [Footnote 19: 1 Sam. xxvi. 9, 10.] [Footnote 20: Selden's Titles.] [Footnote 21: Marmion, 8vo. Note, p. 456.] No. 5. _The Royal Swords_ Are named, _Curtana_, or the Sword of Mercy; the Sword of Justice to the Spirituality; the Sword of Justice to the Temporality; and the Sword of State. Of these the last alone is actually used in the coronation, being that with which the king is girded after his anointing; the rest are only carried before him by certain great officers. But Curtana has been honoured with a proper name since the reign of Henry III., at whose coronation it was carried by the Earl of Chester[22]. It is a flat sword, without a point; looking to which circumstance, and to its being also entitled the Sword of Mercy, some etymologists have traced it to the Latin _curto_, to cut short; while other writers, among whom is the learned Mr. Taylor, would transfer our researches to the scenes of ancient chivalry, and the exploits of Oger the Dane, or Orlando, as affording the title to this appendage of the monarchy, "The sword of Tristan," says this writer, "is found (ubi lapsus!) among the regalia of king John; and that of Charlemagne, _Joyeuse_, was preserved to grace the coronations of the kings of France. The adoption of these titles was, indeed, perfectly consonant with the taste and feeling of those ages, in which the gests of chivalry were the favourite theme of oral and historical celebration; and when the names of _Durlindana_, of _Curtein_, or _Escalibere_, would nerve the warrior's arm with a new and nobler energy[23]." The Sword of Justice to the Spirituality is _obtuse_, that of Justice to the Temporality _sharp_ at the point. "Henry VIII.," says a writer in a respectable periodical publication for July, "seems to have exercised his taste in endeavouring to abolish this discrepancy." FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 22: "Comite Cestriae gladium S. Edwardi, qui _Curtein_ dicetur, ante regem bagulante," &c.] [Footnote 23: Glory of Regality, p. 73, 4.] No. 6. _Of the Ring, Spurs, and Orb; and St. Edward's Staff._ In the book of Genesis we read of Pharaoh's ring being given by him to Joseph, as a method of investing him with power: and thus the Persian monarch Ahasuerus transferred his authority to Haman and to Mordecai[24]. What is added in the Scripture narration of one of these latter cases will illustrate the significancy of this mode of investiture. "Then were the king's scribes called, on the thirteenth day of the first month; and there was written according to all that Haman commanded unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors that were over every province--to every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and _sealed_ with the king's ring."