The first thing we observed on having entered the Hall, was the canopy
which was to be borne over the King by the barons of the Cinque Ports.
The canopy was yellow;--of silk and gold embroidery, with short curtains
of muslin spangled with gold. Eight bearers having fixed the poles by
which the canopy was supported, which were of steel (apparently), with
silver knobs, bore it up and down the Hall, to practise the mode of
carrying it in procession. It was then deposited at the upper end of the
side table of the Hall, to the left of the throne. The canopy was not
very elegant in form, and did not seem very well calculated to add to
the effect of the procession. But even at this early hour the
appearance of the Hall, studded with groups of gentlemen pensioners, and
various other attendants, in their fantastic and antique costumes, with
the officers of the guards, and others, in military uniform, and, above
all, the elegantly dressed women who began to fill the galleries, was
altogether superb. At this time there were several hundreds of
spectators in the Hall.
The sides of the upper end of the Hall, including the boxes for the
foreign ministers and royal family, were hung with scarlet cloth, edged
with gold.
The throne was splendid with gold and crimson; the canopy over the
throne was of crimson and gold, with the royal arms in embroidery. The
large square table before the throne, intended for the display of the
regalia, was of purple, having a rim of gold, and an interior square
moulding of the same description, about two feet from the edge. The
platform on which the throne was placed, and the three steps immediately
descending from it, were covered with brown carpeting; the two other
descending flights of steps, and the double chairs, placed by the side
of the tables for the peers (with the names of their future occupiers),
and the coverings of the railings in front of the seats, were of morone
cloth. From the bottom of the steps, descending from the throne to the
north gate, the middle of the floor of the Hall was covered with blue
cloth, in the same manner as the platform without. The rest of the floor
and the seats were matted. The side tables were covered with green
cloth; and as on each side, the galleries reached nearly to the top of
the windows in the wall, only the upper arches of those windows, and the
noble roof of the old fabric appeared, except at each end, the upper one
especially, where the grave visages of the Saxon kings, newly decorated,
made their appearance. The light, which was only admitted from the roof
windows, and from those in each end, though sober, was, on the whole,
good. At the lower end the attendants of the earl marshal attracted some
notice by their dark dresses, with white sashes, stockings, shoes with
large rosettes, and Queen Elizabeth ruffs, with gilt staves tipped with
black. At a quarter after seven o'clock an attendant, habited in the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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