“It is impossible to say enough of the behaviour of the King.
During the procession his countenance expressed a benevolent joy
in the vast concourse of people and their loud acclamations, but
with not the least air of pride or insolent exultation. In the
religious offices his Majesty behaved with the greatest reverence
and deepest attention; he pronounced with earnest solemnity his
engagements to his people, and when he was to receive the Sacrament
he pulled off his crown. How happy that in the day of the greatest
worldly pomp and adorned with the ensigns of regal power he should
remember his duty to the King of Kings. The Archbishop pleased
much in the Coronation Service. I am indeed grieved at the heart
for Mrs. Chapone:[339] all calamities are light in comparison of
the loss of what one loves, uniquement; after that dear object
is lost the glories of the golden day are for ever overcast, and
there is no tranquillity under the silent moon, the soft and quiet
pleasures are over, business may employ and diversions amuse the
mind, but the _soul’s calm sunshine and the heartfelt joy_ can
never be regained. Mrs. Chapone has great virtues, and if she has
the Martyr’s sufferings will have the martyr’s reward.”
[339] _Née_ Hester Mulso, a friend of Mr. S. Richardson’s, and
authoress of “Letters on the Improvement of the Mind”; born 1727,
died 1801.
[Page heading: LADY POMFRET]
The following letter is from Lady Pomfret:--
“Richmond Hill, October 4, 1761.
“DEAR MADAM,
“The reason you give for my being deprived of the pleasure of a
visit from you before you left London doubles the mortification.
I was in hope Tunbridge had established your Health. The return
of my fever (which has left me but a few daies) was the cause
that I made no attempt to wait on you, the week you stayed after
the Coronation, and when I did found you had been gone the day
before; but soon after, Froissart and your letter informed me that
your goodness to me subsisted, in all the bustle of magnificence
and oppression of sickness, since you found time to read my old
Chronicle with my Lord Lyttelton, to whom, and to you, I know not
how to express my gratitude enough, but I really feel a great deal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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