Palace and Hovel; Or, Phases of London LifeKirwan, Daniel Joseph
History
Palace and Hovel; Or, Phases of London Life
Kirwan, Daniel Joseph
London (England) -- Description and travel; London (England) -- Social life and customs
Thus admonished, they with one voice exclaimed, "God save Charles, our
King." In the adjoining hall, Oliver Cromwell was inaugurated Lord
Protector of England, with a quiet ceremonial, attended by ushers, life
guards, State coaches, the Long Parliament, and several troops of horse.
When James II was crowned, the Royal bauble tottered on his head, and
this was supposed to be a prophetic omen of ill luck.
When George III was made King, with great pomp and circumstance, there
was present, unknown to the crowd, a young man who must have witnessed
the placing of the Golden Circlet on the brow of this fat, Hanoverian
Prince, with strange emotions. He could have said with truth, "My place
should have been by that chair; my father should have been sitting in
it," for it was the young Pretender, Charles Stuart; the last of his
royal and unfortunate race.
At all the late Coronations, the magnificent pomp and ceremonial
of the Middle Ages have been omitted, and the last time that these
Ceremonies were carried out was at the Coronation of George IV, when
the Celebration was a very fine one.
The wood-work of the Choir was removed and boxes erected, affording
an uninterrupted view of the Nave and Chancel, showing the Peers and
Peeresses in all their magnificence of robes, of satins and silks,
and head-dresses of feathers and diamonds. To these were added the
brilliantly illuminated surcoats of the Heralds and Kings-at-arms,
while the King himself sat in the royal Chair of State, which is over
two thousand years old, and there received homage from the great
officers of State, and Peers of the Realm, the Crown on his head and
Sceptre in his hand, the Garter and George around his neck, and the
velvet robes enfolding his body, which was then scorbutic from disease
and dissipation.
The challenge of the Champion of England was at this ceremony delivered
for the last time. After the banquet was over, at which seventeen
thousand pounds of meat, three thousand fowls, one thousand dozen of
wine, ten thousand plates, and seventeen thousand knives and forks,
were among the items, came the challenge to all who dared to dispute
the right of George to the throne of England.
It was an imposing sight, as the Duke of Wellington, with his Ducal
Coronet ornamented with strawberry leaves, on his head, and in his
flowing Peer's robes walked down the hall, cheered by the officers of
the Life Guards, who were present. He shortly afterwards returned,
mounted, and accompanied by the Marquis of Anglesey, the one-legged
cavalry officer of Waterloo, and Howard, Duke of Norfolk, the
Hereditary Earl Marshal of England.
[Sidenote: THE BANQUET AND CHALLENGE.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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