The Coronation of Edward I brings two very interesting things to our mind. These two things are, first, that Edward I was the King who brought the Stone of Scone from Scotland to England; and secondly, that it was he who ordered the present Coronation Chair to be made. This Coronation Chair, which was made in 1307 to contain the Stone of Scone, is perhaps the most precious thing in all the Abbey, excepting the Confessor’s shrine. Some beautiful old stories are told about the Stone of Scone. One of these stories says that it was the Stone on which Jacob laid his head in Bethel when he had the wonderful vision of angels ascending and descending on the ladder which reached from earth to heaven. The sons of Jacob are said to have taken this sacred stone with them into Egypt, whence it was carried in after years to Spain, and then to Ireland, where it was used at the coronations of the Irish Kings. It was placed on the sacred hill of Tara, and was called “Lia Fail,” or the “Stone of Destiny.” If a true King sat upon it to be crowned, the stone made a noise like thunder, but if the King elect was only a pretender the Stone was silent. One story tells us that the Stone was carried across from Ireland to Scotland about 330 B.C., by Fergus, the founder of the Scottish monarchy, and that it was placed, first at Dunstaffnage, and then at Iona. In A.D. 850 it was brought by Kenneth II to Scone, where it was enclosed in a wooden chair, as it now is at Westminster. The Kings of Scotland, from Malcolm IV to John Baliol, sat on the Stone to be crowned. Edward I himself is said to have been crowned King of Scotland on the Sacred Stone of Scone after he had defeated John Baliol at the Battle of Dunbar in 1296. Whether this was so or not, Edward I carried off the Stone and the Scottish Regalia to Westminster, and placed them near the Confessor’s shrine. In the last year of his reign Edward I ordered a chair to be made in which the Stone was to be enclosed, and in which the Kings of England were to sit to be crowned. In this very chair every English sovereign has been crowned, from Edward II to Edward VII. It has only once been taken out of the Abbey, and that was when it was taken into Westminster Hall for the inauguration of Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Realm on December 16th, 1653. In Edward III’s reign the Scots tried very hard to get the Stone back again, and the King, who wished to content them, very nearly allowed them to have it. But the people of London would not hear of such a thing, and, as an old writer says, “would not suffer the Stone to depart from themselves.”