On August 9th the great ceremony finally took place. Though shorn of some of the International splendour of the first arrangements and without some of the military and naval glory which would have then surrounded the event its Imperial significance was in some respects enhanced and there was a deeper note in the festivities and an even more enthusiastic tone in the cheering than would have been possible on the 26th of June. The solemn ceremony in the ancient Abbey--which had not been used or opened to the public since that final practice of the choir--was brilliant in all the colours and shadings and dresses and gems and uniforms of a Royal function while it presented that other and more sacred side which all the traditions and forms of the Coronation ceremony so clearly illustrate. The enthusiasm of the people in the streets can hardly be described but the spirit and thought and feeling were well summed up in the words of a Canadian poet--Jean Blewett: "Long live the King! Long live the King who hath for his own The strongest sceptre the world has known, The richest Crown and the highest Throne, The staunchest hearts, and the heritage Of a glorious past, whose every page Reads--loyalty, greatness, valour, might." The day opened with brilliant promise and bright sunshine, but became overcast and gloomy by the time the Royal progress from the Palace had commenced. The crowds gathered early, and soon every seat in the many stands were filled with expectant and interested people who numbered in the end fully half a million. Picked troops, chiefly Household Cavalry and Colonial and Indian soldiers of the King, to the number of 30,000, guarded the route, with a picturesque line of white, black, brown and yellow men of many countries and varied uniforms. When the King and Queen appeared in their gorgeous state coach from out the gates of Buckingham Palace they were greeted with tremendous cheers from the multitude, and these cheers continued all along the way to the Abbey. In the Royal procession were the Prince and Princess of Wales with thirty-one other members of the Royal family. The Princess was beautiful in a long Court mantle of purple velvet trimmed with bands of gold and a minever cape fastened with hooks of gold over a dress of white satin embroidered in gold and jewelled with diamonds and pearls. Then followed Lord Knollys and Lord Wolseley and Admiral Seymour, Lord Kitchener and General Gaselee and Lord Roberts, with many other notabilities. The Indian Maharajahs, who acted as Aides-de-Camp to the King, were brilliant in red and white and brown and blue and gold and jewels. Immediately in front of the King was the Royal escort of Princes and Equerries with a body of Colonial and Indian troops. The arrival at the Abbey was marked by great enthusiasm in the massed multitudes surrounding the famous building and seated in the crimson-covered stands which had been built on every side.