QUEEN VICTORIA'S CORONATION

[Extracts from "The Spectator" of June 30th, 18381 HIS week has exhibited the amusing if not very edifying spectacle of a people possessed with one idea—in plain terms, coronation-mad. It was not so much an ebullition of loyalty as a sightseeing mania Queen-worship was only the proximate cause. John Bull seized on the present occasion—the weak part of his cranium is still the crown— to give himself a holyday ; and he set to work in his usual dogged style. The extent to which the excitement prevailed almost exceeds belief: London being the scene of the grand manifestation, showed the signs most strongly, but the whole land shared the hallucination ; and in proportion to the distance from the metropolis seems to have been the intensity of the fit. The rush of people to town was extra- ordinary : every channel of communication was choked up ; and this sudden determination of blood to the head occasioned the symptoms of giddiness and vertigo to which we have adverted."

"The preparations in the line of route for the procession were astonishing, considering the very ordinary materials of the pageant : which differed little from that on the occasion of the Queen going to the Parliament, except in having the addition of a train of Foreign Ambassadors. One would not imagine that the present was the third coronation that has taken place within eighteen years; and was no better as a sight than that of William the Fourth, which gave what is called such general dissatisfaction.' But now people thought, and even hoped, they might never see another. From Hyde Park Corner to the Abbey, the noise of hammers resounded the whole week long : one wondered where all the carpenters came from ; and the consumption of timber must have been enormous. Scarcely a house on the line but had a scaffolding in front, or its balcony shored up ; and every 'jetty, frieze or coigne of vantage,' was turned to account. The more wealthy and liberal nobility, and the clubs, erected seats for their friends, whom they entertained with dejeuners (pray don't call them breakfasts). Among the former, the Duke of Devonshire was conspicuous for the splendid scale and . completeness of his arrangements."

"The seats let for hire were, in general, sufficiently com- modious; and from St. James's Street to the Abbey, they were almost continuous—sometimes inside, but in most cases erected outside. Precautions were properly taken to have the erections inspected by surveyors, to test their security, and prevent them from projecting over the foot- path ; the taste was left to the speculators, who in general seem to have dispensed with that article, as a luxurious superfluity.. . . From ten to thirty shillings was the price of a sitting, and in some instances good places bore a premium. Tickets for the interior of the Abbey were offered and bought on the eve of the ceremony at twe,nty guineas, and even more: there were a great many sellers, however; and either the tickets were forged, or they must have been for the nave of the Abbey, where only the procession entering and returning could be seen. The Earl Marshal apprized the public of the fact that counterfeits were abroad, and the holders would-be not merely stopped, but given into custody."

"The cheering during the progress of the pageant was by no means uproarious; the most remarkable characteristic of the whole affair, indeed, was the absence of all enthusiasm. As the Queen passed, the agitation of white cambric and black felt was seen along the line, and hearty were the greetings of many to their young Queen : but the occasion did not call forth any extraordinary manifestation of public feeling or loyal fervour. The Dutchess of Kent and the Duke of Sussex were the most cheered ; but all the Royal party were respectfully recognized."

"As the Queen advanced slowly towards the centre of the choir, she was received with hearty plaudits ; the anthem 'I was glad' being sung by the musicians. At the close of the anthem, the Westminster boys (who occupied seats at the extremity of the lower galleries on the northern and southern sides of the choir) screeched out at the top.of their tuneless voices a kind of chant, Vivat Victoria Regina.' The Queen moved towards a chair placed midway between the chair of homage and the altar, on the carpeted space before described, and which is appropriately called the Theatre.' Here she knelt down on a faldstool set for her before her chair, and used some private prayers.' She then took her seat in the chair; and the ceremonial proceeded."

"As Prince Esterhazy walked up to his place, a good scene occurred. All the Bishops clustered round him, and gloated on the wealth which his diamond-covered dress so profusely displayed. The Bishop of Exeter, who was engaged at the moment in making his obeisance to some great man on the other side of the Abbey, was so eager to be near the glittering Ambassador, and so zealous in his divided devotion to English rank on one side and Austrian wealth on the other, that, in his -haste, he tripped, and rolled over at full length on the floor ! His right reverend brethren hurried to pick him up ; and as they gathered round the prostrate Prelate, looked like a set of old alms-women, chattering over the body of one 'of the sisterhood who had been knocked down in a scuffle, or fainted under the influence of a too potent spirit."

"The superb dress of the Archbishop of Canterbury— purple velvet and gold—and the glittering and gilded attire of the other Churchmen (spoils of the Romish hierarchy)—appeared most unfit for men who profess to despise pomp and vanity, and are members of a simple and Reformed religion."

"While the tedious ceremony of Homage was in progress, there was plenty of loud music, till, just as Lord Melbourne's turn came to ascend the throne, a soft and sweet strain suddenly succeeded the din of harmony ; whereupon some wicked person said, 'Lord Melbourne's going up to soft music '—and then they laughed."

"When poor old Lord Rolle rolled down the steps of the throne, a 'distinguished foreigner' was told that to roll down the steps of the throne at the coronation was the feudal tenure by which he held his barony and immense estates. The information was gravely recorded in a note-book." "The loudest cheering was for the largesse, or coronation- medals, by all ; next for the Duke of Wellington, by the Tories ; and Lords Grey and Melbourne, by the Whigs.

Lord Lyndhurst looked around for a cheer ; but was dis- appointed, and seemed as if he was. The prettiest sight in the Abbey was the Queen's 'body guard' of Maids of Honour, all dressed alike, simply and in good taste. There were some shocking frights, male and female, with coronets." 'The musical part of the ceremony was a libel on the present state of the art in this country : for the Queen has had a composer thrust upon her who cannot compose. She had appointed Bishop ; but the intrigues of another Bishop (Charles of London) and Sir George Smart procured the latter the Situation, despite her Majesty's wish. It is the duty of the Composer to the Queen to write an anthem for her coronation—and it is an opportunity which any man competent to the task would eagerly have caught at ; but the place heretofore held by Blow, Croft, Green, Boyce, and Attwood, now, for the first time, degenerates into a sinecure ; and England, in the presence of the representatives of every European sovereign, seems (not is) unable to offer the tribute which music in every' other country presents to a new monarch."

"Both the tenure of the crown and the state of public man- ners in England have undergone so many modifications within the last two hundred years, that a coronation has become an unimpcittant, ahnost a superfluous ceremony. It adds nothing to the stability of the throne ; and as to the validity of a modern sovereign's tide, how little occasion is felt to exist for putting it to public test, may be seen by the recent almost noiseless abolition of the -office of Champion, which— formerly one of prime importance—we have just seen swept away among the cnimbs of the banquet."

"If the ceremony of crowning is to be kept up, then we would gladly associate with it, first, a greater public com- munication, and secondly, a less ridiculous ritual. At present any atom of rational purpose is so smothered in a garnish of antiquated follies that it may reasonably be doubted whether the actors themselves on the scene are not secretly ashamed of their official antics. The whole ceremony of the coronation is full of the amplification and the p■osture- making of a end-barbarous age, and of, that love of noise and tiniel which' barbarians and children are understood to share in Conimon:" "The list of Coronation Peerages comprises a few respect- able name—and that is the best to be said of it. With one exception, the Peers created or elevated are persons whose public services have not entitled them to any distinguished mark of the Royal favour. The Earl of Mulgrave, acting by and with the advice of Lord Morpeth, has ruled Ireland as she never was ruled before by English Viceroy. It is to be supposed that Lord Mulgrave prefers the French ' Marquis ' to the Saxon ' Earl ' ; and in that case, though we may differ with him in taste, we are not sorry that so unimportant a wish has been gratified. But who are the other noblemen and gentlemen whom the Queen delights especially to honour at this time ? Taking the official list as it stands in the Gazette, we find : x. 'William, Baron King '—son of a worthy, hard- headed, old Whig ; who perhaps would not have thanked his Sovereign for a Viscountcy and an Earldom. But his son is to be Viscount Ockham and Earl of Lovelace. What has the young Lord King done to deserve this promotion ? The Globe suggests the only reason for it : Lord King married Lord Byron's daughter, and in the Noel family was the extinct Barony of Lovelace. Another and more probable reason for the revival of this romantic-sounding title in Lord King, is that he is the nephew of that ever-ready Ministerial 'friend in need' Lord Ebrington.

2. Laurence, Baron Dundas,' is to be Earl of Zetland. This is an orthodox 'elevation '—one after the old style. Lord Dundas possesses one of the remaining rotten boroughs —Richmond ; and can sometimes return the Member for Orkney and Zetland. If anybody can mention another reason for the bestowal of an Earldom on Lord Dundas, we shall willingly proclaim it.

3. 'Anthony Adrian, Earl of Kintore,' is to be Baron Kintore. Few persons had heard of the existence of the said 'Anthony Adrian,' till they saw his name in the Gazette. He is, we believe, a Scotch lord, who keeps or did keep a pack of hounds in some distant county ; but why or wherefore he has been preferred to an English Peerage, is what the public are asking. Probably there is a job at the bottom of this 'elevation.'

4. 'Cornelius, Viscount Lismore,' is to sit in the House of Lords as Baron Lismore. This insignificant Irish noble- man has property in Tipperary.

5. Lord Rossmore, once a rather doubtful person in his politics, sends two of his sons, honourable Westenras, to support Lord Melbourne's Government in the House of Commons : hence his English Peerage.

6. Lord Carew can influence the elections in Wexford ; and therefore he is made a Baron of the United Kingdom.

7. Mr. William Francis Spencer Ponsonby belongs to a family which has always managed to get a considerable sum of the public money in one shape or another, with Earldoms and Baronies to boot. Thrust out of the representation of Dorsetshire, Mr. Ponsonby is compensated with the name, style and title of Baron Dc Manley, (of the ancient Barony of which name his wife is co-heir) for his ineffectual support of the Whig interest in that county.

8, 9, to. Sir John Wrottesley, Mr. Charles Hanbury Tracy and Mr. Paul Methuen owe their Peerages to the election contests they have stood, and the seats they have lost. They were all respectable commoners, and will doubtless make very decent Conservative Lords, at the command of the Premier and the Court.

rt. The Marquis of Carmarthen—a person of whose merits and politics we must confess Our entire ignorance—is to be - Lord Osborne. He is the son of the Tory Duke of Leeds, and will counterbalance his father's vote.

The entire list consists of twelve elevations and new creations. There is not one which suggests the idea of superior ability Or merit."