In this order, with little variation, it has been usual for the procession to move from Westminster hall through the new palace-yard to the west door of the collegiate church; the persons who compose it walking on a raised platform covered with blue cloth, which also extends from the steps in the hall and to the foot of the steps in the choir; the passage being railed in on both sides, and protected by horse and foot guards. During its progress the drums beat a march, the trumpets sound, and an anthem is sung by the choirs.

The arrangements within the church for placing those who are engaged in the ceremony may be briefly described as follows. In the upper part of the chancel, between the choir and the high altar, and under the tower, is a large platform called the Theatre1o; in the midst of this are placed the royal thrones, the king's being elevated by five steps ascending all round, that of the queen being two steps lower. On the south and north sides of the theatre are benches for the peers and peeresses, and against the four great

9 It has not been thought necessary to point out the slight differences of arrangement which may be found on a comparison of the more recent processionals, nor to dwell upon the greater diversity existing in those of an earlier date: of the latter, Hoveden's account of the coronation of Richard I. may be a sufficient example; the former may be examined in Ashmole's Narrative of the coronation of Charles II. and Sandford's History of that of James II. The processions of Richard III. and Edward VI. may also be consulted in Grafton's Chronicle, and Leland's Collectanea, iv. 327.

pillars which support the tower are seats for the officers of arms. On the eastern side of the theatre, in front of the thrones, are chairs for the king and queen, in which they sit on first coming into the church. Between these and the altar is placed the old chair of king Edward (markt E in the annext engraving);

on the south side, at c, are the chairs and faldstools which are used by their majesties during the sermon and litany, behind which, at D, is a long bench for the great officers of state and the dukes of Normandy and

10 In our old Latin ceremonials this is called pulpitum; in that of Charles V. of France, solium in modum eschafaudi; and in a later French book it is said, " au pulpitre ou jube de l'eglise audessous du crucifix est dressé et posé le throne du roi :" in the Roman Pontifical it is termed thalamus sive suggestum; and in the ceremonials of the Greek empire, anabathra, which is defined to be "ascensus, seu tabulatum, seu pulpitum." All the above are spoken of as temporary erections.

Aquitain. Opposite, on the north side, at B, are the bishops, and at the side of the altar the chair of the archbishop of Canterbury, markt A. The pulpit is against the north east pillar.

As the procession enters the choir, the law officers and judges ascend the theatre, and dividing to the right and left go to seats appointed for them in galleries on either side, standing before them till the king and queen are seated. The choir of Westminster, with the prebendaries and dean, wait on the left hand side of the middle aisle, in the nave, till their majesties enter the church: the gentlemen of the chapel repairing to their galleries, and the various officers to their respective stations. The peeresses are then conducted to the seats on the north side of the theatre, and the peers to those on the south side. By this time the king and queen having entered the church are received by the dean and prebendaries, with the choir, who proceding a little before their majesties, sing a full anthem, commonly from Psalm cxxii. ver. 1. "I was glad when they said unto me," &c. Then the prebendaries entering the choir ascend the theatre, and pass over it to their station on the south side of the altar, beyond the king's chair. After which the dean of Westminster, the great officers, and two archbishops, with the dukes of Aquitain and Normandy, ascend the theatre, and stand near the south-east pillar. The queen, preceded by her vice

chamberlain, two gentlemen ushers, and chamberlain, and by the lords who bear her majesty's regalia (having left her canopy at the entrance into the choir), now ascends the theatre, leaving the gentlemen pensioners below in the choir, and the sergeants at arms at the rail on the west side of the theatre, and passes on the north side of her throne to the chair below, and stands by it till his majesty comes. Then the king, preceded by the officers of state and his regalia, having also left the barons of the cinque ports who bore his canopy, the gentlemen pensioners, and the sergeants at arms, at the places mentioned above, ascends the theatre, and passing by the south side of his throne to the chair of state set for him on the east side of the theatre, near the foot of his throne, makes an adoration, and kneels down at his faldstool in private devotion; the queen doing the like. The king then seats himself in his chair of state, when the queen also sits down the lord chancellor, the lord great chamberlain, the lord high constable, and earl marshal, with the two bishops who support his majesty, the dean of Westminster, and the lords who carry the regalia, with Garter and the gentleman usher, all standing about him; the queen's officers, and those who bear her regalia, with the two supporting bishops, and the ladies who bear her majesty's train, all standing likewise about the queen.

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§ 4. Of the King's Coronation.

THEIR majesties being thus seated, and all the nobility and others duly placed, the two provincial kings at arms, with the heralds and pursuivants, repair to their stations at the four corner pillars of the theatre, and the important business of the day commences with the RECOGNITION", which is thus performed: the archbishop of Canterbury standing near the king on the east side of the theatre, his majesty rises from his chair and stands before it, whilst the archbishop, having his face to the east, says as follows:

the

SIRS,-I here present unto you king — rightful inheritor of the crown of this realm; wherefore all ye that are come this day to do your homage, service, and bounden duty, are ye willing to do the same?

From thence the archbishop, accompanied by the lord chancellor, the great chamberlain, the constable, and the earl marshal (Garter king at arms going before them), procedes to the south side of the theatre and repeats the same words; and from thence to the west, and lastly to the north side: the king standing all the while, and turning his face to the several sides of the theatre as the archbishop is speak

11 See remarks on the Recognition in the Additional Notes: the form here given is from Sandford, our general authority in the fols lowing sections,