sovereign requires a renewal of the reciprocal engagements of service and protection which these tenures imply. Homage and the oath of Fealty, though not necessarily a part of the ceremony, have always followed and are now intimately blended with it. Nor are these the only feudal circumstances connected with our subject. In the granting of lands to their vassals our antient kings not only consulted the maintenance of the nation's power in the reservation of rent or service, but frequently the dignity and splendour of their court. In a Feast which always follows the coronation, and which is now perhaps the most perfect model of antient courtly magnificence in the world, the various duties of the household are filled by hereditary grand officers of the kingdom, who thus perform the services enjoined them by the tenures of their estates. In reviewing the scheme here laid down, as respects the manner in which the several subjects are afterwards treated, it may be remarked, that as the preliminary form of election seemed to require a larger explanation than it could conveniently have received in the cere monial itself, it hath been examined in the former part of the work. With regard to that most important branch of the subject, the Ritual of the church service, the author has generally followed in this, as in every thing relating to practice, the authority of Mr Sandford; but as the prayers are not given at full length in that writer's work, he has ventured to supply them, together with the whole of the Communion Service, from the Narrative of Ashmole; and the rather, on account of the latter author's agreeing more nearly in this respect with the antient formularies: the notes will however acquaint the reader when Mr Sandford's ceremonial has a prayer different from that in the text. As the Oath could not be regarded as an ordinary part of the ritual, and as it is not regulated by the authorities to which that is subject, he has given this important instrument as it is now establisht by law. Throughout the whole of the service recourse hath been had to the antient English formularies: the author was also fortunate in the possession of the Ordo Romanus, and of several copies of the Pontificale Romanum, printed and manuscript, which were highly serviceable for the illustration of the subject. The description and use of the Regalia have not been forgotten: the well known chair of King Edward I. hath also been particularly noticed. Of the subjects connected with feudal antiquity, Homage and Fealty are examined with considerable attention in the Additional Notes. The claims to honorary services are explained in the body of the work; and it is hoped that the connected and systematical view of them which is there given may be useful to those who are particularly interested in their history. In the Chronicle of Coronations the author hath in almost all cases cited contemporary historians, and taken extracts from such of them as wrote in the English language. The descriptions of antient feasts, so profusely given by the old chroniclers, may perhaps have been too liberally transcribed, but we cannot doubt their intimate connexion with the subject. The festivities of the banquet-room are not to be regarded as a later addition to the solemnities of the church. Coronation feasts are not only common to all countries, but are also of high antiquity: the regale convivium which followed the inauguration of King Edwy is too well remembered for its unhappy conclusion; this will carry their history far back in our own country; but they may be traced to a still remoter age in the regions of the North: the convivium initiale, as it hath been termed, and the votive cup -the horn of heroes-quafft by the new-created king, were once in Sweden the very form and process of investiture. With regard to the degree of value or importance which different minds may attach to the subjects treated of in the following pages the author conceives he has no need to offer any observation: if in devoting his attention to them he has followed the example of a Selden and a Prynne, an Ashmole and an Anstis, he is willing to consider their vindication as no very necessary part of his labours. London, September 22, 1819. CONTENTS. Kingly title and office.-Election.-Gothic manner of elevating kings-superseded by the ceremonies |