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The

Form and Order of her Majesty's

X

Coronation.

N the Morning upon the Day of the Coronation early, Care is to be taken that the Ampulla be filled with Oil, and, together with the Spoon, be laid ready upon the Altar in the Abbey-Church.

SECT. I.-THE ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH. The Queen, as soon as She enters at the West Door of the Church, is to be received with the following Anthem, to be sung by the Choir.

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ANTHEM.

WAS glad when they said unto me, We will go into the House of the Lord. For there is the Seat of Judgement, even the Seat of the House of David. O pray for the peace of Jerusalem; They shall prosper that love Thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy Palaces.

:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end.

"by the choir of Westminster." William IV. And the earlier forms add: "who, with the Dean and Prebendaries of that church, are before to fall off from the procession a little to the left

Amen.

side of the middle aisle, and stay there to attend the coming of his Majesty, [their Majesties] and then going next before the regalia [the Queen's regalia,] to sing:"

The Queen in the mean time passes up through the Body of the Church, into, and through the Choir, and so up the Stairs to the Theatre; and having passed by Her Throne, She makes Her humble Adoration, and then kneeling at the Faldstool set for Her before Her Chair, uses some short private Prayers; and after, sitting down (not in Her Throne, but in Her Chair before, and below, Her Throne,) there reposes Herself.

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The Queen being so placed, the Archbishop turneth to the East part of the Theatre, and after, together with

7 According to the pictures of the late coronations, this "faldstool" has changed much from its original and proper shape: it would now seem that a desk to kneel at is placed before the chair, upon which it would not be possible to sit, which was one end and object of the proper faldstool. The name however has been retained, and we have only to regret that the thing itself has been changed. Very probably this has been owing to the interference of subordinate officials: who, very ignorant of the purpose and meaning of many parts of the Service, and of the proper ornaments and the furniture to be provided, have nevertheless obtruded themselves into matters beyond their office.

The same alteration has taken place in France: and there also the proper faldstool has been sup

planted by a cushioned desk to kneel at. How long this has been, I know not, in either case: but the faldstool was not used at the coronation of Louis XV. in 1722. See the plates, in the account of it. Le Sacre de Louis XV, Roy de France. fol. And see below, note

11.

Du Cange explains the faldistorium to be, "Sella plicatilis," which in fact it was: something like the common camp-stool of the present day. The same writer quotes various etymologies which have been proposed for the name; the most probable of which, as it is the most obvious, derives it "a Longobardico Falden, plicare, et Stoul, sedes." In the coronationservice of Charles V. of France, so often cited above, the faldstool occurs in many of the illuminations; one is placed for the king,

the Lord Chancellor, Lord Great Chamberlain, Lord High Constable and Earl Marshal (Garter King of Arms preceding them), goes to the other three sides of the Theatre in this Order, South, West, and North, and at every of the four sides, with a loud Voice, speaks to the People: And the Queen in the mean time standing up by Her Chair, turns and shews Herself unto the People at every of the four sides of the Theatre, as the Archbishop is at every of them, and while He speaks thus to the People:

SIRS,

IRS, I here present unto you Queen VICTORIA, the Undoubted Queen of this Realm: Wherefore you who are come this Day to do your Homage, Are you willing to do the same?

All

The People signify their Willingness and Joy, by loud and repeated Acclamations, all with one Voice crying out,

God save Queen VICTORIA.

Then the Trumpets sound.

another for the archbishop, and both alike. A low crossed, or folding-stool, which might be used either to kneel at, or to sit upon : examples of both of which occur in the manuscript.

8 This title is of modern introduction, having been for the first time applied to this part of the Service, by Sandford, in his account of the coronation of James II. But the term is ancient; for

example, in the chronicle of John Bromton: " "Defuncto rege Ethelredo, episcopi, et abbates, et quique terræ nobiliores omnem ejus progeniem abnegantes, Kanutum pro rege apud Suthamptoniam recognoverunt." Script. x. p. 903.

9" And the Choir sing this Anthem: The king shall rejoice, etc." Psalm xxj. Order of Geo. II.

First Oblation,
Wedge of Gold.

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SECT. III.-THE FIRST OBLATION.

The Bible, Paten, and Cup being brought by the Bishops who had borne them, and placed upon the Altar, the Archbishop goeth to the Altar and puts on his Cope, and standeth on the North Side of it: And the Bishops, who are to read the Litany, do also vest themselves. And the Officers of the Wardrobe, &c. spread Carpets and Cushions on the Floor and Steps of the Altar.

Which being done, the Queen, supported by the two Bishops, of Durham and Bath and Wells, and attended by the Dean of Westminster, the Great Officers, and the Lords that carry the Regalia going before Her, goes down to the Altar, and kneeling upon the Steps of it makes her First Oblation; Which is a Pall, or AltarCloth of Gold, delivered by an Officer of the Wardrobe to the Lord Great Chamberlain, and by Him, kneeling, to Her Majesty: and an Ingot or Wedge of Gold of a pound weight, which the Treasurer of the Household delivers to the Lord Great Chamberlain, and He to Her Majesty, kneeling: Who delivers them to the Archbishop, and the Archbishop standing (in which posture he is to receive all other Oblations) receives from Her, one after another, the Pall to be reverently laid upon the Altar, and the Gold to be received into the Bason, and with the like Reverence put upon the Altar 10

Then the Archbishop saith this Prayer, the Queen still kneeling:

10 In those Orders where a queen was crowned with a king, here is inserted the rubric for her majesty's oblation also. "Then

the Queen ariseth from her chair, and being likewise supported by two Bishops, and the Lords which carry her regalia going before her,

GOD, who dwellest in the high and holy Place, with them also who are of an humble Spirit, Look down mercifully upon this Thy Servant, VICTORIA our Queen, here humbling Herself before Thee at Thy Footstool, and graciously receive these Oblations, which in humble Acknowledgement of Thy Sovereignty over all, and of Thy great Bounty to Her in particular, She hath now offered up unto Thee, through Jesus Christ our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

The Queen having thus offered, and so fulfilled his Commandment, who said, Thou shalt not appear before the Lord thy God empty; goes to Her Chair set for Her on the South side of the Altar, where She is to kneel at Her Faldstool" when the Litany begins.

In the mean time, the Lords who carry the Regalia, except those who carry the Swords, come in Order near to the Altar, and present Every One what He carries to the Archbishop, who delivers them to the Dean of Westminster, to be by Him placed upon the Altar, and then retire to the Places and Seats appointed for Them.

goeth down to the altar, and kneeling upon the cushions there laid for her, on the left hand of the king's, maketh her Oblation, which is a Pall, to be received also by the Archbishop, and laid upon the altar."

K. James I. offered "a Pall and twenty pieces of gold."

"The use of this term "faldstool," for the place at which the Sovereign is to kneel during the

Litany, has been observed since the time of K. James I.

The Sermon was appointed to be preached here, followed by the oath, the Veni Creator' and a prayer, in the orders of K. James I. and Charles II. In James II.'s the Litany preceded the sermon: but, as will be remarked again presently, at that coronation there was no communion. The present order began with K. William III. and Queen Mary.

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