“I refer you to the daily papers for the details of
the great National Solemnity which we witnessed yesterday, and will hold my
promise absolved by sending a few general remarks upon what I saw, with
surprise amounting to astonishment, and which I shall never forget. It is,
indeed, impossible to conceive a ceremony more august and imposing in all its
parts, and more calculated to make the deepest impression both on the eye and
on the feelings. The most minute attention must have been bestowed to arrange
all the subordinate parts in harmony with the rest; so that, amongst so much
antiquated ceremonial, imposing singular dresses, duties, and characters
| CORONATION OF GEORGE IV. | 89 |
“You must have heard a full account of the only disagreeable event of the day. I mean the attempt of the misguided lady, who has lately furnished so many topics of discussion, to intrude herself upon a ceremonial, where, not being in her proper place, to be present in any other must have been voluntary degradation. That matter is a fire of straw which has now burnt to the very embers, and those who try to blow it into life again, will only blacken their hands and noses, like mischievous children dabbling among the ashes of a bonfire. It seems singular, that being determined to be present at all hazards, this unfortunate personage should not have procured a Peer’s ticket, which, I presume, would have insured her admittance. I willingly pass to pleasanter matters.
“The effect of the scene in the Abbey was beyond
measure magnificent. Imagine long galleries stretched among the aisles of that
venerable and august pile—those which rise above the altar pealing back their
echoes to a full and magnificent choir of music—those which occupied the sides
filled even to crowding with all that Britain has of beautiful and
distinguished, and the cross-gallery most appropriately occupied by the
Westminster schoolboys, in their white surplices, many of whom might on that
day receive impressions never to be lost
| 90 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“Leaving these gentlemen to enjoy their own wisdom,
| CORONATION—JULY, 1821. | 91 |
“But there were better things to reward my pilgrimage
than the mere pleasures of the eye and ear; for it was impossible, without the
deepest veneration, to behold the voluntary and solemn interchange of vows
betwixt the King and his assembled People, whilst he, on the one hand, called
God Almighty to witness his resolution to maintain their laws and privileges,
whilst they called, at the same moment, on the Divine Being, to bear witness
that they accepted him for their liege Sovereign, and pledged to him their love
and their duty. I cannot describe to you the effect produced by the solemn, yet
strange mixture of the words of Scripture, with the shouts and acclamations of
the assembled multitude, as they answered to the voice of the Prelate who
demanded of them whether they acknowledged as their Monarch the Prince who
claimed the sovereignty in their presence. It was peculiarly delightful to see
the King receive from the royal brethren, but in particular from the Duke of York, the fraternal kiss in which they
acknowledged their sovereign. There was an honest tenderness, an affectionate
and sincere reverence in the
| 92 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“It was also a very gratifying spectacle to those who think like me, to behold the Duke of Devonshire and most of the distinguished Whig nobility assembled round the throne on this occasion; giving an open testimony that the differences of political opinions are only skin-deep wounds, which assume at times an angry appearance, but have no real effect on the wholesome constitution of the country.
“If you ask me to distinguish who bore him best, and
appeared most to sustain the character we annex to the
| CORONATION OF GEORGE IV | 93 |
“The Champion was performed (as of right) by young
Dymocke, a fine-looking youth, but
bearing, perhaps, a little too much the appearance of a maiden-knight to be the
challenger of the world in a King’s behalf. He threw down his gauntlet,
however, with becoming manhood, and showed as much horsemanship as the crowd of
knights and squires around him would permit to be exhibited. His armour was in
good taste, but his shield was out of all propriety, being a round rondache, or Highland target, a defensive weapon, which
it would have been impossible to use on horseback, instead of being a
three-corner’d, or heater-shield, which in time of
the tilt was suspended round the neck. Pardon this antiquarian scruple, which,
you may believe, occurred to few but myself. On the whole, this striking part
of the exhibition somewhat disappointed me, for I would have had the Champion
less embarrassed by his assistants, and at liberty to put his horse on the grand
| 94 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“Returning to the subject of costume, I could not but admire what I had previously been disposed much to criticise,—I mean the fancy dress of the Privy-Councillors, which was of white and blue satin, with trunk-hose and mantles, after the fashion of Queen Elizabeth’s time. Separately, so gay a garb had an odd effect on the persons of elderly or ill-made men; but when the whole was thrown into one general body, all these discrepancies disappeared, and you no more observed the particular manner or appearance of an individual than you do that of a soldier in the battalion which marches past you. The whole was so completely harmonized in actual colouring, as well as in association with the general mass of gay and gorgeous and antique dress which floated before the eye, that it was next to impossible to attend to the effect of individual figures. Yet a Scotsman will detect a Scotsman amongst the most crowded assemblage, and I must say that the Lord Justice-Clerk of Scotland showed to as great advantage in his robes of Privy-Councillor as any by whom that splendid dress was worn on this great occasion. The common Court-dress, used by the Privy-Councillors at the last coronation, must have had a poor effect in comparison of the present, which formed a gradation in the scale of gorgeous ornament, from the unwieldy splendour of the heralds, who glowed like huge masses of cloth of gold and silver, to the more chastened robes and ermine of the Peers. I must not forget the effect produced by the Peers placing their coronets on their heads, which was really august.
“The box assigned to the foreign Ambassadors
presented a most brilliant effect, and was perfectly in a
| CORONATION—JULY, 1821. | 95 |
“I must not omit that the foreigners, who are apt to consider us as a nation en frac, and without the usual ceremonials of dress and distinction, were utterly astonished and delighted to see the revival of feudal dresses and feudal grandeur when the occasion demanded it, and that in a degree of splendour which they averred they had never seen paralleled in Europe.
“The duties of service at the Banquet, and of
attend-
| 96 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
’Twas schooling pride to see the menial wait, Smile on his father and receive his plate. |
“I did not see the procession between the Abbey and
Hall. In the morning a few voices called, Queen, Queen,
as Lord Londonderry passed, and even when
the Sovereign appeared. But these were only signals for the loud and reiterated
acclamations in which these tones of discontent were completely drowned. In the
return, no one dissonant voice intimated the least dissent from the shouts of
gratulation which poured from every quarter;
| CORONATION OF GEORGE IV. | 97 |
“You will have from others full accounts of the variety of entertainments provided for John Bull in the Parks, the River, in the Theatres, and elsewhere. Nothing was to be seen or heard but sounds of pleasure and festivity; and whoever saw the scene at any one spot, was convinced that the whole population was assembled there, while others found a similar concourse of revellers in every different point. It is computed that about five hundred thousand people shared in the Festival in one way or another; and you may imagine the excellent disposition by which the people were animated, when I tell you, that, excepting a few windows broken by a small body-guard of ragamuffins, who were in immediate attendance on the Great Lady in the morning, not the slightest political violence occurred to disturb the general harmony—and that the assembled populace seemed to be universally actuated by the spirit of the day, loyalty, namely, and good humour. Nothing occurred to damp those happy dispositions; the weather was most propitious, and the arrangements so perfect, that no accident of any kind is reported as having taken place.—And so concluded the coronation of George IV., whom God long preserve. Those who witnessed it have seen a scene calculated to raise the country in their opinion, and to throw into the shade all scenes of similar magnificence, from the Field of the Cloth of Gold down to the present day.
