but it doth not appear that its use in this ceremony was generally recognised by the church. The oleum catechumenorum is prescribed for the anointing of kings both in the Ordo Romanus and the Pontifical; even the emperor was anointed with this only, excepting when crowned by the pope at Rome: and on this account, as well as for its alleged divine origin, have the French writers extolled the privilege of their kings to be anointed with the chrism of the sainte ampoulle. "Les rois étoient autrefois sacrez de la même huile que les prêtres: et nos rois ont encore cet avantage, de n'être point sacrez de l'huile des cathécumenes, comme les prêtres, mais du saint chrême, comme les evêques3." Whether the kings of France like those of England were used to receive a double unction, with oil and chrism separately, I have not been able to discover; but in some of the legends of the sainte ampoulle mention is made of two vials, one of oil, the other of chrism (duas ampullas oleo et chrismate plenas), both of which were filled in a miraculous manner. It is remarkable that the history of the English ampulla contains a corresponding relation; in this a golden eagle and a small vial of glass are said to have been presented to St Thomas: Statim apparuit mihi beata Maria habens in pectore istam aquilam auream, et in manu tenens istam parvam ampullam lapideam 5;"—the latter is

3 Formulaire du Sacre, 8vo. Rheims, 1722, p. v. The privilege asserted by the ceremonial of Charles V. is as follows:-" Qui solus inter universos reges terræ hoc glorioso præfulget privilegio, ut oleo cœlitus misso singularitèr inungatur."

4 Lettre sur la Sainte Ampoulle, par M. Pluche, 8vo. pp. 38, 41, 45. 5 MS. Cott. Faust. B ix. See p. 59 of this work for a history of the

ampulla.

!

afterwards called "ampulla crystallina." Of their contents we are not correctly informed by the writer of this narrative; nor is the account of Walsingham satisfactory in this respect. In the Liber Regalis, which was probably written before the discovery of the golden eagle in the Tower, we have the following rubric concerning the oil and chrism to be used in the coronation :-" Et provideatur à sacristá quod ampullulæ, tàm de oleo quàm de chrismate, quarum una deaurata est, et in se continens sanctum chrisma, altera verò solum argentea, et in se continens oleum sanctum, sint ad altare præparata:" what was the practice afterwards with the vessels of the legend we are not informed, but they were probably used in the same manner till the chrism itself was no longer employed.

The use of the two ampulla was common both to the Latin and Greek churches. In the latter we read of a duplex ampulla, the dibάμτoyλov, which contained both the oil and chrism, and of a single vessel, μováμжоvλov, appropriated to the chrism alone. The former of these was carried before the emperor on festival days "ut unctionis suæ, tàm in baptismo quàm in imperatoriâ inauguratione semper memor esset"." Amongst the Roman clergy three vesșels are sometimes spoken of; the third however, which

6 See Ducange, v. Ampulla, and Meursius, Gloss. Græc. p. 125. 7 Gretser, Comment, in Codinum, p. 218.

18 Ducange, ut supra. The two kinds of consecrated oil were to be kept asunder in the time of our Ælfric: Se pɲeost sceal eac habban gehalgodne ele on fundɲon to cildum. I on fundɲon to feocum mannum.-Canones Ælfrici, art. 32. An illumination in a MS. Pontifical now before me shows the three vessels together upon the altar.

contained the oleum infirmorum, will of course never occur in the ceremonies before us. In Scotland, at the coronation of Robert II. there were two vials of sacred oil; the use of the chrism may therefore be implied in that kingdom. I do not remember to have seen a double unction recorded of the Swedish kings, but we have the following description of a vessel for the chrism: "Circa unctionem autem regiam, nec silentio prætermittendum pretiosissimum illud cornu chrismatis coronationis, quod ex auro affabrefactum, et basi aureæ adjectum, gemmis ac margaritis distinguitur, in summo vero acumine suo Justitiam, subtilissimè exsculptam, manuque libram tenentem, gerit, et longitudine novem digitos duasque lineas continet 9."

I shall add a few words on the composition of unguents for purposes of consecration. The most antient of this kind of which we have any knowlege is the ointment prepared at the divine command by Moses, and particularly described in the book of Exodus, ch. xxx. ver. 23-5. This unguent, which is distinguisht from consecrated oil, was however a fluid: it is said (though perhaps figuratively) to have run down upon Aaron's beard and descended to the

9 Brehmer, De Regalibus, p. 14. 10 Psalm cxxxiii. ver. 2. "See on this subject Selden De Success. in Pontif. 1. ii. c. 9. and Tit. Hon. part I. c. 8. i. ; also Godwyn's Moses and Aaron, p. 12. 12 Codinus, p. 92.

13 Ἡ τῷ μύρα σύνθεσις συναγωγή τις ἐστὶν εὐπνόων ὑλῶν, ἐν ἑαυτῇ πλουσίως ixxra wojórnras suórus. Dionysius De Eccles. Hierarch. cap. 4. See Arcudius De Conc. Eccles. Occ. et Or. pp. 49, 70.

14 Luke vii. 46. "My head with oil (iλaíų) thou didst not anoint; but this woman hath anointed my feet (múgy) with ointment.” In the offices of the Greek church also, the same words are distinguisht in a similar manner:-" xgiris iλaíov est unctio catechumenorum, xgiris suxs

skirts of his garment 10. The Hebrew word which is used in the above cited text (w) is rendered in Greek xgloua; hence He who in a spiritual sense was "anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows" is called up, XgioTòs, the Anointed. On the destruction of the Temple, the holy chrism of the Jews, which is said to have been miraculously preserved from the time of Moses, was lost; and, as it was deemed unlawful to attempt a renovation of it, the practice of anointing was laid aside".

The unction of the Greek emperors is said to have been Tele μúga 12, which appears to be a thick perfumed oil 13; we find the word rendered cintment in our version of the New Testament, and at the same time opposed to one translated oil 1. That μúgov is synonymous with xgioua we may infer from its being used in relation to baptism or confirmation, by a writer of the sixth century 15. The chrism of the Roman church hath already been described. "Chrisma conficitur," saith Alcuin, "ex oleo mundissimo et optimo balsamo:" to such a compound many spiritual properties would of course be affixt by the early expositors of the divine offices With regard to that which is of most ac

16

λαίου unctio olei cum oratione, qua est infirmorum, et χρίσις μύρε, unctio unguenti, et hæc posset verti chrismatio, et verbum xgisraı chrismatur, ut etiam quandoque xgioua per excellentiam hoc unguentum appellatur.”Arcudius' De Conc. Eccles. p. 49.

15 Dion. Areop. De Hierarch.-This author indeed appears to use the terms θειοτάτον μύρον and ἁγιώτατον χρίσμα indifferently. Arndius, Lex. Eccles. p. 34.

16 "Chrisma conficitur ex balsamo et oleo propter mysticam rationem ; per oleum nitor conscienciæ designatur; per balsamum vero exprimitur odor fame."-Durandus, Rationale, lib. vi. St. Cyprian (probably alluding to the original purposes of its formation) says, 66 Sacrum con

count in the history of coronations,—the chrism of the sainte ampoulle, it is difficult to judge what may have been its original character:- "La matiere qu'elle contient," says a French writer, "n'est plus une liqueur; c'est une espece de cotignac desséché et condensé sur les parois du vase: On en racle, dans le besoin, quelque parcelle avec une petite aiguille ou spatule d'or; et cette parcelle communique une couleur rougeatre au chrême dans le quel on la delaye au sacre de nos rois 1»

Of the unction which is used for our English kings of the present age little needs be said: it is prepared from the purest olive oil, and is of course set apart for the purpose to which it is designed with suitable acts of reverential solemnity. The formulary of its consecration hath not I believe been publisht.

ficitur chrisma, in quo mixtum oleo balsamum regiæ et sacerdotalis gloriæ exprimit unitatem." If the reader is disposed to consult the antient ritualists above referred to, he will find abundant matter of this kind., For the ceremonial of its consecration he is referred to the Pontificals. 17 Pluche, Lettre, &c. p. 12.