The other erections in the Church were the various seats and galleries for the Peers and Peeresses, Great Officers and Foreigners of distinction, the Heralds, Spectators, Musicians, &c. and for the different persons who formed the Procession, but who had no active part in the Coronation ceremony. The Nave, the Choir, the Transepts, and every part of the spacious Abbey, was occupied by galleries, with benches rising one above another, and to which persons were admitted by tickets from the Earl Marshal, and those to whom the seats were appropriated, whether Peers, Privy Councillors, or other Great Officers of State.* Some of the orders concerning admission both to St. Peter's Church and Westminster Hall, have already been given.

* The following is a curious document relative to the delivery and number of the Tickets allotted to the persons mentioned above:—

By Order of My Lord Marshal.

THIS is to give notice, that Persons will attend to receive names and deliver Tickets for the Abbey, at the Earl Marshal's Chamber, near the House of Lords, at Westminster, from Ten in the Morning till two in the Afternoon, upon Wednesday and Thursday next, upon producing an order under the hand and seal of the arms of the Peer, Peeress, or other person entitled to them, which are only those who shall signify to the Earl Marshal that they will attend or officiate at the Coronation.

Note: None are to have Tickets but those who walk; the Spiritual Lords to have Four Tickets; Temporal Lords, Five; every Peeress, One; every Dowager, One; every Peeress in her own right, Five; every Privy Councillor not a Peer, Four; Clerks of the Council, Two.

Greek Street, Soho,

Sept. 14th. 1761.

HENRY HILL.

CEREMONY OF THE CORONATION.

WHEN the Procession arrived at the Abbey, the drums and trumpets which commenced it, immediately turned up stairs into their gallery over the entrance. Then the Six Clerks, conducted by two of the Officers of Arms, proceeded on to the Theatre, ascended the steps of it, and placed themselves in their proper galleries on either side. These were followed by the King's Chaplains, Aldermen, &c. as far as the Chief Justices, who proceeded on in a similar manner, and then took their seats on each side of the Choir. The Choir, Prebendaries, and Dean of Westminster, on their entrance, fell off to the left, until their Majesties had come within the Church, while the two persons next following continued on to their stations on the North-side of the Altar. The Children and Gentlemen of the Chapel-Royal afterwards proceeded to their seats on either side of the Area before the Altar; the remainder of the vocal music retired to a high gallery on the South-side of the same, and the instrumental to one on the North-side of the Area next the pulpit. The seats of the master of the Jewel-House and the Privy Councillors, not Peers, were on the North-side of the Area, where St. Edward's chair was placed, and next to where the Bishops were situated. The Baronesses were then conducted by an Officer of Arms, to their seats on the North-side of the Theatre, and the Barons to a similar gallery on the South. The Viscountesses and the Viscounts were placed to the East of the former, and through the whole ceremony of seating the Procession, the Peeresses were conducted to the North-side of the Area, and the Peers to the South.

About half-past one o'clock their Majesties entered the Abbey, and the Service immediately commenced by

the Westminster Choir singing Purcel's Anthem, taken from Psalm cxxii. v. 1---7. “I was glad when they said 'Let us go into the House of the Lord.""

unto me,

During the Anthem, as their Majesties passed through the body of the Church, the Ceremony of placing the remainder of the Procession was continued. The Serjeants at Arms, the Gentlemen Pensioners, and the Barons of the Cinque-Ports who bore the Canopies, were left a short distance within the Choir, or else immediately at the entrance; but the Archbishop and the supporting Bishops, the Dean of Westminster, the Great Officers of State, the Lords who bore the Regalia, and Garter, were placed immediately about their Majesties. After the Anthem, the Choristers passed on to their gallery at the back of the Choir, and the Prebendaries to their stations at the South-side of the Altar. When the King and Queen arrived at their Chairs, after their private devotions, both were seated; and upon the conclusion of the Anthem, the Archbishop of Canterbury, together with the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Great Chamberlain, the Lord High Constable, the Earl Marshal, and Garter going before them, proceeded to the East-side of the Theatre, and afterwards to the South, West, and North, where his Grace made

THE RECOGNITION.

SIRS, I here present unto you KING GEORGE the Third, the undoubted KING of this Realm; wherefore all you who are come this day to do your Homage, are you willing to do the same?

The reply to this demand was loud and repeated acclamations from all present, of "GOD save King George the Third." At every different time the Recognition of his Majesty was made, he turned to that side of the Theatre where the Archbishop and the Great Officers were standing, and at the last time the

H

Trumpets flourished. After the Recognition followed another Anthem, taken from Psalm xxi. v. 1-6. "The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord," which was sung by the Choir, their Majesties being seated in their Chairs of State.

The Altar and the passage to it were then prepared for the King's first Oblation; the former by having the Bible, Paten, and Chalice, placed upon it, and the latter by Carpets and Cushions being spread on the floor by the Officers of the Wardrobe. Then the Archbishop of Canterbury having put on his Cope, and the Bishops who were to sing the Litany being also vested, his Majesty, attended by the two Bishops who supported him in the Procession, the Dean of Westminster, and the Lords bearing the Regalia, passed onward to the Altar, where, uncovered and kneeling upon the steps, he made his Offering. This consisted of a Pall or Altar-covering of cloth of gold, and an Ingot of the pure metal of one pound in Troy weight. The first of which was provided by the Master of the Great Wardrobe, and the second by the Treasurer of the Household. They were then given by these officers to the Lord Great Chamberlain, by him to the King, who delivered them to the Archbishop, by whom the one was placed upon the Altar, and the other in the Oblation-bason. The Queen's Offering was next made in a similar manner, and consisted of an Altar-cloth as before. Before their Majesties arose from their knees, the following Prayer was said by the Archbishop :

O GOD, who dwellest in the high and holy place, with them also who are of an humble spirit, look down mercifully upon these Thy Servants, GEORGE our KING, and CHARLOTTE Our QUEEN, here humbling themselves before Thee at Thy footstool, and graciously receive these Oblations, which in humble acknowledgement of Thy Sovereignity over all, and of Thy great bounty to them in particular, they have now offered up unto Thee, through Jesus Christ our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

At the conclusion of this prayer, their Majesties were conducted to the Chairs of State on the South-side of the Altar, where they kneeled during the Litany which followed. The Lords who carried the Regalia then came in order to the Altar, whereon the whole was laid, with the exception of the Swords; after which ceremony they returned to their former situations. Dr. Edmund Keene, and Sir William Ashburnham, Bart. the Bishops of Chester and Chichester, then sung the Litany, while the Choir of Westminster sang the Responses to the organ. At the end of the Litany, and immediately after the Prayer used "in the Time of War and Tumults,*" the following Collect was added, peculiar to the Coronation Service. :

O God, who providest for Thy people by Thy Power, and rulest over them in Love; grant unto this Thy Servant GEORGE Our King, the Spirit of Wisdom and Government, that being devoted unto Thee with all his heart, he may so wisely govern this Kingdom, that in his time Thy Church and people may continue in safety and prosperity; and that persevering in good works unto the end, he may, through Thy mercy, come to Thine everlasting Kingdom, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

In the Communion Service, which followed, there was not any thing unusual; the Epistle was selected from 1 Peter ii. 18. "Submit yourself to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake," and the Gospel from St. Matth. xxii. 15: "Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk." Both

* It will be remembered that England was at that time engaged in an arduous contest with France; although it is probable that few Coronations have taken place under more auspicious circumstances. The British Arms had been attended with considerable success, the Sovereign was young, handsome, and esteemed one of the most perfect gentlemen of his time, and the Queen herself was as much an object of interest as the Coronation. The spirits of the Nation were also greatly exhilarated by the circumstance, that his Majesty's Accession to the Throne took place on the Anniversary of the glorious battle of Agincourt.