Besides, the ancient usage of receiving the Mantle in the Chapter-House, or at the Chapter-House Door, either before, or in the Proceeding to the Choir, of which many instances may be given, there are several modern instances where the Mantle was born to the Choir, (and sometimes the Collar of the Order with it,) not by the Proctor, but by Garter, before him, and delivered in his Principal’s Stall; as in the Proceeding of the Proxy for the Duke of Wirtembergh, Anno 2 Jac. I. when, after he had taken the Oath, and was led into the Duke’s Stall, (not before) was the Robe laid on his Arm; and so was it done in many more Installations; which manner hath so far prevail’d as to be the continu’d Practice, Garter carrying the Mantle on a Cushion before the Proctors into the Choir, and laying it (after they have taken their Oaths,) on their Arms in such manner, that the Cross of St. George may be conspicuous.
Of the Proceeding to the Choir.
§ 10. Concerning the Proxies Proceeding into the Choir, King Henry VIIIth’s Statutes direct: That he shall be accompanied and led by two Knights-Companions of the Order, from the Door of the Chapter-House, to the Stall assigned to his Principal; agreeable to which, is that Passage in the Black-Book; That as soon as the two Knights have placed the Mantle on his Arm, they shall take him between them, and conduct him to the Stall of his Lord; and thus assisted have all Proxies proceeded to the Choir.
Since the Custom of receiving the Collar in the Chapter-House was laid aside, the Sovereign, (or his Lieutenant,) with the Knights-Companions, (so soon as the Mantle is delivered the Proctor, or (as of late) that he hath been admitted according to the purport of his Deputation,) proceed to the Choir, leaving the Proxy behind them in the Chapter-House, and after they have taken their Stalls, the Sovereign directs two of the Knights-Companions to descend; who taking the Alms-Knights, Officers of Arms, and the three inferior Officers of the Order before them, pass to the Chapter-House, and bring thence the Proxy to his Installation. In this Proceeding the Proxy goes Bare-headed, as did the Earl of Dover, Proctor to Charles, Prince Palatine of the Rhine, and Sir George Cartaret, Proctor to the Prince of Denmark, Anno 15 Car. II.
The Ceremonies of Installation.
§ 11. When the Proceeding hath entred the Choir, and paid the accustomed Reverences, both towards the Altar and the Sovereign’s Stall, and the Alms-Knights, Officers of Arms and of the Order, taken their usual Stations; the two Commissioners (Knights-Assistants or Knights-Companions,) and Proctor make their Reverences together, and then they conduct him into the lower Stalls directly before the Stall appointed for his Principal, the foresaid Officers of the Order standing below in the Choir: If there be more than two Commissioners, then the two Senior conduct him as before, while the rest of the Commissioners take their Station below in the Choir, before their proper Stalls, and there stay till the Installation be finish’d, and the like do the Lieutenants-Assistants, except the two Senior that are imployed in the Ceremony.
The Proxy thus introduced into the lower Stalls, stands there while the Register pronounceth the Oath of the Order to him, which he repeats distinctly, laying his Hand on the New Testament, and afterwards kisseth the Book.
The ancient Oath appointed by the Statutes of Institution is short, and without limitation in all Points, the same with that a Knight-Companion takes at his Personal Installation, viz. Faithfully to observe, to the utmost of his Power, the Statutes of the Order; but afterwards the Sovereign’s and Fellows of those other Orders of Knighthood, (as the Golden Fleece, Monsieur St. Michael, &c.) before their admission into the Order of the Garter, sued for, and obtained the allowance of some relative exceptions or proviso’s to be added to the aforesaid Oath; which usually were such as stood with the interest of their Religion, their great State or Dignity, or precedent obligation to the Order they had before accepted.
In the Black-Book is a Precedent of the Oath to be taken by an Emperor; whereby he is obliged to promise on his Royal Word, and give his Faith on his Honour and the Holy Evangelists, That he will faithfully and truly, to the utmost of his Power, observe the Statutes in every Branch and Article thereof, at least so far as they can or ought to be observed by him, and so far as they shall not be contrary or derogatory to those whereunto he hath before given his Name and Sworn, and saving all other conditions agreed on. There are besides this, other Precedents in the Annals of the Form of the Oath from the Proctor of an Emperor or King, and of every other inferior Degree, wherein are several exceptions before agreed on; and when Philip, King of Castile and Leon, (Sovereign of the Order of the Golden Fleece,) was Personally installed at Windsor, Anno 22 Hen. VII. and took the Oath without Limitation, yet he soon after obtain’d the Sovereign’s Dispensation, that the use of the Collar and other Ensigns of the Order might be left to his pleasure, and that he might not be obliged to be present at future Chapters.
Other Exceptions have been admitted, but were obtained with great difficulty and much debate, lest the Dignity and Reputation of the Order should (instead of being kept up) be lessen’d, the forbearance of some Circumstances that hath been yeilded to, having sometimes been brought into Precedent, to the prejudice of the Order.