THE PROCESSION APPROACHING WESTMINSTER ABBEY
CHAPTER VIII.
PARLEY DESCRIBES THE CORONATION IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
"As soon as the Queen, the great object of attraction, had passed, Peter Parley and his friend hurried into the Abbey to resume their places. As they entered they encountered the most deafening and enthusiastic plaudits, to which the announcement of her Majesty's arrival within the Abbey gave rise.
"While her Majesty was undergoing the ceremony of robing, in the magnificent room which Peter Parley has already told you about, the procession, which forms part of the ceremony within the Abbey, was arranged in order.
"Every thing having been prepared, her Majesty made her appearance habited in a rich mantle and train of crimson velvet, over a dress of satin wrought with gold, and the assembled thousands of her loyal subjects rose with one accord, and welcomed their Sovereign in a manner which must have thrilled the heart of the greatest potentate who ever swayed a sceptre. The band of instrumental music swelled forth their richest notes, and the choir gave magnificent effect to the anthem:—
"'I was glad when they said unto me we will go into the house of the Lord. For there is the Seat of Judgment, 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. Amen.'
"As the procession moved slowly up the Abbey, the effect was most magnificent; the splendour of the pageantry, the beauty of the young Queen, whose mild blue eyes shone scarcely less brightly than the circlet of diamonds which encompassed her beauteous brow, and the rich effect of the music, as it reverberated among the aisles of the building, almost made Peter Parley think it was a scene in fairy-land, or one of those bright and unsubstantial visions which flit across the mind in our dreams.
"The Queen having advanced to a chair which had been provided for her, about midway between the throne and the south side of the altar, the noblemen and others who composed the procession took up the stations which had been appropriated for them; the choir in the mean time continuing to chaunt the anthem.