hen only daily reports were issued; and finally, on July 13th,
the Royal patient was taken by private train from Buckingham Palace to
his yacht at Portsmouth and, during the next few weeks, while it was
anchored or quietly cruising off Cowes, the King was steadily growing
stronger and better.

The bare details of an illness such as this can give no idea of the
burden of apprehension which it entailed upon millions of people, the
financial losses which it meant to thousands of merchants and others in
all parts of the world, the dislocation of a political, social, and
general character which it involved in London, the consternation which
it naturally caused in every centre in the Empire. The first effect of
the King's illness was to create a new tie of sympathy between himself
and his subjects. Human suffering borne so patiently during that week of
concealed sickness and with such earnest determination to go through
what must have come to appear the frightful ordeal of the Coronation
appealed strongly to people everywhere in the Empire, while the
externally dramatic passage from preparations for the greatest of
national festivities down into the valley of the shadow of death came
home to the hearts of every one with peculiar force. This was
particularly apparent in Westminster Abbey where the last rehearsal of
the great Coronation choir, in the presence of the Bishop of London and
under the musical direction of Sir Frederick Bridge, was proceeding at
noon on June 24th. Suddenly, Lord Esher entered and told the sad news to
the Bishop, who, in a few words, turned the service of national
rejoicing into one of solemn intercession. Everywhere there were similar
services and similar sudden changes. Coronation day, despite the King's
kindly wish that demonstrations and functions outside of London should
proceed, was turned into a season of special service and prayer in Great
Britain and in the many other countries of the Empire.

A pathetic service was held in St. Paul's Cathedral on the evening of
the announced illness, and the Bishop of Stepney spoke in most
impressive terms. "As the days have passed, our thoughts and, I trust,
our prayers have been centred in the King as he has moved to his
Coronation watched by millions of eyes. Only yesterday we welcomed him
to London with heartfelt joy. All around us is the glamour of
preparation for a splendid festival. The very air is vivid with the glow
of popular enthusiasm. From all