or imposing as in June, were
nevertheless effective; the streets were illuminated to a considerable
extent, and the stands were nearly all sold out of their seating
capacity. During the afternoon the King walked in the grounds of
Buckingham Palace and held an Investiture, at which he gave the Order of
the Garter to the Dukes of Wellington and Sutherland and of the Thistle
to the Duke of Roxburghe and the Earl of Haddington. A little later, he
received in audience Ras MaRonnen, the Abyssinian Envoy. Two interesting
announcements were also made at this time--that Lord Salisbury was
unwell and would be unable to attend the Coronation, and that Bramwell
Booth had been granted special permission by the King to appear at
Westminster Abbey in Salvation Army garb. The first incident marked the
closing of an era of statecraft; of an age marked by the name and fame
of Queen Victoria and her Ministers. The other illustrated the tact of
the Sovereign as it proved the existence of a religious toleration and
equality characteristic of the new period in which the new reign was
commencing.

On August 9th the great ceremony finally took place. Though shorn of
some of the International splendour of the first arrangements and
without some of the military and naval glory which would have then
surrounded the event its Imperial significance was in some respects
enhanced and there was a deeper note in the festivities and an even more
enthusiastic tone in the cheering than would have been possible on the
26th of June. The solemn ceremony in the ancient Abbey--which had not
been used or opened to the public since that final practice of the
choir--was brilliant in all the colours and shadings and dresses and
gems and uniforms of a Royal function while it presented that other and
more sacred side which all the traditions and forms of the Coronation
ceremony so clearly illustrate. The enthusiasm of the people in the
streets can hardly be described but the spirit and thought and feeling
were well summed up in the words of a Canadian poet--Jean Blewett:

"Long live the King!
Long live the King who hath for his own
The strongest sceptre the world has known,
The richest Crown and the highest Throne,
The staunchest hearts, and the heritage
Of a glorious past, whose every page
Reads--loyalty, greatness, valour, might."

The day opened with brilliant promise and bright sunshine, but became
overcast and gloomy by the time