ar; if
dead, it was fixed at the age at which he or she had died. Many of
these local customs continue to this day: some have even been
instituted lately, since the revived taste for medievalism has
beautified and refined English homesteads and village churches. The
queen, a faithful upholder of ancient national manners, has given the
example by adhering to the time-honored custom called the Royal
Maundy. This word is from _mandatum_, or commandment, and refers to
the "new commandment" given by Christ to his apostles at the Last
Supper. In Catholic countries it is still the custom for the sovereign
to wash the feet of twelve poor men (his wife performing the same
office for twelve poor and aged women) in public on the Thursday
before Easter, and to serve them at table afterward: in Vienna this is
done in a very solemn and public manner. The chosen ones are brought
to the palace in court-coaches, and after the ceremony is over are
carried home in the same way, loaded with presents of clothing, money,
and all the dishes, spoons, forks, etc., used at their dinner. In
England the same charity, or its equivalent, is dispensed, not by the
sovereign in person, but by her chaplains and almoners, in the midst
of beautiful formalities. The dignity with which the ceremony is
performed is a striking evidence of the national character, and a
contrast to the sometimes slovenly manner in which great public
religious functions are got through abroad. The charities are
distributed in the chapel of Whitehall, the palace made tragically
famous by the disgrace of Wolsey and the death of King Charles I.
Fifty-five old men, and as many women, the number corresponding to the
age of the sovereign, were thus relieved last year. On an earlier
occasion witnessed by the writer a procession consisting of a
detachment of the yeomen of the guard, under the command of a
sergeant-major (one of the yeomen carrying the royal alms on a gold
salver of the reign of William and Mary), several chaplains, almoners,
secretaries and a few national schoolchildren (allowed to take part in
the ceremony as a signal reward for good behavior), left the Royal
Almonry Office for the chapel of Whitehall. It was met at the door by
the lord high almoner and the subdeans of the Chapel Royal, who joined
the ranks and passed up to the altar. The surpliced boys of the Chapel
Royal, and the clergy and gentlemen belonging officially to it, took
their appointed places right and l