, and the
people were assembling in the great church of St. Mary, filling every
inch of available room. Every figure was bent forward in earnest gaze,
and every heart seemed to beat more quickly, as the faint and distant
sound of deep solemn music, the monastic choirs chanting the
processional psalms, drew near.

Suddenly the jubilant strains filled the whole church, as the
white-robed train entered the sacred building while they sang:

"_Quoniam praevenisti eum in benedictionibus dulcedinis, posuisti in
capiti ejus coronam de lapide pretioso_." [xii]

Incense ascended in clouds to the lofty roof; torches were uplifted,
banners floated in the air, every eye was now strained to catch a
glimpse of the youthful monarch.

He came at last. Oh, how lovely the ill-fated boy looked that day! His
beauty was of a somewhat fragile character, his complexion almost too
fair, his hair shone around his shoulders in waves of gold, for men then
wore their hair long, his eyes blue as the azure vault on that sweet
spring morning: alas, that his spiritual being should not have been
equally fair!

Elfric stood by his father, amidst the crowd of thanes, near the rood
screen, for he had spent the last few days at Kingston, and there his
father had found him, and had embraced him with joy, little dreaming of
the change which had come over his darling boy.

"Look, father, is he not every inch a king?" Elfric could not help
exclaiming, forgetting the place and the occasion in his pride in his
king and his friend.

He would have been one of the four boys who bore the royal train, but it
had not seemed advisable on such a day to offend Dunstan too seriously.

The mass proceeded after the royal party had all taken their places, and
the coronation service was incorporated into the rite, following the
Nicene Creed and preceding the canon.

Kneeling before the altar, the young prince might well tremble with
emotion. Before him stood the archbishop, clad in full pontifical
vestments; around were the most noted prelates and wisest abbots of
England; behind him the nobility, gentry, and commonalty of the whole
country--all gazing upon him, as the archbishop dictated the solemn
words of the oath, which Edwy repeated with trembling voice after him.

"In the name of the ever-blessed Trinity, I promise three things to the
Christian people, my subjects:

"First, that the Church of God within my realm shall enjoy peace, free
from any molestation.