and Aldermen in their robes, and other
dignitaries, were ranged in the midst round, a canopied chair of
state. It was the royal chair of Scotland, with the mystic
coronation-stone underneath it, brought for the purpose from the
Abbey. In front of the chair was a table, covered with pink-coloured
Geneva velvet fringed with gold; and on the table lay a large Bible,
a sword, the sceptre, and a robe of purple velvet, lined with ermine.
His Highness, having entered, attended by his Council, the great
state officers, his son Richard, the French Ambassador, the Dutch
Ambassador, and "divers of the nobility and other persons of great
quality," stood, beside the chair under the canopy. The Speaker,
assisted by the Earl of Warwick, Whitlocke, and others, then attired
his Highness in the purple velvet robe; after which he delivered to
him the richly-gilt Bible, girt him with the sword, and put the gold
sceptre into his hand. His Highness then swore the oath of office,
administered to him by the Speaker, After that, the Speaker addressed
him in a well-turned speech. "You have no new name," he said, "but a
new date now added to the old name: the 16th of December is now
changed into the 26th of June." He explained that the robe, the
Bible, the sword, and the sceptre were presents to his Highness from
the Parliament, and dwelt poetically on the significance of each.
"What a comely and glorious sight," he concluded, "it is to behold a
Lord Protector in a purple robe, with a sceptre in his hand, a sword
of justice girt about him, and his eyes fixed upon the Bible! Long
may you prosperously enjoy them all, to your own comfort, and the
comfort of the people of these three Nations!" His Highness still
standing, Mr. Manton offered up a prayer. Then, the assemblage giving
several great shouts, and the trumpets sounding, his Highness sat
down in the chair, still holding the sceptre. Then a herald stood up
aloft, and signalled for three trumpet-blasts, at the end of which,
by authority of Parliament, he proclaimed the Protector. There were
new trumpet-blasts, loud hurrahs through the Hall, and cries of "God
save the Lord Protector." Once more there was proclamation, and once
more a burst of applauses. Then, all being ended, his Highness, with
his robe borne up by several young persons of rank, passed with his
retinue from the Hall by the great gate, where his coach was in
waiting. And so, with the Earl of Warwick seated opposite to him in
the