[Footnote 68: The beautiful anecdote which Mr. Lingard furnishes from
Bede of the debate on the conversion of the Northumbrian king, _Edwin_,
we cannot forbear transcribing. The high priest of the heathen rites
having spoken--a thane "sought for information respecting the origin and
destiny of man. 'Often,' said he, 'O king, in the depth of winter, while
you are feasting with your thanes, and the fire is blazing on the hearth
in the midst of the hall, you have seen a bird, pelted by the storm,
enter at one door, and escape at the other. During its passage it was
visible: but whence it came, or whither it went, you knew not. Such to
me appears the life of man. He walks the earth for a few years: but what
precedes his birth, or what is to follow after death, we cannot tell.
Undoubtedly, if the new religion can unfold these important secrets, it
must be worthy our attention.'"--_Lingard's History_, vol. i. p. 92.]
[Footnote 69: The see of Canterbury was restored to the primacy again by
Cenulf, the successor of Egfurth.]
[Footnote 70: Ep. Car. Mag. ap. Bouquet, tom. v. p. 260.]
[Footnote 71: Titles of Honour, p. i. chap. 1.]
[Footnote 72: See Mr. Turner's Anglo-Saxons, Spelman's Life of Alfred,
&c.]
[Footnote 73: Taylor's Glory of Regality, Addit. Notes, p. 310.]
[Footnote 74: Lingard's History, vol. i. p. 350.]
[Footnote 75: See Hume's England, 8vo. vol. i. &c.]
[Footnote 76: Turner's Anglo-Saxons, 4to. vol. i. p. 389.]
[Footnote 77: "Princes beyond the baths of the sea-fowl, worshipped him
far and wide," says a poem on his death: "they bowed to the king as one
of their own kin. There was no fleet so proud, there was no host so
strong, as to seek food in England, while this noble king ruled the
kingdom. He reared up God's honour, he loved God's law, he preserved the
people's peace; the best of all the kings that were before in the memory
of man. And God was his helper: and kings and earls bowed to him: and
they obeyed his will: and without battle he ended all as he
willed."--_Chron. Sax._ p. 122.]
[Footnote 78: Osbern, 113. Eadmer, 220.]
[Footnote 79: Mr. Lingard has the following note on the accession of
Edwy, confirming our previous observations on the meaning of the
recognition. "It is observable, that the ancient writers almost always
speak of our kings as _elected_. Edwy's grandmother in her charter,
(Lye, App. iv.) says, "He was chosen, _gecoren_." The contemporary
biographer of Dunstan, (apud Boll. tom. iv. Maii, 344.) says, "Ab
universis Anglorum principibus communi electione.""]
[Footnote 80: Hickes' Inst. Gram. Praef.]
[Footnote 81: Lingard's Hist. p. 292.]
[Footnote 82: Thus the Saxon Chronicler says of William I. "Thrice he
bore his _king-helmet_ every year, when he was in England; at Easter he
bore it at Winchester, at Pentecost at Westminster, and in Mid-winter at
Gloucester." p. 450.]
[Footnote 83: We have noticed the present existence of a contemporary
account of the coronation of Ethelred II. It demonstrates, that some of
the most eloquent passages of the prayers now used on the occasion, were
the production of what we often denominate the darker ages of the world,
and well accords with the preceding sketch of the character and duties
of the Saxon kings.
"Two bishops, with the witan[*]," it is said, "shall lead the king to
church; and the clergy with the bishops shall sing the anthem, _Firmetur
manus tua_, and the _Gloria Patri_. When the king arrives at the church,
he shall prostrate himself before the altar, and the _Te Deum_ shall be
chanted. When this is finished, the king shall be raised from the
ground, and having been _chosen_ by the bishops and people, shall with a
clear voice, before God and all the people, promise that he will observe
these three rules." [Then follows the coronation oath, quoted above.]
[Footnote *: MS. Claude, A. 3. Cotton Library.]
The prayers that follow, the bishops shall separately repeat. "We invoke
thee, O Lord, Holy Father Almighty and Eternal God, that this thy
servant, whom by the wisdom of thy divine dispensations from the
beginning of his existence to this day, thou hast permitted to increase,
rejoicing in the flower of youth, enriched with the gift of thy piety,
and full of the grace of thy truth, thou mayest cause to be always
advancing, day by day, to better things before God and men;--that
rejoicing in the bounty of supernal grace, he may receive the throne of
supreme power; and, defended on all sides from his enemies by the wall
of thy mercy, he may deserve to govern happily the people committed to
him, with the peace of propitiation and the strength of victory."
The following combination of admirable Scripture allusions is extracted
from the third prayer, or that offered by the bishop after the
consecration, "holding the crown over the king."
"Almighty Creator, everlasting Lord, Governor of heaven and earth, the
Maker and Disposer of angels and men, King of kings and Lord of lords!
who made thy faithful servant Abraham to triumph over his enemies, and
gavest manifold victories to Moses and Joshua, the _prelates_ of thy
people; and didst raise David, thy lowly child, to the summit of the
kingdom, and didst free him from the mouth of the lion and the paws of
the bear, and from Goliath, and from the malignant sword of Saul; who
didst endow Solomon with the ineffable gift of wisdom and peace;--look
down propitiously on our humble prayers, and multiply the gifts of thy
blessing on this thy servant, whom with humble devotion we have chosen
to be king of the Angles and Saxons. Surround him everywhere with the
right hand of thy power, that, strengthened with the faith of Abraham,
the meekness of Moses, the courage of Joshua, the humility of David, and
the wisdom of Solomon, he may be well pleasing to thee in all things,
and may always advance in the way of justice with inoffensive progress."
When crowned, the invocation is, "May God crown thee with the honour of
justice, and the labour of fortitude; that by the virtue of _our_
benediction, and by a right faith, and the various fruit of good works,
thou mayest attain to the crown of the everlasting kingdom, through his
bounty whose kingdom endureth for ever!"
We cannot omit the concluding benedictions, rich with Scripture
phraseology as any church could make them.
"May the Almighty Lord give thee, from the dew of heaven, and the
fatness of the earth, abundance of corn, wine, and oil! May the people
serve thee, and the tribes adore thee! Be the lord of thy brothers, and
let the sons of thy mother bow before thee! He who blesses thee shall be
filled with blessings; for God will be thy helper. May the Almighty
bless thee with the blessings of the heaven above, and in the mountains
and the valleys; with the blessings of the deep below; with the
blessings of the suckling and the womb; with the blessings of grapes and
apples; and may the blessing of the ancient fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, be heaped upon thee!--May the blessing of Him, who appeared in
the bush, come upon his head, and may the full blessing of the Lord be
upon his sons, and may he steep his feet in oil! With his horn, as the
horn of the rhinoceros, may he push the nations to the extremities of
the earth; and may He who has ascended the skies be his auxiliary for
ever!"]
[Footnote 84: Chron. Sax. 257.]
[Footnote 85: Lingard, vol. i. 485.]
[Footnote 86: A tax of two shillings per hide on land, gathered
annually.]
[Footnote 87: History of England, 8vo. edit. vol. i. p. 413.]
[Footnote 88: Holinshed.]
[Footnote 89: This is the common statement: Mr. Taylor (Glory of
Regality, p. 249,) objects to this being considered as a second
coronation, and thinks it only a renewal of the royal festivities at
Easter, with unusual splendor. But he seems to overlook the formal
resolve of the council at Nottingham, on the point.]
[Footnote 90: See the whole speech, in Matt. Paris.]
[Footnote 91: Leg. Sex. 154.]
[Footnote 92: Brompton, 1283, 4.]
[Footnote 93: See M. Paris, Rymer, &c.]
[Footnote 94: Holinshed.]
[Footnote 95: The queen is said to have sucked the poison out of a wound
which her husband received in the Holy Land, from the poisoned dagger of
the emir of Jaffa.--See Lingard, v. ii. p. 369.]
[Footnote 96: Johnes' Froissart, i. xxv.]
[Footnote 97: Rymer, vii.]
[Footnote 98: Rot. Parl. iii.]
[Footnote 99: See the curious original document in Hume.]
[Footnote 100: King Henry IV. p. ii.]
[Footnote 101: See a curious MS. account of this 'solempnyte' in the
Cotton Library, as quoted by Mr. Taylor, Glory of Regality, p. 263.]
[Footnote 102: See the preceding Note.]
[Footnote 103: Grafton, vol i. p. 592.]
[Footnote 104: Historic Doubts, Lord Orford's Works, 5 vols. 4to. vol.
ii. p. 146.]
[Footnote 105: Grafton, vol. ii. p. 156.]
[Footnote 106: Burnet on the Reformation, and Appendix.]
[Footnote 107: Walker's Circumstantial Account, 8vo. 1. p. 78.]
[Footnote 108: Taylor's Preface, p. x.]
[Footnote 109: Page 37.]
[Footnote 110: No. 335.--The Spectator's encomium on Booth is, however,
sufficiently slight. The good bishop, it is evident, was better
acquainted with the realities he was here describing than these
theatrical types.]
[Footnote 111: Here the archbishop took the paten into his hands.]
[Footnote 112: And here broke the bread.]
[Footnote 113: Here the archbishop laid his hand upon all the bread.]
[Footnote 114: Here he took the cup into his hand.]
[Footnote 115: And here laid his hand upon every vessel (be it chalice
or flagon) in which there was any wine to be consecrated.]