charged on two counts: first, with aiding and abetting John Thom, _alias_
Courtenay, in the murder of Nicholas Mears, on the 31st of May, and
second, with being principals in the murder. Lord Denman charged the
jury that, if they were of opinion that Thom was of unsound mind, so
that, if he had been put upon his trial, he could not have been convicted
of murder, the principal being acquitted, the accessories must also be
acquitted, and the prisoners could not be found guilty on the first
count. This, the jury acquiesced in, and brought in a verdict of
"guilty" on the second count, with a strong recommendation to mercy on
account of the infatuation under which they were led astray by Courtenay.
Lord Denman pronounced sentence of death upon the prisoners, but added,
that their lives would be spared. Two were sentenced to transportation
for life; one to transportation for ten years; and the remainder to be
imprisoned for one year, and kept to hard labour in the House of
Correction, one month in solitary confinement.

CHAPTER VI.

The Queen's Coronation--The Carriages--The fair and festivities in Hyde
Park--The Marquis of Waterford's drive--His pranks at Melton
Mowbray--Steam carriages--Dog carriages--Grand dinner at Guildhall.

The next event which occupied the public attention was the Queen's
Coronation, which took place on the 28th of June. It was, like the "Half
Crownation" of William IV., a much plainer affair than that of George the
Magnificent, the walking procession of all the estates of the realm, and
the banquet in Westminster Hall, with all the feudal services thereunto
belonging, being wholly dispensed with. The day began badly, with a cold
shower about 8 a.m., but it cleared off, and the sun shone out fitfully,
throughout the time the ceremony occupied--the head of the procession
starting from Buckingham Palace at 10 a.m., and the Queen reaching
Westminster Abbey at half-past eleven. Next to the Queen herself, the
principal attraction in the procession was the equipages and liveries of
the Ambassadors Extraordinary, chief among which was the carriage of
Marshal Soult (who represented France), which had formerly belonged to
the last great prince of the House of Conde, the father of the Duc de
Bourbon, and which, by its superior magnificence, eclipsed all other
vehicles. Besides which, it held the Duke of Dalmatia, Wellington's old
foe, who had now come to visit, in peace, the country he had so ma