ith loud and repeated
shouts cry, 'God save the Queen!' and trumpets sound, and by a signal
given the great guns at the Tower are shot off."

Well, now we are in the chapel of Edward the Confessor, and I see you
all look at that chair standing by the screen. It is well worth looking
at, for it is doubtful whether there is any curiosity in all England to
compare with it in interest. It is King Edward's chair, upon which
English monarchs have been crowned for many centuries, and while we
stand near it, I shall tell you very briefly about the crowning of some
of our kings and queens.

For more than 800 years the coronations of English monarchs have
regularly taken place in Westminster Abbey. Duke William of Normandy
claimed the throne as lawful successor of Edward the Confessor, and upon
the Confessor's gravestone the burly Norman stood to receive the crown
of England. There were two nations represented in the throng assembled
here that day. Godfrey, Bishop of Coutances, made a speech in French,
Alred, Archbishop of York, spoke in English, and then the crowd, some in
French and some in English, hailed William the Conqueror as their king.
While this was going on inside the Abbey the Norman cavalry were without
sitting on their war-horses, ready to quell any disturbance should it
arise. They had not long to wait. It seems that they were not aware that
their leader was to go through the form of receiving by popular vote the
crown which he had already won by his sword, and when they heard the
excited shouting inside the building they thought something had gone
wrong, and so they set fire to the gates of the Abbey. Then the crowd
inside the building were sure there was something wrong without, and
they rushed out, only to be trodden down by the Norman horse-hoofs. Only
monks and prelates remained within, and the ceremony of coronation was
hurried through, while William, for the first time in his life, it is
said, trembled from head to foot; and so ended the first coronation in
the Abbey of which we have any authentic information.

Nothing of importance marks the coronation of William Rufus. When he
perished in the New Forest, within four days Henry I. was in the Abbey
claiming the crown, and making all sorts of promises in order to get the
thing done speedily. So he was crowned by the Bishop of London, being in
too great a hurry to wait for the arrival of either of the archbishops,
who were away from London.

In those days,