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 Some Curious Facts about the Coronation.

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SOME CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT THE CORONATION OF AN ENGLISH MONARCH. i BY JOHN DE MORGAN. THE long reign of Victoria has caused many of the old customs, rites and formalities connected with the coronation of a monarch to be forgotten. Some of these ancient customs I propose to bring into the light of the twentieth century. The incidents connected with the procla mation of King Edward VII. are so recent that reference to them would be entirely out of place, but the papers have not told of the proclamation of the king in the old town of Dartford, in Kent. It was in Dartford that Wat Tyler began his insurrection, and which in the time of Elizabeth could boast of a royal residence. In the thirteenth century the town of Dartford rendered good service to the then king and in granting a charter he gave the right to the town to hold a market, and also the privilege was granted to the lord of the manor and the market of officially making known the accession of a new monarch. This right has been exer cised this year, and it has been held that the manor and its valuable privileges would have been forfeited to the crown had not the pro clamation been duly made. On the day it was officially known that Victoria was dead the following proclamation was posted in the market place:

BY ROYAL COMMAND! On the death of Queen Victoria, un der the Charter and Statute Rights of

this Market of Dartford, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, is now King of Eng land.—Lord Tredegar. Lord Tredegar, the lord of the ancient manor, did not care to risk his rights to the manor by neglecting the proclamation, though it bordered on the absurd, for the monarch of a mighty empire to be proclaimed king by a little town of nine thousand inhab itants. The owner of Dartford market and manor can point to a very ancient document grant ed by the crown, should any one question his title to say who is or is not monarch of Eng land. When the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, after reigning only ten days, was condemned to death, a doubt was raised whether she had been legally proclaimed queen, and among other evidence presented to Queen Mary was the fact that Jane Grey had been proclaimed at Dartford, thus making her Queen of England, and therefore justifying the death penalty for usurpation. Addington Palace, long the residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury, was granted to its ancient owners, the Trecothicks, on consideration that at the coronation feast of a king they should serve up to him a mess of pottage. This curious custom dated from the days of William the Conqueror, who granted the manor to his cook, Tezelin. The custom was faithfully observed until the coronation of James II., when the owner of Addington was permitted to make a dish of "grouts" in the royal kitchen, and to carry it with his own hands to the king's table. The king was so pleased with the dish that he said no other monarch should fte so favored and ordered that a small sum of money be paid to future kings in lieu of pottage.