220 THE ANCESTOR THE CORONATION : THREE BOOKS AND A PROTEST The three handbooks^ on the coronation that have recently appeared deal in the main with the coronation service itself. And seeing that any historical interest which the ceremony next June may have will be confined to the service in the Abbey, the authors of these books may be congratulated on choosing this side of the coronation ceremonies as their sub- ject. For it is to be feared that any hope of seeing the coming coronation arranged on historical or even sensible lines is to be abandoned. The most unfortunate announcement, and that which dislocated the rest, was the proclamation in June that the ceremonies in Westminster Hall and the proces- sions would be discontinued. This abolished the enthronement of the king amongst his peers ; the relic of the old Teutonic election of the king by the second estate. It is not too much to say that without this particular ceremony in Westminster Hall, previous to the service in the Abbey, no English corona- tion can be considered complete. Had the authorities realized that the king is, in form, elected, first by the second estate in Westminster Hall, and secondly by the first and third estates at the ' Recognition ' in the Abbey, they would not, we think, have destroyed so vital a part of the ceremonies ; and they would also have perceived that the great procession through the streets was an antecedent to this election, and not a conse- quent of the coronation. Further, it is surely obvious that Westminster Hall and the Houses of Parliament are far more convenient places for the assembly and separation of such a large number of people as the peers and peeresses, than will be the west door of Westminster Abbey ; and as to the king and queen themselves, it seems to the ordinary individual that a ^ I. T^he Coronation Service according to the Use of the Church of England : with notes and introduction, by the Rev. Joseph H. Pemberton (Skeffingtons, 1901). 2. T^he Coronation Service : its teaching and history ; being a lecture delivered before the Aberdeen Diocesan Association, December 9, 1901, by F. C. Eeles (Movv^bray, 1902). 3. The Great Solemnity of the Coronation of the King and Queen of England, by Douglas Macleane, M.A., sometime Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford : with a note on the binding by Cyril Davenport, F.S.A. (Robinson, 1092).
