THE CORONATION.

I HAVE seen the Coronation, and never did I witness a sight so magnificent-so august-so sublime. If ever the exclamation of" hæc olim meminisse juvabit" can be applicable, it must be to a spectacle like this, which, by eclipsing the future as well as the past, has condensed the wonders of a whole life in one absorbing moment, and given me reason to be thankful that my existence was made contemporaneous with such a surpassing display of glory and splendour. So far from seeking to aggrandise what I have seen, even if that were possible, by any inflation of language, I have purposely abstained, during several days, from any attempt at description, in order that some portion of my enthusiasm might be suffered to evaporate; and yet, even now, I feel the necessity of perpetually keeping my pen below the level of my feelings, lest I should be suspected of intemperate exaggeration. In all sincerity of heart I may say, that I unaffectedly pity those who, from any inexcusable considerations of interest, or the more justifiable causes of compulsory absence, have been debarred from sharing the intense gratification which I have experienced. Exhibitions of this nature are rare, and a concurrence of circumstances united to give interest and magnificence to the present, which may never be again combined. The previous night, by its serene splendour, seemed anxious to do honour to the approaching gorgeousness. One would have thought that it was a court-day in heaven, and that all its nobility were present, sparkling in their stars, and coronets, and girdles of light; while imagination easily converted the milky way into a cluster of radiant courtiers gathering around the throne from which their splendours were derived. Morning began to dawn with a calm loveliness, which rather confirmed than dissipated these floating delusions of the mind. From the gallery where I had procured a seat, I saw the stars gradually "gin to pale their ineffectual fires," until none remained visible but Dian's crescent, slowly changing its hue from gold to silver, and the sparkling son of Jupiter and Aurora, Lucifer, who, by his reluctant twinklings, seemed struggling for a little longer existence, that he might catch one glimpse of the approaching magnificence. Already were the eastern skies steeped in a faint grey light, interspersed with streaks of pale green, while fresh flushes of a rosier hue came every moment flooding up from beneath the horizon, and a breeze, sent forward as the herald of the sun, presently wafted around me such a gush of crimson radiance, that I felt (to use the only poetical expression of Sternhold and Hopkins) as if the morning" on the

wings of winds came flying all abroad." Behold, I exclaimed, "the jocund day

Stands tiptoe on the misty mountains' top;"

and I was endeavouring to recollect Tasso's beautiful description of sun-rise, when the increasing charms of the day-break compelled me to concentrate all my faculties in the contemplation of the scene with which I was surrounded.

The gallery where I had taken my station was a terrace which overhangs the Lake of Chêde, opposite to Mont Blanc; and he who from this point has seen the sun rise, and shower its glories upon the romantic and stupendous wonders with which he is encompassed, will not marvel that I shrink from the hopeless attempt of its description. It is a spectacle to be felt, not painted. Amid the solitude of those gigantic and sublime regions there is something peculiarly impressive in witnessing the magnificence of Nature, as she silently performs her unerring evolutions; and the heart of man, feeling itself in the immediate presence of omnipotence, turns with instinctive reverence to its Creator. But let me resume my narrative of the Coronationnot of a poor fleeting mortal like ourselves, but of that glorious King coeval with the world, and to endure till the great globe itself shall crumble and dissolve;-of that truly legitimate Sovereign, who alone can plead divine right for his enthronement, since the Almighty has planted his feet deep in the bowels of the earth, and lifted his head above the clouds;-of that Monarch of the mountains, who indeed deserves the appellation of Majesty-Mont Blanc. If I cannot say, in newspaper phraseology, that the morning was ushered in with the ringing of bells, I may affirm, that ten thousand were waving to and fro in the breezes of Heaven, for the lilies of the valley, and the hyacinths, and the blue-bells, and the wild flowers, were all nodding their down-looking cups at the earth; and who shall say that they were not melodious with a music inaudible to human ears, although fraught with harmonious vibrations for the innumerable insects who were recreating themselves beneath their pendent belfries? No daughter of earth, however fair or noble, would have been presumptuous enough to aspire to the honour of strewing flowers on this august occasion, for a heavenly florist had fashioned them with his hand, and perfumed them with his breath, and Flora scattered them spontaneously from her lap as she walked along the valleys. By the same mighty hand was performed the ceremony of the anointing; and as I saw the dews of heaven glittering in the dawning light, while they fell upon the head of the mountain, I exclaimed, "Here, indeed, is a monarch who may, without impiety, be termed the Lord's anointed." Bursting forth from a pavilion of crimson

and gold clouds, the sun now threw his full effulgence upon the lofty forehead of Mont Blanc; and the Glaciers, and the rocks of red porphyry and granite, and the valley of Chamouni, and that sea of diamonds, the Mer de Glace, gradually became clothed in gorgeous robes of light. As I contemplated the seagreen pyramids of ice that surrounded Mont Blanc, each, as it became tipped with sun-light, appearing to put on its coronet of sparkling silver, methought there never had been so grand a potentate, encircled with such splendid nobility and courtiers. Nor did the great Hall in which they were assembled appear unworthy of its tenants; for as it had not been built by hands, so neither was it limited by human powers, possessing only the walls of the horizon for its boundaries, and having for its roof the azure vault of heaven, painted with vari-coloured clouds, and illuminated by the glorious and flaming sun. From the tops of the surrounding heights, various stripes of purple clouds, laced with light, assumed the appearance of flags and banners floating in the air in honour of the joyous day; but my attention was more particularly directed to two hovering masses of darker hue, which, majestically descending from heaven towards the summit of Mont Blanc, at length deposited their burthen upon its head in the form of a crown of snow, which an electric flash instantly lighted up with intolerable splendour, while a loud peal of thunder gave notice to all the world that the ceremony of Coronation had been accomplished. Alps and Apennines "rebellow'd to the roar;" every mountain opening its deep-toned throat, and shouting out the joyful intelligence to its neighbour, until after countless hollow and more hollow reverberations, the sound died away in the distance of immeasurable space.

Nor was the banquet wanting to complete this august festival, for as mine eye roamed over the fertile plains and valleys commanded by the eminence on which I stood, I found that He who owns the cattle on a thousand hills had covered them with corn, and fruits, and wine, and oil, and honey, spreading out a perpetually renewed feast for whole nations, diffusing, at the same time, odours and perfumes on every side, and recreating the ears of the guests with the mingled harmony of pipingbirds, melodious winds, rustling woods, the gushing of cascades, and the tinkling of innumerable rills. Again I turned my looks towards Mont Blanc, and lo! a huge avalanche, detaching itself from its summit, came thundering down into the valley below, making earth shake with the concussion. "Behold," I exclaimed, "He who overthroweth the horse and his rider, hath sent his Champion to challenge all the world ;" and at this moment a smaller portion, which had broken away from the falling mass, came leaping towards me, and shivered itself into a cloud

of snow beneath, as if the tremendous Champion had thrown down his gauntlet at my feet. Overcome with awe and wonder, I shrunk into myself, and as the rocks, and caverns, and mountains round echoed to the roar of the falling avalanche, methought they hailed the Coronation of their monarch, and shouting with a thousand voices, made the whole welkin ring to their acclamations of Mont Blanc! Mont Blanc! Mont Blanc !

Since witnessing this most impressive scene, I have read an account of the Coronation of “an island-monarch throned in the west," with all its circumstantial detail of Dukes, Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts, and Knights in their ermine robes, Kings at Arms, and Heralds in their gewgaw coats, and Bishops in the pomp of pontificals, with the parade of gold spurs, ewers, maces, swords, sceptres, crowns, balls, and crosses; but when I compared it with the stupendous exhibition of nature which I had so lately beheld, the whole sunk into insignificance; nor could I suppress a smile of pity as I shared the feeling with which Xerxes contemplated his mighty armament, and reflected that, in a few fleeting years, the whole of all this human pride, with the soldiers and horses that paraded around it, and the multitude that huzzaed without, would be converted into dust; the haughtiest of the nobles lying an outstretched corpse in a dark and silent vault, with nothing of his earthly splendour left but the empty trappings and escutcheons which, in mockery of the lofty titles with which it is inscribed, will hang mouldering upon his coffin. The ceremony will not, however, have been unavailing, if it shall have awakened reflections of this nature in the minds of those who contributed to it, and have impressed upon their hearts the truth of Shirley's noble lines, in the contention of Ajax and Ulysses :

"The glories of our earthly state

Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against fate,
Death lays his icy hand on kings:-

Sceptre and crown

Must tumble down,

And in the dust be equal made

With the poor crooked scythe and spade."

H.

JONATHAN KENTUCKY'S JOURNAL. NO. V.

June 1.-Ar last I have seen the humours of a levee, which is certainly worth seeing for once, as presenting so remarkable a contrast to the plain simplicity of our own chief magistrate, who stands forth only as a man among men; "who walks forth without attendants, lives without state, greets his fellow citizens with open hand as his companions and equals; seeks his relaxation from the labours of the cabinet at the domestic hearth; snatches a moment from the hurry of public affairs to superintend the business of his farm, and defrays all the expenses of his high office with a stipend of 60007. a year!" How different is the scene at Carlton Palace, with all its pomp and parade of miliary attendance, and all the glare and frippery of its court costume. I went under the protection of our worthy minister, and it was about two o'clock when we found ourselves in the large anti-room of the palace, which was soon thronged with bishops and judges, generals and admirals, doctors and surgeons, lawyers and authors,-all anxious to bask for a moment in the rays of royalty, and catch a passing smile of condescension from the great man. The mob at a levee is much like other mobs, though perhaps less good-humoured and entertaining. After waiting about an hour on the tiptoe of expectation, the folding-doors were at length thrown open, and the mass began to move. Inch by inch we fought our way, till at last I got near enough to command a view of the King. He stood, as it were, in a doorway, with the whole of his cabinet ministers drawn up in regular array opposite to him; and the intervening narrow lane, through which two persons could scarcely have passed abreast, just sufficed to let the crowd off. I can compare the scene to nothing so well, as to the getting into the pit of the theatre, on a full night. The lord in waiting who receives your card, and the King your bow,-if one may venture upon so homely a comparison,-answered to the check and money takers; the cry of "get your card ready," would have been as appropriate on one occasion, as "get your money ready," on the other; and the press from behind scarcely allowed time for a moment's pause in the royal presence. The business of presentation was begun and concluded in a moment; the King smiled graciously, saying, "How d'ye do, Mr. Kentucky, I am very glad to see you here," and I found myself in the next room before I was well aware that the ceremony had commenced. It was then that a friend who had witnessed the scene, congratulated me upon the gracious reception I had experienced, a fact of which, but for his information, I might have remained in ignorance.

The next difficulty was how to get away; for, having no carriage,