BOOK X. teach the way to the erring; stretch out thine hand to the faltering; abase the proud; exalt the humble, that Christ our Lord may open to thee the door, who says of himself, I am the door; if any enter through me, he shall be ''saved.' And HE who is the key of David, and the sceptre of the house of Israel, who opens and no one can shut; ⚫ who shuts and no one can open; may he be thy helper! HE who bringeth the bounden from the prison-house, and the one sitting in darkness and the shadow of death! that in all things thou mayest deserve to follow him of whom David sang, Thy scat, O God, endureth for ever; the sceptre of 'thy kingdom is a right sceptre.' Imitate him who says, Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; there'fore God, even thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of ''gladness above thy fellows.' 6 The benedictions follow: 6 May the Almighty Lord extend the right hand of his blessing, and pour upon thee the gift of his protection, and surround thee with a wall of happiness, and with the guar dianship of his care; the merits of the holy Mary; of Saint Peter, the prince of the apostles; and of Saint Gregory, the apostle of the English; and of all the Saints, interceding ⚫ for thee! 6 May the Lord forgive thee all the evil thou hast done, • and bestow on thee the grace and mercy which thou humbly askest of him; may he free thee from all adversity, and from all the assaults of visible or invisible enemies! 6 May he place his good angels to watch over thee, that they always and every where may precede, accompany, and follow thee; and by his power may he preserve thee from sin, from the sword, and every accident and danger! May he convert thine enemies to the benignity of peace ⚫ and love, and make thee gracious and amiable in every good thing; and may he cover those that persecute and hate thee * with salutary confusion; and may everlasting sanctification CHA P. • flourish thee! upon May he always make thee victorious and triumphant over thine enemies, visible or invisible; and pour upon thy heart both the fear and the continual love of his holy ← name, and make thee persevere in the right faith and in good works; granting thee peace in thy days, and with the palm of victory may he bring thee to an endless reign! 6 6 And may he make them happy in this world, and the partakers of his everlasting felicity, who will to make thee king over his people! Bless, Lord, this elected prince, thou who rulest for ever the kingdoms of all kings. And so glorify him with thy blessing, that he may hold the sceptre of Solomon with the sublimity of a David,' &c.. Grant him, by thy inspiration, so to govern thy people, as thou didst perinit Solomon to obtain a peaceful king• dom.' 6. 66 Designation of the State of the Kingdom. Stand and retain now the state which you have hitherto held by paternal succession, with hereditary right, delegated to thee by the authority of Almighty God, and our present delivery, that is, of all the bishops and other servants of God; and in so much as thou hast beheld the clergy nearer the sacred altars, so much more remember to pay them the honour due, in suitable places. So may the • Mediator of God and men confirm thee the mediator of the clergy and the common people, on the throne of this. kingdom, and make thee reign with him in his eternal kingdom.' 6. 6. This prayer 6 follows: May the Almighty Lord give thee, from the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, abundance of corn,. wine, and oil! May the people serve thee, and the tribes adore thee! Be the lord of thy brothers, and let the sons, 1. BOOK X. of thy mother bow before thee: He who blesses thee shall be filled with blessings, and God will be thy helper: May the Almighty bless thee with the blessings of the heaven above, and in the mountains and the vallies; with the blessing of the deep below; with the blessing of the suckling and the womb; with the blessings of grapes and apples; • and may the blessing of the ancient fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, be heaped upon thee! Bless, Lord, the courage of this prince, and prosper the • works of his hands; and by thy blessing may his land be filled with apples, with the fruits, and the dew of heaven, ' and of the deep below; with the fruit of the sun and moon; from the top of the ancient mountains, from the apples of the eternal hills, and from the fruits of the earth and its • fulness! May the blessing of Him who appeared in the bush come C upon his head, and may the full blessing of the Lord be upon his sons, and may he steep his feet in oil. With his horn, as the horn of the rhinoceros, may be blow the nations to the extremities of the earth; and may He who has ascended to the skies be his auxiliary for ever!' "Here the coronation ends." TH CHA P. II. His Family and Officers. II. HE Anglo-Saxon queen was crowned, as well as the CHAP. king, until the reign of Egbert, when this honour was taken from her. The crimes of the preceding queen, Eadburga, occasioned the Anglo-Saxons to depart awhile, in this respect, from the custom of all the German nations.' But it was soon restored, for Ethelwulph, on his second marriage, suffered his queen, Judith, to be crowned. An account of the ceremony of her coronation has been preserved by the old Frankish writers.* The custom was not immediately reassumed in England, because the expressions of Asser imply, that in Alfred's time the disuse of the coronation continued. But, by the time of the second Ethelred, it was restored; for after the account of his coronation, the ceremonial of her coronation follows.-She was anointed, and, after a prayer, a ring was given to her, and then she was crowned.' The queen's name is joined with the cyning's in some charters, and it is not unusual to find them signed by her. She had her separate property; for, in a gift of land by Ethelswitha, the queen of Alfred, she gives fifteen manentes, calling them a part of the land of her own power. She had also officers of her own household; for the persons, with whose consent and testimony she made the grant, are called her nobles. The king's sons had lands appropriated for them, even though under age; for Ethelred says, that, on his brother Asser. Vit. Alfr. p. 10, 11. It may be seen in Du Chesne's Collection of the Frankish Historians, t. ii. p. 423. VOL. II. a Cott. MS. Claud. A. 3. MS. Cland. C. 9. p. 105. X. BOOK being elected king," the nobles delivered to me, for my use, "the lands belonging to the king's sons;" these, on the death of the princes, or on their accession to the sovereignty, became the property of the king; for he adds, "my brother dying, I "assumed the dominion, both of the royal lands, and of "those belonging to the king's sons."s Among the royal household we find the disc thegn, or the thegn of his dishes; the bregal thegn, or the thegn of his wardrobe; his hors thegn, or the thegn of his stud; his camerarius, or chamberlain; his propincenarius and pincerna, or cup-bearer; his secretaries; his chancellor; and, in an humbler rank, his margden, his grindende theowa, his fedesl, his ambiht-smith, his horsweath, his geneat, and his laadrinc. The executive officers of his government will be mentioned hereafter, MS. Claud. C. 9. p. 123. |