33 CHAPTER III. CORONATION VESTMENTS. In this chapter we shall describe the garments of state with which the sovereigns of England are invested by the archbishop of Canterbury and his assistants during the ceremony of the coronation. The chief of these, the IMPERIAL PALL, called also the Dalmatica, Mantle, or Open Pall, was at one period richly embroidered with golden eagles, but having been destroyed, with the rest of the Regalia, in the time of the Commonwealth, a very rich gold and purple brocaded tissue is used in its D stead, encircled with gold and silver trails, and large flowers of gold frosted. All the ornaments are edged round with purple, or a deep mazarine blue. The pall was originally part of the imperial habit, being a rich robe of state, reaching quite to the ground. It is said that Constantine the Great granted the use of this vest to the bishops of Rome, and that the same honour was subsequently granted to other patriarchs by his successors. The pall at length became the badge of episcopal dignity, and hence, when prelates were deprived of their sees, or quitted them voluntarily, they resigned their palls to the emperors. When the popes first assumed the power of granting this honorary badge, which they did previous to the pontificate of Gregory the Great, A. D. 590, they did not presume to do so without the permission of the emperor; but in process of time they usurped the privilege of conferring it according to their pleasure, and raised exorbitant sums from all the prelates of Europe, whom they compelled to purchase this ensign of dignity. They also made a canon, enacting, that a metropolitan until he have received the pall, cannot consecrate bishops or churches, or receive the archiepiscopal title; and they compelled archbishops to purchase a new pall on every translation. Tertullian informs us, that the pallium, or pall, was assumed as a dress by the Christians, to distinguish them from the heathens, who used the toga. The pall is used at the coronation of monarchs, because they are supposed by this ceremony to be invested with a sacred as well as a civil character. The name Dalmatica, is derived from an ancient clerical habit, so called because it was previously the ordinary dress of the people of Dalmatia. It covered the whole body, and had large loose sleeves; on which account it was thought to be convenient for the ministry of deacons. But it was also worn by bishops, as we learn from the acts of St. Cyprian, the celebrated martyr of the third century, who being about to suffer death, delivered his dalmatic to his deacon, leaving the rest of his dress to his executioners. At present the proper dalmatic forms part of the under-dress of Romish bishops, when they officiate pontifically, being made of thin light silk. But as the outer and distinctive vestment of their deacons, it is Super-Tunica, or Surcoat. richly embroidered, and has a sort of large open wings attached to it, as substitutes for sleeves. The SUPER-TUNICA, Surcoat, or Close Pall, which is worn under the imperial pall, is a straight coat with plain sleeves, of a thick and rich cloth of gold tissue, ornamented with gold flowers, brocaded and frosted, without either silk or velvet. The length behind is about four feet, and in front a yard and a quarter, having only one division, which forms it into two skirts, each skirt being a yard and a half, so that the whole width at the lower part is about three yards. To this belongs a belt, or girdle, made of the same cloth of tissue, lined with a white watered tabby, having a gold buckle and clasp, to which hangers are affixed for the sword with which the sovereign is girded. The Armilla. The ARMILLA, or Armil, should properly be called the Stole, and should always be connected with the Surcoat; but, by some strange and inveterate error in the ceremonial of English coronations, it has received the name properly belonging to the bracelets, and takes their place in the form of investiture. It is made of the same cloth of tissue as the Super-Tunica, and is lined with common sarcenet. The length of it is about an ell, and the breadth three inches; it has two double ribands at each end, of crimson taffeta, viz., two at the corners of the end, to tie it below the elbows, and two a little higher, for tying it above them. The Stole, as this garment should properly be called, is strictly an ecclesiastical garment, and must always be worn by the Romish priests when celebrating mass. In Flanders and Italy the priests also wear it when preaching. Hence Sir Walter Scott introduces Robert Bruce promising the Lord of Lorn, My first and dearest task achieved, Fair Scotland from its thrall relieved, The COLOBIUM SINDONIS, or Surplice, is the last garment put upon the sovereign after the anointing; it is made of very white cambric, and is rather longer than the Super-Tunica; it is laced about the neck, round the arm-holes, or openings of the shoulders, down the breast, up the slits of the sides, and round the lower edge, with the finest Flanders lace, ruffled on very full. Both its names signify short linen garments, and Sindonis is sometimes used to denote the shroud for wrapping the dead. The ornaments already mentioned are for the most part clerical, but there is a second surcoat purely secular. It is made of crimson satin, and is lined with sarcenet of the same colour. In form and dimensions it is nearly the same as the Super-Tunica. The Buskins are made of the same cloth of tissue as the Super-Tunica, and lined with crimson sarcenet; the height of them is eighteen inches, the compass at the top fifteen inches, and the length, from the heel to the toe, is eleven inches and a quarter. The Sandals are |