The Coronation.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 32, 7 August 1902, Page 1

The Coronation.

It seems to be in the nature of things that rulers should have some emblem of authority, that this should be placed upon the head or brain-box, which is the seat of intellect and will-power, and that the assumption of power should be accompanied by public ceremonies of a more or le^s t)pical or appropriate kind Fillets crowns, feitheis, more or lesi intricate tattooing (as in the case ol the INLioris), and the gorgeous or barbaric architectural hcnd-adoi nmenls ol South Sea Island and Siamese loyaltas, are all separate conceptions ot what constitutes a suitable emblem of the rights and duties of kingship. Among civilised peoples a simple fillet or band was the earliest symbol of rule. Like the chest of Auburn it contrived a double debt to pay — to point out the bearer of the kingly office and to confine the straying locks of his hair at a time when it was the fashion to leave it to grow like the locks of Absolom. The next advance upon the plain linen or woollen band was a fillet ot gold. Such was' the shape of the crown worn by Alexander the Great — the first Greek who bore this symbol of royal rank. The Jewish kings, at least of later times, wore golden crowns. One of them, Joas, was crowned in the temple by Joiada in the days when the cruel Athalia reigned in the land. And David had the crown taken from the defeated Rabbah and placed on his own head, just as in a later day the Irish king ' Malachi wore the collar of gold which he won from the proud invader' The crown or headdress of the high-priest consisted of a linen band adorned with a plate of gold upon the part which surmounted the forehead of the wearer.

In the historic times of the Roman Republic military decorations took the form, not of mtdalb, but of crowns of a more or less perishable nature. There was a golden crown for the soldier who first scaled the walls of a besieged city held by the enemy, and other crowns for those v\ho first crossed an entrenchment, for the naval officer who won a notable victory at sea, and for the military leader who delivered a Roman garrison from blockade by an enemy. When the Republic gave way to the Empire, the rulers at first used a plain band of gold as an emblem of their sUte and dignit\. Thi-, underwent various modifications until it attained its utmost degree of complication and exaggerated significance in the radiated crown — a sort of golden auieole which indicated that the wearer claimed divine honors — Apfinmes the god. Affects to nod, And eeerns to fahake the spheres.