THE GHOST. BOOK IV. HIS fourth book of the Ghost, is at once the most care Ties as it is the longest of Churchill's compositions. It is also the most obscure and indistinct in its allusions, the minute elucidation of which would not repay the labour either of the investigation or of perusal when the information should have been obtained. The principal characters are the civic authorities of London, and who ever cared, or now cares beyond the one year of office for the entire staff from my Lord Mayor downwards to Mr. Common Hunt; their dignity is as evanescent as the wit which each successive Mayor facetiously inflicts upon the wretched prisoners in the justice room, eliciting the ready and obedient laughter of the attendant officers and clerks, and duly recorded, par parenthese, in the report of the interesting proceeding of the removal of a pauper, or the conviction of a cab-man. The coronation of George III. forming a prominent feature of the poem, and several of the incidents which really then occurred, being repeatedly adverted to in it, we have, to save the trouble of particular observations, subjoined an account of the ceremonial, as it appeared in the periodicals of the day in the form of a letter, which is so amusingly graphic as at the time to have been considered, as it purports to be, the genuine epistle of a spectator to his country friends, bearing no slight resemblance to De Foe's familiar style, particularly in his account of the Plague. LETTER FROM MR. JAMES HEMING TO A FRIEND IN THE COUNTRY. SIR, As the friendship of Mr. Rolles, who had procured mea pass ticket, enabled me to be present both in the hall and in the abbey; and as I had a fine view of the procession out of doors, from a one pair of stairs room, which your neighbour Sir Edward had hired at the small price of one hundred guineas, on purpose to oblige bis acquaintance, I will endeavour to give you as minute an account as I can of all the particulars omitted in the public papers. First then, conceive to yourself the fronts of the houses in all the streets, that could command the least point of view, lined with scaffolding, like so many galleries or boxes, raised one above another to the very roofs. These were covered with carpets and cloths of different colours, which presented a pleasant variety to the eye; and if you consider the brilliant appearance of the spectators who were seated in them (many being richly drest) you will easily imagine that it was no indifferent part of the show. The mob underneath made a pretty contrast to the rest of the company. Add to this, that though we had nothing but wet and cloudy weather for some time before, the day cleared up, and the sun shone auspiciously, as if it were in compliment to the grand festival. Had it rained, half the spectators were so exalted, that they could not have seen the ceremony, as a temporary roof put over the platform, on account of the uncertainty of the weather, was exceeding low. This roof was covered with a kind of sail-cloth; which, on orders being given to roll it up, an honest Jack Tar climbed up to the top, and stripped it off in a minute or two; whereas the persons appointed for that service might have been an hour about it. This gave us not only a more extensive view, but let the light in upon every part of the procession. I should tell you, that a rank of foot soldiers were placed on each side within the platform; which was an encroachment on the spectators; for at the last coronation I am informed they stood below it; and it was not a little surprising to see the officers familiarly conversing and walking arm in arm with many of them, till we were let into the secret, that they were gentlemen who had put on the dresses of common soldiers, for what purpose I need not mention. On the outside were stationed, at proper distances, several parties of horseguards, whose horses somewhat incommoded the people, that pressed incessantly upon them, by their prancing and capering; though luckily I do not hear of any great mischief being done. |