The Coronation Chair, Westminster Abbey.

ration stone , says , "The people of Scotland have along placed in that stone a kind of fatality ; they fancied that while it remained in their country the state would remain unshaken ; but the moment it should be elsewhere removed , great revolutions would ensue , and for this reason Edward carried it away—to create in the Scots a belief that the dissolution of their monarchy had come , and to

lessen their hopes of obtaining their liberty . " Of such import was this stone , that . it was not only made a separate article in a treaty of peace , but also of political conference between Edward III . and David IL , King of Scotland . A writ of Privy Council , of July 1 st , 1328 , is in existence , signed by the king and directed jio the Abbot and Convent of Westminster , wherein Edward

III ., after reciting that the stone whereon the kings of Scotland used to sit , at the time of their coronation , and which was then in the keeping of that abbot , & c ., should be sent to Scotland ; and that he had ordered the Sheriffs of London to receive the same from them by indenture , and cause it to be delivered to the queen mother , notwithstanding this command , it is clear that the coronationstone was never given up , although many ancient records , jewels , and monuments , were actually delivered to the Scotch .

the ancient prophetic distich relating to this stone is said to have been cut in or engraven on it by command of King Kenneth ; but this is in all probability erroneous , for so far as we are able to discover , there are no traces of any inscription , and , with the exception of a small cross , there is no mark upon this stone ; there is , however , a rectangular groove or indent , i ' n which an

inscription might at one time have , been fixed . The coronation stone is placed within the framework of the chair , which is now in the Confessor ' s Chapel ; at eachend is a circular iron handle , affixed to a staple within the stone itself , so that it might be lifted up . On referring to the notes above given , it will be seen that in some respects the ancient accounts of the stone

do not agree with its present appearance . We have it described as a " white marble stone , " aud in some instances as being richly carved by a cunning artist ; notwithstanding , it is in reality a dun-coloured , commonlooking stone , like some of those which are brought for various purposes from Dundee , in Scotland . It is a sandy granular stone , chiefly quartz , with light and

reddish-coloured felspar , and also light and dark mica , with some other matters intermixed ; and on the upper side there is a dark , brownish-coloured flint pebble , which , from its hardness , has not been cut through , though immediately crossed by the indent above mentioned . The stone is of oblong but irregular form , measuring 26 inches in length , 16 f inches in breadth , and 10 inches in thickness .

Iu the wardrobe accounts of Edward I . ' s time there is a charge by Master Walter , the painter , for the costs and expenses incurred by him for making one step at the foot of the new chair ( in which is the stone from Scotland ) , set up near the altar in St . Edward ' s shrine in the Abbatial Church at AVestminster , in pursuance with the order of the king , and for the wages of the caz-penter and painter for painting the said , together with making a case for covez-ing the chair . The cost of this was £ 1 19 s . 7 d . — Builder .

Proposed Memorial Of The Late Prince Consort.

PROPOSED MEMORIAL OF THE LATE PRINCE CONSORT .

In order that the views with which Mr . Scott prepared his desi gn for the Memorial proper may he fairly set forth , we print the statement with which lie accompanied the drawings : — " I would take the liberty of remarking- at the outset that I have felt a great perplexity as to the scale of outlay to which I should proportion my conceptions . Prom the time of the very first proposal of the Memorial , my thoughts were almost constantl y directed to the subject . The claims of that great and

good Prince who was to be commemorated—the magnificence of the scale on which the public had from the first , and most justly , framed their ideas as to what the memorial to such a , personage should be—and her Majesty's choice , in the first instance , of a monolith , greater than any that the world had seen , surrounded by magnificent groups of sculpture , in due proportion to its colossal magnitude , —all these rendered it impossible for me deliberately to strike out a thought on an unworthy scalewhile

, the converse seemed equally impossible . It might , indeed , be almost said of an artist , who is strongly impressed with the worthiness of a subject such as this , that "' Such is the impulse and the spur he feels To give it praise proportioned to its worth , That not to attempt it , arduous as he deems The labour , were a task more arduous still . ''

" AVith such feelings I could not bring myself to treat the subject on the principle of ' nicely calculated less or more . ' I had , indeed , already struck out my design before I was honoured with your invitation to do so ; and having worked ib out , so far as thoughts and sketches went , under a strong impulse to do what I could to render it in some degree worthy of its object , I could not bring myself coldly to sit down and deprive it of any decoration I had already designed

for it , but have gone on upon the principle that the second idea of erecting a Hall of Science in proximity to the Memorial would not be allowed to rob the Memorial itself of its honours or its beauties ; but that the funds which have been , and may yet be , subscribed for it will be devoted to the Memorial itself , and the Hall be erected from other sources ; I have , in fact , made each as good as I was able , so that either would , if need

be , singly form a fitting Memorial , though I have supposed that if one of a monumental form be erected , it will not be stinted of the fair proportions which the public have , beyond a doubt , ideally prescribed for it , with a view to saving a fund to go towards the second object . There can , indeed , be no doubt that the public expect a monument of great and conspicuous magnificence—not a mere

group of sculpture which , however fine as a work of art , produces little effect excepting from a near point of view , but an object which will strike boldly and forcibly upon the eye , and attract attention even from a distance . The monument of Frederick the Great , for instance , has been mentioned , and justly , as a noble work of art , but its beauty arises from the high qv \ ality of the art bestowed upon it , not from any inherent magnificence

in its design or form . In scale it is considerably less than the statue ( with its pedestal ) of King George IV . in Trafalgar-square , and no one would , I fancy , deem that even any approach to a worthy scale for the memorial to the Prince Consort . I will now take the liberty of offering a few remarks on the subject of the style I have adopted / or the architectural portions ofthe monument . I have heard it asserted that the tastes

of the Prince Consort were wholly for Classic Art , and that it would , therefore , he inconsistent to erect a memorial to him in another style . It would be presumptuous in me to discuss such a question as what were his Eoyal Highness ' s preferences in matters of art ; I trust , however , that I may venture to record what has eome , in three different instances , under my own

observation . I . AVhen I had , in the spring of 1858 , the honour of laying before his Eoyal Highness my first designs for the new Government offices , he distinctly told me that he did not sympathise with the objections which had been made against them on the ground of their style being niediaival , not even in those points where , they came in the closest proximity with a classic building , but thaton the contraryhe preferred variety of styleand

, , , thought the constant adoption of a single style fatiguing , from its monotony . II . In the case of the Wellington College , I was called in , with the approval of His Eoyal Highness , to erect a Gothic chapel to a College which is in another style . III . AVhen I made , some few years back , a Gothic design for the Guards' Crimean Memorial , I am informed on the best

authority , that my design was honoured by the approval of the Prince Consort to such an extent , that , though he had previously objected to the Memorial being erected in Hyde Park , on seeing this design he at once , withdrew the objection , and offered every facility for its erection in the park—facilities which were withdrawn when another design was adopted . I would lay the more stress upon this circumstance , as being an emphatic approval by the Prince Consort himself of the erection of a Memorial in the