Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/319

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OPENING OF PARLIAMENT BY VICTORIA.

��IT was on the morning of January 25th, 1841, that we went forth to witness the ceremony of convoking the Parliament of England. Through the influence of friends, I was favored with a seat in the House of Lords, where the interval of waiting could be employed in observing the peers and peeresses, and the foreign ambassadors, in their varied costumes. Conspicuous, by his lofty form and dignified bearing, was the old Duke of Cambridge, who exhibits a striking resem blance to his father, George the Third.

At ten minutes past two, the thunder of cannon, the flourish of trumpets, and shouts of the people, an nounced the approach of the procession. Eight noble cream-colored horses, who never appear but on the greatest occasions, drew the massy state coach, so cov ered with colossal, emblematic figures, that it is said to weigh four tons. It was a moment of enthusiasm when the young queen entered. She wore a dress of white satin and lace, superbly decorated with diamonds ; a robe, or mantle of crimson velvet, with a train ; and on her head glittered the crown of the kingdom. She

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