and brandishes the sword, traditionally called that of St. Stephen, to the four quarters of the winds, to be shown to his subjects on every side, and to declare to them that he is willing to meet assailants against his country, from every quarter. The only part of the Anglican ritual in which this observance, and the analogous ones, of being placed on the stones and thrones in the other countries, is dimly shadowed out, consists in the direction in the Rubric. "The archbishop having placed the diadem of St. Edward on the royal brow, and given the orb and sceptre into his hands, is directed to show the monarch to the assembly, which here represents the entire nation." (See the Oath of Allegiance, and the touching the crown by the senior peer of each rank.)
It is to be lamented that Chardin, in his account above quoted, is not more particular in his description, particularly as to the number of stones in the circles he saw. They were, however, duodecimal, which, from the easy manner in which it was produced by the reiteration of the earliest mystical number four times, or the double of the first perfect number (2 + 2 = 4) three times, was in all religions the favoured complement of priests, and thence of rulers. The twelve tribes of Israel may have been a fortuitous and happy agreement; and the twelve Amschapands of Zoroaster are repeated in the twelve Cabiri of Greece. The most ancient liturgy of Italy, the Etrurian, was administered by twelve Lucomani; and no doubt of an equally primeval origin was the institution of Odin's twelve Diars (angels), or Drottnas (lords), as they are called by Sturleson, in the passage already cited for the twelve seats which surrounded the Upsala Morasteen. The fixing this rule of numbers had great influence on the legislation of our Saxon ancestors,
