A circumtantial report of this ceremony
was prepared in duplicate.
"Thus," said the Moniteur, May 26, "there remains no doubt that
the holy oil that will flow on the forehead of Charles X. in the
solemnity of his consecration, is the same as that which, since
Clovis, has consecrated the French monarchs."
The day of the consecration approached. The Mayor of Rheims, M.
Ruinard de Brimont, had not a moment's rest. At the consecration
of Louis XV., about four hundred lodgings had been marked with
chalk. For that of Charles X. there were sixteen hundred, and
those who placed them at the service of the administration asked
no compensation. The 19th of May was begun the placing of the
exterior decorations on the wooden porch erected in front of the
door of the basilica. It harmonized so completely with the plan of
the edifice that "at thirty toises," it seemed a part of the
edifice. The centrings and the interior portieres of this porch
presented to the view a canopy sown with fleurs-de-lis in the
midst of which stood out the royal cipher and the crown of France,
modelled in antique fashion. These decorations were continued from
the portal along the beautiful gallery that led to the palace. The
palace itself, whose apartments had been adorned and furnished
with royal magnificence, was entered by a very elegant porch. The
grand feasting-hall, with its Gothic architecture, its colored
glass, its high chimney-piece covered with escutcheons and
surmounted by a statue of Saint-Remi, its portraits of all the
kings of France, was resplendent.
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