The women had no hats, but a quaint linen headdress, with a long veil hanging from it and flowing over their shoulders.

They were a handsome people, and all appeared clean, neat, and tidy.

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Word has reached us that the great diamond belonging to the Nizam of Hyderabad has not been stolen after all, and so Queen Victoria may still get her present.

If you are interested in the Jubilee there is a very interesting article in the June Century Magazine, called “Queen Victoria’s Coronation Roll,” in which many interesting facts are given about the Queen’s coronation in 1838.  She was not crowned, you know, until a year after she came to the throne.

This article gives extracts from the official documents, telling exactly how the young Queen was crowned, when she wore her crown, when she carried her sceptre and orb, and other facts that are useful as well as entertaining.

One of the very interesting things it tells is the manner in which the lords and nobles keep possession of their titles.

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In countries where there are peers and degrees of nobility, it is the custom of the sovereign to reward any great deed by making the doer of it a peer of the realm, that is to say, a duke, a marquis, an earl, a viscount, or a baron; baronets and knights are not peers.

In the olden times these gifts of nobility were often accompanied by some personal service to the sovereign, by the performance of which the holder of the title secured his patent or right to it.  At the time these grants were made the services had some especial and important meaning.  Nowadays they only seem strange and rather silly.  Despite this fact, the services must still be rendered, else the peer loses his patent of nobility.

The article in The Century Magazine tells of these things, and how the Duke of Norfolk is obliged to furnish the sovereign with the glove worn on the right hand during the coronation service, and also to support the monarch’s right arm during such times as the sceptre is carried in the hand.

Another earl is bound to carry the sword of state in the procession to Westminster.

The peers are very proud of these privileges, and make a great boast of them.  The highest honor ever perhaps granted by a sovereign to a subject was earned by the lords of Kinsale.  In the time of King John the head of the house performed a great service for his King, and when asked what reward he desired, replied that he had lands and money enough, but that he should like to have the privilege of wearing his hat in the presence of his sovereign, and that this right might belong to the head of his house forever.

Foolish as this right may seem to us, no Lord Kinsale would ever give it up.

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You will be interested to learn that the break in the levee near New Orleans has been closed.