A full-length portrait of Queen Victoria at her coronation. The Queen wears a gown,
a sash, a large fur-trimmed cape, and a
crown. She reaches out and holds a sceptre in her right hand. An orb is placed on
a pillow on an ornate table to her right. There
are two columns, a throne, and a curtain behind her. Full-page illustration captioned
with a facsimile of the Queen’s
signature.
To Her Majesty Queen Victoria,
On Her Coronation in Westminster Abbey.
June 28, 1838.
The orb and sceptre in thy hands they placed,1
On thine anointed head a crown of gold ;2
A purple robe thy virgin form embraced ;3
Enthroned thou wert, and glorious to behold :4
Before thee lay the Book of God unroll’d ;5
Thy tongue pronounced, thy pen the covenant
traced,6
traced,6
Which men and angels witness’d.
Young and old,7
Young and old,7
Peers, Princes, Statesmen, Birth, and Beauty,
graced8
graced8
That scene of tombs and trophies.
All is fled ;9
All is fled ;9
Like life itself the living pass’d away ;10
And none that met remain’d there but the dead !11
Thence to thy closet did’st not thou retreat,12
In secret to thy Heavenly Father pray,13
And cast thyself and kingdom at his feet ?14