The Englisli Bar under a New Light. violence, a fact which, although attended with temporary inconvenience, is full of good hope for the success of the Anglican messe ronge, which it is now proposed to establish. The actual ceremony in the rendering of which the bar took so prominent a part was one that will live forever in the memories of those that witnessed it. Soon after matins (the hour for which had been altered from 10.30 to 8 A.M. to make way for the thanksgiving service) had ended, members of the bar in robes or carrying their robes in the blue or (in the case of more distinguished juniors) red bags of the bar might be seen hurrying up the steps of the Chapter House which the courtesy of the venerable Wm. Macdonald Sinclair, the Archdeacon of London, had placed at their disposal for the purposes of robing and form ing the procession. Queen's Counsel arrived for the most part in their robes (they were dressed in full court costume, — long bottomed wigs and silk stockings and buckles). Exactly at quarter to ten the procession was marshaled and before the hour had struck it had started for the Cathedral. The sight was a quaint and imposing one. First came two stewards and the secretaries with badges consisting of the arms of their respec tive Inns of Court, then the attorney general (Sir Richard Webster) and the solicitor general (Sir Robert Finlay), who wore richly "tufted gowns " to distinguish them from the rank and file of the Queen's Counsel who fol lowed them, walking two abreast. The rear was brought up by one hundred and sixty junior barristers marching four abreast. The picturesqueness of the scene was enhanced by the fact that the junior barristers who held the doctorate of laws of any British univer sity wore the scarlet robes to which their de gree entitled them. In fact as well as in name it was a messe ronge. Every variety of robe was there, not the least curious being the close-fitting white and scarlet gown of the LL.D. degree of St. Andrew's University,
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worn by a gentleman who was called to the bar so far back as 1849. At the top of the steps which lead up to the main entrance into the great Cathedral the procession was met by the Rev. Minor Canon Kelly (who was master of the whole ceremonies and deserves the highest credit for the manner in which he discharged his task) on behalf of the Cathedral authorities and conducted straight up the central aisle to the scats reserved for the bar under the dome on the right side facing the high altar. On the left side were seated the ladies ac companying members of the bar. The spectacle was brilliant in the extreme. Every inch of space in the vast building was crowded to the uttermost. The altar and standard lights were burning. Behind them rose the lofty reredos with its central crucifix and images of Our Lady and St. Joseph. In a specially reserved seat within the sacrarium sat Archbishop Antonios of Fin land, who was sent by the Holy Synod of Russia to represent the Russian Church at the Jubilee celebrations and the Lambeth Conference, and whose presence testified with marked emphasis to the rapidity of the strides with which the Eastern and AngloCatholic churches are advancing towards in tercommunion. Suddenly, however, reflections on matters of this kind were arrested by a new sensation. From the corridors sounded forth the first notes of the processional hymn (" О King of Kings, whose reign of old"), and in a few minutes the choir filed slowly up the main aisle into the chancel, followed by the Dean and Canons, the Bishop of London, the Archbishop of Canterbury, before whom the processional cross was carried, the Prince and Princess of Wales and the other mem bers of the royal family. The thanksgiving service was commendably brief. It consisted only of a few prayers and antiphons. Then the Bishop of London preached a sermon of unusual length on the text, " Honor all men; love the brother
