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THE ORLOFF.
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as
the Czar is Head of the Church as well as Emperor. The sceptre of
course plays an important part and is taken up and put down a
bewildering number of times. The following extract from a work entirely
devoted to the explanation of the many comings and goings and uprisings
and downsittings will give a slight idea of what a performance the
coronation is:
"The
Metropolitan having received the Sceptre from the hands of the noble
bearer carries it to the Emperor who takes it in his right hand. The
Metropolitan says, ' Most pious, most powerful, and very great Emperor
of all the Russias, whom God has crowned, upon whom God has shed His
gifts and His Grace, receive the Sceptre and the Globe. They are the
symbols of the supreme power which the Most High has given thee over
thy peoples, that thou mayest govern them and obtain for them all the
happiness they desire.' And the Emperor takes the Sceptre and sits upon
the throne."
But
this is not nearly all. The sceptre, which is graphically if somewhat
grotesquely called the Triumph-stick, is held only for a brief time.
The Emperor at the end of the prayer, lays it
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