London was startled on Monday by a statement that the
King had caught a chill while attending a torchlight pro- cession, that it bad attacked the stomach, and that doctors ; had been sent for, and at an unusual hour. The illnesses of Kings are so regularly minimised by all about them that con- siderable alarm was felt lest the Coronation should be inter- fered with ; but it was speedily found that the attack was sub- stantially one of lumbago only, and that there was no serious cause for anxiety. His Majesty, however, has been directed, in view of the heavy strain which will be put upon him during I
the two exhausting days of ceremonial, to avoid all exertion and exposure until those days are past. As yet the prepara- tions have gone forward without a hitch, and the one remaining subject of concern is the possibility of bad weather. The signs are favourable', the almost incessant rain of the week having outstripped the average even of a wet June ; but the King is not so favoured by the skies as Queen Victoria was, and, except under the influence of a superstition, English- men never trust the weather for more than twenty-four hours. One can always get about in England during some part of the day, but it is not always the right part.
