Mayor of the Palace, or that of the Mikado to the
Shogun in old Japan.

One can conceive a painstaking investigator, after
the next glacial epoch, writing in something like
this strain: --

"Not the least extraordinary among the practices
of this remarkable nation was the institution of
what seems to have been a kind of double royalty.
For reasons which, even after all my conscientious
examination of their records, are still obscure to
me, it seemed good to the English people to en-
cumber themselves with two Chief Rulers, the one
hereditary, and the other appointed from time to
time for an indefinite period. And while the sub-
stance of power belonged to the latter, all its outward
attributes were lavished upon the former.

"A stranger visiting London at this era would
have become speedily conscious of the splendour and
dignity of the ancient monarchy. The palaces of
the king, and the residences of his family, would be
pointed out to him. He would find the Sovereign
surrounded by a pompous and stately pageantry.
All the picturesque and decorative formalities, which
had disappeared from ordinary life, were still main-
tained for him. When he drove out on any public
occasion he was attended by a magnificent body-
guard of mounted soldiers, with drawn swords and
shining armour. When he personally opened the
session of his legislative chambers, the peers of his
realm appeared before him, arrayed in antique robes
of barbaric sumptuousness. His Household was
supervised by great officers of state and regulated
by a complicated etiquette. The proudest magnates
of the land were honoured by a post in his domestic

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