Read it through once

While this tactful and sympathetic letter was being written by the Sovereign, his people in London were preparing for the great event of the morrow. The streets were crowded with moving masses of people; the decorations, though not as numerous or imposing as in June, were nevertheless effective; the streets were illuminated to a considerable extent, and the stands were nearly all sold out of their seating capacity. During the afternoon the King walked in the grounds of Buckingham Palace and held an Investiture, at which he gave the Order of the Garter to the Dukes of Wellington and Sutherland and of the Thistle to the Duke of Roxburghe and the Earl of Haddington. A little later, he received in audience Ras MaRonnen, the Abyssinian Envoy. Two interesting announcements were also made at this time--that Lord Salisbury was unwell and would be unable to attend the Coronation, and that Bramwell Booth had been granted special permission by the King to appear at Westminster Abbey in Salvation Army garb. The first incident marked the closing of an era of statecraft; of an age marked by the name and fame of Queen Victoria and her Ministers. The other illustrated the tact of the Sovereign as it proved the existence of a religious toleration and equality characteristic of the new period in which the new reign was commencing.