[555] The funeral was long remembered as the saddest and most august that Westminster had ever seen.

While the Queen's remains lay in state at Whitehall, the neighbouring streets were filled every day, from sunrise to sunset, by crowds which made all traffic impossible.

The two Houses with their maces followed the hearse, the Lords robed in scarlet and ermine, the Commons in long black mantles.

No preceding Sovereign had ever been attended to the grave by a Parliament; for, till then, the Parliament had always expired with the Sovereign.

A paper had indeed been circulated, in which the logic of a small sharp pettifogger was employed to prove that writs, issued in the joint names of William and Mary, ceased to be of force as soon as William reigned alone.