The last remark I heard that night was a compliment to Mr. Bixby, uttered in soliloquy and with unction by one of our guests.

That gentle creature, after a moment's thoughtful survey of the carpet, delivered herself with much dry unction as follows.

The "holy oil" traditionally used by the Eastern Orthodox Church for performing the sacraments of chrismation and unction is traditionally scented with myrrh, and receiving either of these sacraments is commonly referred to as "receiving the myrrh".

The legend that was associated with it at that time, asserted that it had been discovered in the sarcophagus of Saint Remi and identified it with the baptism of Clovis I, the first Frankish king converted to Christianity; it was kept thereafter in the Abbey of Saint-Remi, Reims and brought with formality to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Reims at each coronation, where the emphasis was on the unction rather than on the crowning.

Nonetheless, some historians have seen in the rapidity of Erwig's unction after the king had received the penitential sacrament evidence for a pre-planned palace coup.