The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-09 00:00:00

JOURNEY TO WINDSOR.

The journey from Paddington to Slough was' accom-
plished in about thirty minutes, the same manifestations of
£ ympathy and loyalty being observable on the western as
on the eastern side of the metropolis. At Hanwell the
inmates of the asylum were out in full force with their band
and banners—made happy by participation in the joy of the
day. 1 t was nearly five o'clock when the train reached Slough,
'then, to the surprise of all, it was found that rain had been
falling heavily for some hours. Here Lord Carington, as
Lord Lieutenant of the county of Buckingham, was in
waiting to receire the Prince and Princess, who graciously
acknowledged his presence. Tho Crown Prince, with
Prince Louis of Hesse, and the Princes Arthur and Leo-
pold, had come over from Windsor, some time previously
to meet the Royal party. Their Royal Highnesses
having exchanged salutations very cordially, the illustrious
party entered the Queen's pony carriages and drove off to
Windsor Castle amid the acclamations of a great crowd of
spectators.

The guard of ;honour at the station was formed by a de•
tachment of the Coldstream Guards, with band and co.
lours, under Captain Bateson, and the ground was kepi
by the 2d Bucks Rifle Volunteers.

ARRIVAL AT WINDSOR CASTLE.
For more than a fortnight past the inhabitants of the
Royal and ancient borough have been in a continued state
of excitement in making the necessary preparations to do
nil honour_ to the Princess Alexandra on her arrival in
Windsor, and to celebrate the greater event which is to fel-
low it, in their town to-morrow. A fortnight ago a special
meeting of the town council was summoned to consider
what public steps should be taken duly to carry out the
desires of the inhabitants, and this was followed bya public
meeting, at which a committee was appointed with plenary
powers to decorate the town in welcome to the advent of
the young Princess who was about to take up her resi
dente amongst them. If London was to be made gaudy,
gay, and grand for the occasion, it was felt that Windsor,
with its surrounding locality, should be brilliant, beautiful,
and bright. The metropolis, in its spontaneous outburst of
enthusiastic welcome, must of necessity be confined to the
adventitious aid of art for the expression of its uncontrol-
lable feeling—but the loyal denizens of the Royal ,borough
were in possession of vast advantages over their metropo-
litan neighbours. They live amidst imperishable natu-
ral beauties. The locality would seem to be
really glorified by nature herself. Even in this early spring-
time, before the buds have burst their cells or the leaves
peeped forth, the hill and dale, the wood and plain, the very
waterneand the sky, seem to unite harmoniously to produce
a scene
around the Royal domain which is perhaps un-
equalled within the realm of merry England. Windsor, at
its brightest, has already been seen by the young Princess
who has just arrived to make her home amongst us. She
has seen Windsor in all the brightness of the summer time
—when that venerable forest, which is its chief feature and
which is as historically romantic in its reminiscences as it
time of the year to
is rich and grand to the eye, appeared in all its brightest
robes, and she returns to it in the spring
shine upon it herself, as we all hope, through a long life-
season" of bright sunshine and of stormless summer.
During all the preparations that have been going on
all
over the town and in the Castle nature herself has seemed
to smile with gratification. The giant trees in the great
ark and the hedge-row plants in the rural lanes have sud-
denly burst into leaf, as though impatient of that restraint
them.
The the cold of the departing winter imposes upon
The very heavens have for ten days past been glorious with
the brightest sunshine, and even the night time--
" O'er beauteous 'Windsor's high and storied halls,
-Where Edward's chiefs start from the glowing walls,"
has almost seemed to mirror day, for our satellite during
as long a space has shone each night with unclouded and
unwonted brilliancy, while the air-temperature was such
that we seemed to have jumped into summer with the spring.
For a whole fortnight not a cloud was seen over 'Windsor
until Friday last, when a temporary and most unpleasant
change took place, and from that time to the close of the
lit at act of the great national drama on Saturday evening,
Windsor, in a double sense, was clouded.

Tho early morning of Saturday was cheery and hopeful,

and gloomy forebodings gave place to hopeful aspirations.
The town of Windsor r resented a most picturesque
appearance in the simple, pretty, and natural style of its
ornamentation. The main streets, from one (nd of the
town to the other, were festooned on each side with ever •

greens, stretched from fir poles placed at intervals of

20ft. From the fes'oons depended variegate 1 'amps, which
will be lighted on the wedding day. This «as part of the

-
arrangements made by the general committee previously re-

ferredto: The chief features of their work, however, were

a couple of gigantic triumphal arches—the one placed at the
top of the Castle-hill, and the other at the bottom of Thames-
street, near to the bridge. The arches were as different in
character and style as it is possible to imagine. The one at
the Castle-hill, although striking in appearance, was neither
appropriate nor picturesqne. It consisted of one large arch
spanning the roadway, with a couple of smaller ones over
the footpaths. The material of which they were built was
wood, painted to represent Sienna marble. It was in the
Italian style of architecture, which, of course, did not har-
monise with the mighty building to which for the time it
formed the chief entrance. The columns were square, with-
out ornament, but the architrave was adorned with shie►ds
of the Prince of Wales and the Princess, surmounted by the
Royal arms of England. Underneath, and at the sides,
were allegorical representations of Justice and Wisdom,
and Peace and Plenty, while stretching across the whole
was the word " Welcome." The entire arch was pro-
fusely decorated with variegated lamps, numbering, it was
said, 5,000. The work was designed by Messrs. Edging-
ton and Tate, and it was executed by Messrs. Wellman and

The other triumphal arch, at the bottom of Thames-
street, was far more appropriate, and was picturesque in the
extreme, being in strict keeping with the festoons which
adorned the streets. In height it rose far above the sur-
rounding houses, and it was wholly composed of laurel and
other evergreens with a brilliant transparency in the centre
of the crown of the arch, surmounted by a plume of
Prince of Wales's feathers springing from a cluster of flags.
Crossing the bridge into Eton we found that the inhabi-
tants of the academical seat had been equally zealous and
industrious with their neighbours in the Royal borough,

and had adopted precisely the same style of ornamentation

along the streets. The festoons and garlands from fir poles
stretched along each side of the street from the bridge over
the Thames at Windsor to the college at the other extre-

mity. At the college a most appropriate arch had been
erected—so appropriate, indeed, that at the first view it
looked like a portion of that venerable pile to which it was
attached. It was modelled from the clock-tower in the

quadrangle of the college, from designs by Page and Mr.
Samuel Evans, the d rawing-masters of the college. It was
painted to represent ancient stone, and was surmounted
with the Royal arms of England and of Denmark, with the
words stretching :across the whole of "God bless you."
Over the columns were inscribed the college motto. "Esto
Perpetua." There was another arch, similar to the one in
Thames-street, in Windsor, which was placed near to the
turn of the street at Barnspool Bridge. The former arch,
the one at the college, was provided by a general subscrip-
tion of the authorities and the boys of Eton College ; the
other was provided by the provost, vice provost, fellows,
and masters of the college, in conjunction with the inhabi-
tants.

Such were the general preparations which had been made
by the authorities of the twin towns, but the inhabitants
individually had been equally enthusiastic and industrious,
for there was scarcely a house in the whole line of route
from the college at Eton to the Castle-hill in Windsor that
was not adorned with evergreens in keeping with the gar-
lands which stretched from pole to pole in the festooned
streets. For days previously all the young ladies of Eton
had been incessantly.occupied in the crnstruction of wreaths
of artificial roses; and some idea of the quantity that were
thus manufactured may be formed when we state that a
large unoccupied house was taken in which to store them
for use and appropriation.
In Eton there were no platforms or seats erected, but in
Windsor such erections were in profusion. Inside the
triumphal arch on the Castle-hill, on the right hand, oppo-
site to the entrance to the castle, were three platforms with
seats, tickets for which were issued by the Lord Chamber-
lain. Under the castle walls, at the top of Thames-street,
several lines of covered seats had been erected, admission to
which was by payment of 2s. 6d.; and below the Curfew
Tower, and between it and the hundred steps, standing room
had been provided for Is. each. Whether these were private
speculations, or to whom the proceeds went, we do not know.
The expenses of the triumphal arches, the town decora-

tions, and the illuminations of the public buildings were

provided partly by grants from the municipal funds and
partly by general subscription. The cost of the triumphal
arch at Eton Collage must have been very considerable, as
each boy in the school contributed 10s. towards it.
In the morning the two towns looked very pretty, and
everybody seemed joyous and especially hopeful with regard
to the weather. As the day wore on, however, unpleasant
indications were observed in the western sky, and disagree-
able forebodings took the place of the hopes of the morning
For some time the weather appeared to be in a state of in-
decision, for in the middle of the day it would mistily drizzle
for a shorttimeland then gloomily hold up for:a brief space.
About 3 o'clock the sun made what appeared to be a gallant
effort to break through the murky mists that hung over the
scene, but the struggle was vain—the black surcharged
clouds came up in masses from the northwest, and at half-
past 3 the rain commenced to descend, and it continued to
pour down in incessant torrents, in straight penetrating
lines, until late in the night, and long after the ceremonial
of the day had passed.
The streets even before the rain came on had not been at
all crowded, nor were the seats that had been provided very
well filled. Indeed, we suspect that many of the ladies who
had taken their places in the eovered seats on the Castle-
hill afterwards regretted that they had done so, for they
must have been worse off even than those who were in the
streets, inasmuch as they were compelled to keep their
seats ; they could not move although the water was pour-
ing in as from a sieve above them. Some of the ladies were
literally drenched, and many " a duck of a bonnet" became
a duck that found itself at home in the water.
Between three and four o'clock a company of the Berk-
shire Volunteers made their appearance and then their exit.
being seen no more, for they marched down Thames-street
and there vanished. They were followed by a cadet corps,
who looked remarkably well, the boys apparently being
about twelve years of age on the average, They
had a band, and they took up their station at the foot of
the " Hundred Steps." They had to stand there in the
drenching rain for upwards of three hours, their only
solace being a supply of oranges. Amongst the previously
made arrangements was one for placing some school chil-
dren at this spot, who were to greet the Royal procession
when it appeared with the Danish National Anthem.
When the rain had unmistakeably set in this arrangement
was very judiciously abandoned.
At about half-past four six Royal carriages, each with
four grey horses, emerged from the castle, and took their
way towards Slough. Shortly afterwards the mayor and
corporation, in their robes of office, proceeded from the
Town Hall to the triumphal arch near the bridge ; and we
must say, although their office of course is a most dignified
one, that they presented anything but an awe.inspiring
appearance. The aldermen of the borough wore scarlet
robes, and the members of the town council purple silk
gowns, trimmed with fur. The recorder, of course, ap-
peared in his robes of office, the wig and gown. Now,
when we say that each carried an umbrella, that they
tucked the skirts of their robes under their arms, and that
in this way they stalked through the mud and wet of the
drenched street, it will be readily understood that their ap-
pearance did not present the idea of dignity which should
be ever associated with such a body.
Spite of the pouring rain, the people in the streets
gallantly stood their ground, but their patience must have
been sorely tried, for it had been stated that the procession
would arrive not later than half-past five, and that its ad-
vent would be announced by a gun from the castle ramparts.
When that time arrived, however, no gun. boomed forth,
and no movement was presented indicative of the approach
of the Royal cortege. The people, however, were resigned
—their hopes of open carriages with smiling occupants
were gone, and they knew that they were only awaiting the
arrival of a string of equipages closely shut up, and the
windows of which would be streaming down with envious
lines of rain.
Some days ago it was proposed that when the proces-
sion reached Eton College the boys of the school should
take out the horses from the Royal carriage, and then draw
the carriage to the castle. This intention was communi-
cated to the Prince of Wales, who good-humouredly said
he had no objection, provided the boys would promise not
to " jib" as they went up the hill, On the project, however,
being communicated to her Majesty, she expressed her de-
cided objection to it, and of course it was abandoned. The
boys gave the Princess a hearty greeting instead, and they
cheered her with those nine times nine cheers for which
they have always been famous.
It was past 6 o'clock before the welcome intimation was
given that the Royal procession was approaching, and by
that time nearly all the illuminations—and they were very
general—were lighted up. Both the authorities at Eton
and in Windsor had arranged to present addresses to the
Princess on the arrival of the cortege. This intention also,
we need scarcely add, was abandoned. To present an address
under an umbrella would never do. 'I he carriages, there-
fore, came on without stopping, and passed through Eton
and into Windsor amidst the warmest expression of the en-
thusiasm of the crowds that lined each side of the route.
The Princess, as far as we could discern through the
closed window of the carriage, did not appear to be suffering
fromfatigue, for she continued all through the route to
bow
with much spirit in acknowledgment of the hearty
greetings of the people. The occupants of the other car-
riages,steheemteiLparticularly interested in the illuminations,the
for
was
a
carriagesblaze
o f
lreachedlight,
whichl h a
m e s -s
shut
t ree
out t h
t , in
Windsor, the town
o,
gloom which had pervaded the scene while the light of day
enabled one to see as well as feel
the
rain.
The Princess Alexandra arrived at Windsor Castle at
about a quarter to seven, and immediately afterwards the
streets of Windsor were nearly deserted by pedestrians, al-
though most of the houses were tastefully and many of
them profusely illuminated.

The British Museum closed on Saturday' and
will be on Tuesday, the 10th inst.—the reception day and
the marriage day of the Princess Alexandra.