Stevens County tribune. (Morris, Minn.) 1877-1880, 1878-10-10
w. w. in the New York Tribune.

timent of contemplative grandeur. Az
you look from the castle walls your gaze
takes in miles and miles of blooming
sprinkled over little hamlets,
wherein the utmost stateliness of learning
and rank is gracefully commingled with
all that is lovely and soothing in rural
life. Not far away rise the "antique
towers" of Elton
where grateful Science still adores
Her Henry's holy shade"
It was in Windsor Castle that her Hen
~ was born; and there he often held his
court; and it is in St. Georges Chapel
that his relics repose. In the dim dis
lance stands the Church of Stoke ogis.
about which Gray was wont to wander,
Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-
trees shade" you recognize now Deep
er significance than ever before in the
solemn stiffness" of the incompatible
Elegy. The luminous twilight mood of
that immortal poem-its pensive reveries
and solemn PASSIONS inherent in the
scene; and you feel that it was there,
there only, that the genius of its excep-
tional author-austerely gentle and Sc
verely pure, and thus in perfect harmony
with its surroundings-could not hav"
been moved to that sublime outburst of
inspiration and eloQuence. Near at hand,
in the midst of your reverie, the mellow
organ sounds from the chapel OF St.
George, where under ''fretted vault and
'long drawn aisle" depend the ghostly
Wondering banners OF ancient knights
as still as the bones of the dead and gone
nOnarchs that crumble in the crypt be-
low. In this church are many of the old
kings and mobiles of England. The hand
some and gallant Edward w. here found
his grave; and near it is that of the &C
complished Hastings faithful friend,
to the last and after. Here lies the dust
of the ferocious Henry VIII, and here
the ill-starred and hapless Queen Caro-
line; and here at midnight by the light
of torches, they laid beneath the
pavement the mangled body
OF Charles I. AS you stand on Windsor
ramparts, bordering thus upon the
STORED past and the eyanescence of ''ail
that beauty, all that wealth, e'er gave"
your eyes rest dreamily on green fields
far below, through which, under tall elms,
the trimming and sparkling river flows
on without sound, and in which few
figures, dwarfed by distance, fit here and
there, in seeming aimless idleness; while
warned homeward by impending sunset,
the chattering birds circle and float
around the lofty towers of the castle; and
delicate perfumes of seringa and jasmine
are waited up from the dusky unknown
depths at the base of its ivied steep. At
such an hour stood on those ramparts
and saw the shy villages and rich meadows
of fertile Berkshire, all red and golden
with sunset light; and at such an hour |
stood IN the lonely cloisters of St. George s
Chapel and heard the distant organ sob,
and saw the sunlight fade up the gray
walls, and felt and knew the sanctity OF
silence. Age and death have made this
church illustrious; but the spot itself has
is own innate charm of mystical repose
mo use of lanthorns; and in one place Law
Feathers and dust to. day and yesterday"
The drive from the front of Windsor
Castle is through a broad and stately
avenue three mics in length, straight as
an arrow and level as a standing pool
and this white highway through the
green and fragrant sod is sumptuously
uncovered from end to end, with double
rows of magnificent: old elms. The
Windsor Avenue, however, like the
splendid chestnut grove at Bushy Park
long famous among the pageants of rural
England, has been often and sufficiently
described. 1t is after leaving this thai
the rambler comes upon the rare beauties
of Windsor Park ana Forest. From the
Tar end of the avenue, -where, in a mos
superb position. the equestrian statue o.
King George rises on its massive pedes
tai of natural rock the road winds awav
through shaded dell and and verdan
glade. past great gnarled beeches ano
under boughs of elm snd yew and oak
till its silver thread is lost in the distant
woods. AtinIervals branching pathway
strayes off to some secluded lodge, hal
hidden in foliage-the property of the
Crown and the rustic residence of a scior
of the royal race. In one of these re
treats dwelt poor old George Ill. in the
days of his mental darkness; and thu
memory of the agonizing king seems still
to cast shadow on the mysterious anC
melancholy house. They show you
under glass, in one of the lodge gardens
an enormous grapevine, owned by tn.
Queen--a vine which. from its single
stalwart trunk, spreads its teemins
branches, laterally, at least 200 hundred
feet in each direction. So come us,
and thrift, hand in hand with romance
Many an aged oak is passed, Ii
your progress, round which ga
still midnight" Herne the hunte
might still take his ghostly prowl, .shak
ing his chain Tin most. hideous ant
dreadful manner" The wreck of th
veritable Herne's Oak, it is said, was root
ed out together with other ancient ant
decayed trees, in the time of George III
and in somewhat too little fulfillment O
his Majesty's command. This great parl
is fourteen mil s in circumference, ant
contains nearly 1000 acres; and many o
the youngest trees that adorn it are NOR
than 100 years old. Far in its heart 70,
stroll by Virginia Water-an artificial
lake, but faultless in its quiet beauty
and perceive it so deep and s. breez
that full-rigged ship-of-war, with beav
armament can navigate its wind-swept
curling pillows. In the dim groves tina
fringe its margin are many nests wherein
pheasants are bred, to fall by the roya
shot and to supply the royal tables; Their
you may contemplate, but not approach
At point in your walk, sequestered an,
lonely, they have set up and skillfull
| disposed the fragments of a genuine ruin
ed temple, brought from the remote Eas
relic, perchance, of sTadmor's marbl
waste" and certainly a most solemn
memorial of the morning twilight of time
Broken arch, storm. stained pillar, an,
shattered column are here shrouded WIT