The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1880-02-05

etc., etc.
by
j. LEWIS PEYTON,
Author OF "The american Crisis. Sci" "0ceT the
AUe1hdn5eS, &c." etc. etc.
CHAPTER v.
WINDSOR CASTLE, PAST AND PRESENT
GEORGE Iv-THE LAWLEss LORDS OF
OTHER DAYs-THE ROYAL STABLES
THE PARKS, ETC.
A worthy friend, who is ever ready to i'm
part information in an agreeable way, has
recently expressed the opinion, in our hear
ing, that we love pleasure. The innocent
lamb 10 doubt, prefers work, but this can
not be said OF the straying sheep. A man
OF nice perceptions, our .Jidus debates, rarely
fails in diagnosis. We do not consider 1t
worth while, therefore, to deny the "soit
impeachment" Yet we would not have our
reader imagine that we love nothing but
pleasure because instead Of returning to the
dingy atmosphere of London, we shall pen
citrate forthwith deeper into the co untry,
and possibly to the very heart of the ltoya'
county of Berks.
During the annual absences of the Que,' IN,
the State apartments in Windsor Castle are
thrown open to the public, and Joining the
''madding crowd" of sight seers, we babe
adieu to Richmond, and made the best Of
our way to this ancient seat Of British Roy
alty. No season could have been more IA
vorable for our excursion. The trees were
in leaf and the country clothed in verdure.
Pleasant parks, we'll cultivated fields, quiet
homesteads and patches of common and gar
den enlvened and beautified the landscapes
on the entire route. The sky was OF sweet
opaline blue-something one does not see
every day in England. Looking out upon
the Heavens and the earth, we came near
startling our neighbors in the railway car
riage, by exclaiming, how pleasant it is to
live sometimes
But the train stops. Our dream is full
filed there stands the Round Tower ; in a
moment we are fastening to the Palace
gates. We stop to scan the exterior of the
! building, we run through it, we return anG
linger to study it, and feel when it is over
certain sense of disappointment.
The castle is an old stone edifice, with
turrets and .battlements more like an an
| tio ue fortress in exterior appearance than
domestic habitation. Has somewhat the
cold and sombre aspect Of prison, and its
gaunt buttresses and dim archways,and high
and broad ramparts plainly tell the history
of its feudal origin. The narrow, meanly
built streets of the town of Windsor extend
on one side to the very gates, and the visi-
tor energies from them to pass Immediately
into the palace court. But for its situation
on lofty hill andthe surrounding park and
forest, with its wild and picturesque scene
~, Windsor Castle would be the most Oh GER
less and unattractive of homes, though it has
been much modernized and has so many Of
the adjuncts of domestic life, that its APP
pearance has ceased to create the idea of one
of those rugged fortresses destined solely
for var, whose gloomy towers suggest to
the Imagination only dungeons, chains and
executions. Nevertheless, it carries us back
to the time when anarchy and violence
glowered over England to the age of the
Norman and of feudalism, when there was
no distinction but that of soldier. and serf.
| To the time when the fair-haired and blue
eyed Saxon was crushed by his naughty
Norman conqueror, and who, while biding
| his time, breathed against his oppressor
curses not loud but deep. Windsor, as it
| now stands, and regarded as a simple speci-
| men Of its particular style OF architecture,
| is unequaled in England for grandeur andI
magnifc ence.
| This spot, we are told, was selected as a
residence by William the Conqueror, who
was drawn to the neighboring forest by his
fondness for the chase. The country now
embraced in the Royal county, was then as
famous for wild boars, as it now is for Berk-
shire pigs. William l., built, according to
| tradition, rude fortress on'the spot oeeu-
pied by the present edfice, and that or some
other Royal building occupied the ground
| till the 14th century when the existing cas-
| tie was erected. The old building had gone
much to decay when George ". awoke to
the fact that it was the only specimen of a
Royal Palace of any antiquity or pretentious
in England, and determined to perserye 1T,
| if for no other reason than as a memorial OF
the past. Accordingly the government in
| 1924 undertook its restorat ion and spent 'n
the work-so says the guide book-e9O0 000,
| An idea may be formed OF its extent from
this fact. From that time it has been the
| country residence of the Royal family lit
causes Berkshire to be styled the Royal
county, though the Queen has from her
enormous wealth-she is said to be the rich
est woman in Europe-secured several more
congenial country seats, one Osborne in the
Isle of Wight and the other Balmoral, in the
Highlands of Scotland. The latter was built
at the request, so it is said, of Prince Albert,
a man of good sense and much taste, not
like Castle, but after the modern style OF
a eentlemans residence.
On the north side of Windsor Castle the
State apartments are situated and consist OF
nine large rooms in suite. The first being
~~~''
Her Majesty's grand presence chamber. We
could see no particular reason why they
should be so styled, though like the rooms OF
all palaces they are capacious and abound
in gilt. They are approached by wide
stone stair case, the grand stairway Of
course. which is gaudily painted with fabu-
lous stories from Ovid's Metamorphess
and at the head of which stands statue Of
George w. whose great ambition was to be
styled as he was on the slenderest possible
grounds, s'the first gentleman in Europe
George w. was one of the most wretched
specimens OF a man who ever existed on OF
off of a throne, uniting in himself the sot
dissembler and roue. The late Sir George
Jackson, in his recently published volumei
photographs the life of the early part OF tint
present century. He speaks OF the Prince
! ur.E. To0A fofformor5c ,EaOrUn IV.