Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1886-07-23

'HtS all" Iui'liH "HiSI'I 10 Ndkt
or am | dreaming"
Thursday morning We make sketches
and wheel to Warwick, eight miles.
We stop on the way at Guys Cliffs
and watch for IL moment the quiet
river Avon and catch IA glimpse of the
last home OF the great Guy Earl OF
Warwick, who, it is claimed, was nine
feet in height. We ride on il mile fur
ther, buy our tickets and enter the
gateway leading to the castle Of War
wick which was begun by Ethelred,
Earl OF Mercia, in the year 91J. Pass
ing through the embattled gateway
called the Porter's Lodge, We enter n
fine road deeply cut through solid
rock, the ample branches of foliage
forming a canopy above, while be-
meath the moss and ivy creeping in
fertile wildncss form Il picture at once
romantic and pleasing. Proceeding
about 15O'yards, the stupendous line
of Notifications with the "cloud cap'd
towers" breaks suddenly on the right
in all its bold magniticence, seeming
firmly joined as it is to its rocky foun-
dation, to bid defiance to the all-sub-
DUNG power of time. On the right is
the fine polygon tower, dedicated to
Earl Guy, having walls ten feet thick
and il base of thirty feet in diameter
and reaching to II height of 12S feet
On the left is the venerable Caesars
Tower, said to be coeval with the Nor
man Congress, and although it has
braved the ravages of time, and the
depredations of man for nearly 500
years, still it continues as firm rs the
rock on which it is founded. But we
have not time to further describe it.
We pass through another great arch
way into an inner court, thence into
the interior of the castle, which is still
in fine state of preservation. Every
thing is magnificent. The walls are
crowded with paintings, many by the
old masters, and relies of antiquity
thousands of years old. In the Green
house we saw the celebrated Antique
Vase. 1t is of white marble designed
and executed i'll the purest Grecian
taste and is one of the finest speci-
mems of ancient sculptor at present
known. 1t WINS -fo,'~d- ut tho bottom,
of lake at Adrian's Villa, near Trivoli,
by Sir William Hamilton, then AM
bassador at the court of Naples, by
which it was presented to the father of
the late Earl of Warwick, conveyed to
England and placed in its present po-
sition. Its shape is circular and it is
ten feet across at the top, and capable
of holding 1876 gallons. 1t is wonder
full piece of carving and is supposed
to be more than 1000 years old.
But we must hasten, so we leave the
Castle and Warwick, and proceed to
Standardization, eight miles distant.
We arrive early in the evening and
visit the birthplace of Shakespeare
The house has been preserved, and
does not seem to look the worse for
age. Friday morning we visited the
church where he and number of the
Shakespeare family are buried. At
nine o'clock we bid farewell to this
beautiful little city, and wheel to Ok
ford for dinner, forty miles. We spend
the afternoon at sightseeing, for there
is much here to please an American.
Every school boy can tell something
about Oxford, for more than thou
sand years it has been city of col
leges, and for centuries b. c. it was
seat of learning. Some of the build
ings are crumbling with age, and the
walls are green with ivy, but time has
not worn away their grandeur. Sat-
urday morning we wheel towards Lon
don, passing through beautiful
stretch of country and several charm
ing villages, and reach the metropolis
at five p. NJ, delightful trip of fifty
eight miles. We roll slowly up the
crowded streets to the First Avenue
hotel and engage lodgings.
VAN DE VENTER.