Morning journal and courier., 1892-09-10

.y nnes- IN tne northern portion
tne forest Is still primeval, and here are
toano OAKS rivaling in girth the most fs-
nous of Robin Hoods land In Nottins.
hamshire. The king oak, over eight hun.
dred years ago the fsvorite tree of VIII.
liam the Conqueror, is still standing. and
Is twenty six feet in girth three feet from
the ground. There are also four Other
Famous oaks here respectively known AZ
the oaks of Queens Ann, Charlotte. Ade.
laide and Victoria.
Besides these and many other features
of immediate and present interest round
about this royal residence, there is q gen
uins fascination, while high up here upon
this huge round tower, in scanning the
landscape and recalling objects and places
mellow with the traditions of long ago,
| or spots famous in the world of TODAY.
Just over beyond Great Park are Ascot
heath and race course. The course is the
finest in the kingdom The grand stand
rivals in splendor and extent the noted
Epson betting stand; and the races are al
ways honored by the presence of members
of the royal family, who are invariably
driven TO Ascot through the royal parks
from Windsor.
WINFIELD, near Ascot, abounds with
nearly two score gentlemen's seats in parks
OF the grandsst scenic beauty. At ebert
| sey, but nine miles distant, once famous
for its abbey. lived aud died the poet Cow
ley, while Albert Smith, suthor of Chris
topher Tadpole," many other works of
fiction and many books of travel. whose
/ genius barely fell short of that Of Dickens,
i was born in the same quaint old village.
Datchet, on.the Thames, about q mile from
Windsor, has the remains of q very an
cient monastery; while Datchet Mead was
| rendered famous by Shakespeare In his
Cherry Wives of Wiudsorn
But four miles distant is the quaint
and sequestered village of Horton In
this, at Berkyn Manor House, lived Mil
/ ton, with his father and mother when they
| retured from business In 1882 and here
were written his "Comus," "Arcsdes,n -
"Lycidas, /" "L'Allegro" and "n Pensere-
ro." At Old Windsor, two miles down the
river, is one of the most impressive old
yew and cypress shaded churchy ards in
England. Its Most Farm was the bunting
| seat of Saxon kings. Mrs. Robinson, the
| authoress, and the unfortunate Perdita, lie
buried here; and its Beaumont Lodge was
the former home of Warren Hastings
Brsy !s but FIVE miles distant up the
Thames. The "Vicsr of Bray" one Sy-
monds, was that spiritually vivacious cler-
ic who changed his religion four times, in
successive reigns, that he might live and
die in his Giving" At Beaconsfeld, to
the north near Wilton Park, was the home
of Waller, the poet, and Burke. the states
man. Here at Slough, two miles to the
north, is the house occupied 30 long by Sir
William Her.chel, and you will see here q
part of his great forty-foot telescope;
while two miles further, beyond meadows
green, nestlings in clumps of yew and oak
10 the olden home of the Penns, near
which is the mossy old parish church of
Stoke Pcges, where WAS written the purest
and sweetest elegy in the English tongue
But coming closer to royal Windsor is
Windsor town itself. Scarcely more than
q village, it strsggles up to the castle walls
like q mass of dependent relations fawn-
ingly creeping close to the source of favor
and bounty. I may alone fancy 1t, but
the folk. the houses, the streets, all sights
and seemings, possess a cringing, servile
air. 1t is drowsy and ancient enough
surely. You can find many old half f-tim-
bered houses here; almost every home, and
they are chiefly humble ones, has it's little
square grass-plot of the ancient time in
front of 1t; and the very names of its few
and odd old inns, such as Adam and Eve,
Hand and Glove, and Merry Wives of
Windsor, are redolent of the sword, ruffs
aud wigs of Elizabethsn days.
1t seems to me that after one has grown
little familiar with this most famous of
all royal residences. Windsor Castle itself,
its inmates and all it's present splendor,
take less and less hold upon the visitor,
and that the wraiths of historic associa-
cannot 6u .ss sSa ed us sr6&E ~ 5s
and more imperative of recognition.
What q wondrous host they arel King
Arthur beneath his dragon crested helmet
fits silently by. Launcelot, Gulnsyere,
huge Tristram and pensive Perciyale are
following. Yes, and there is Merlin grave
and his fatal enchantress. The Conqueror
and his knights rise up before You ghost
lily. Falstsff and his ragged crew are Just
as real and quite as near. Here are lords
bishop resplendent in armor and msntles,
coming TO shrive, to bless or to curse.
One king walls as he passes over the curse
of ingratitude. Another brutally smiles
as a living tomb is built for helpless wo-
man and her child. So on and on the ini-
quitous and the good who have ruled and
cursed. or ruled and blessed, until the pig
faced head of a canting demon comes
He praises God and orders slaughter in
the same unctious breath, and, his iron
hand crashing to atoms the priceless gath
erings Of half a thousand years, wakes
you from your dreaming fancy to thank
the God there are no more Cromwells.
To many visitors most interest 10 found
In the state apartments, the Zuccsrelli
room, the Vandyck room, the Rubens
room, the Guard room, the audience and
presence chambers, st. Georges Hall, the
crimson, green and white drawing rooms
over the east terrace, and the Waterloo
chamber. The stern simplicity Of the
guard room, the great hall emblszoned
with the armorisl bearings of the Garter
Knights and lined with portraits of Brit
ish sovereigns from the time of Charles ii.
to the present, and the historic Waterloo
- rb.r he - al h.st
sembled annually on Its anniversary, are
by far the most striking and impressive.
More keenly attractive to me have al
ways been the two chapels of Albert and
st. George; and as the former was the
place for a chance meeting with memora-
BILE parsonage, it cannot but possess for
myself the strongest hold upon feelings
and remembrance. Both chspels are
doubtless, for their size, the most famous
treasure-houses of royal msusoleum and
memorial in the whole world. Their en-
richment by every known form of memo
rial art is sumptuous and magnificent be-
yond description.
In front of the chancel of the Albert
chapel Is the cenotaph to the late Prince
Consort 1t is an altar tomb bv the late
Baron Henry de Triqueti. Its base Is of
black and gold Tuscan marble. At each
angle of the tomb Is the figure of an an
gel, those at the front bearing shields, one
with the arms of the queen and the other
with those of the Prince Consort. Around
the tomb, in inches, are statuettee, three
on the south side representing Charity,
Piety aud Hope, and the three on the
north Justice, Honor and Truth. At the
east end is a mournfully interesting statu-
ette of the queen in her younger days,
and opposite is ststuette of Science
weeping An inscription Iuns around the
grand antique marble of its cap. Upon
the latter lies the recumbent figure of cal
bert the Good, )" msgnifcenuy sculptured,
wearing the amor of a knight of the mid
die ages, and clothed in the mantle of the
order of the Garter.
On a recent occasion while standing be-
fore this memorial, my attendant having
excused himself for moment and disap-
pesred through the private door leading to
the deanery, two ladies, one an elderly wo-
man and her companion a fair faced wo-
man of thirty, quietly entered and walked
straight to the cenotaph- They were both
dressed plainly but richly, and were with
out bonnets, and at the time I thought
them visitors staying at some gentlemsn's
seat or near hotel.
MY own great interest in the magnificent
eculptured effigy attracted the attention OF
the old lady; and, seemingly from some
impulse of great self-interest in the figure
| I could not then understand, she accosted