The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-23

wonderful portraits by masters like Ru- bens. The cedar room was next. It Is so named because the walls are made or great panels of carved cedar. The carpet was made in Florence for the room and in each corner is the coat-of-arms of the family. There is set of dishes Tn buhl cabinets which were once those of Elizabeths Duke of Leicester. The red drawing room is next, but it's chief bsAu- ty is the portraits it contained, among them one of the present countess.
 "A portrait of the present countess by"
 "A set of china belonging to the Duke of Leicester"
 "A portrait of the ancestors of the present duke and his sons."
 "A portrait of the late countess till one wished to choke him to stop the sound or to shake him to see if he had any life at all.
 In one window was an effiCy of horse covered with thirteenth century armcr, and suit of arnor set up like knight all ready to go to battle upon his back. It was museum of wonderful war things and I cannot think of family go- ing there for pleasure. These were the state apartments. but not one-tenth Of the castle is shown, and in the part where the family really do live we could see white furniture of modern design and dainty curtains, while maids passed hack and forth as if house work gre be- ing done. l have tried to give you an idea of the place, but it Is very hard to describe a life one has only read about. The afternoon was devoted to seeing Kenlworth that famous palace at which Queen Elizabeth was entertained when she had her dream of love, though love destined to be a misfortune. The drive is beautiful and one passes the home of the Lucy's and hears the tale of Shakespeares deer stealing for "The evil men do lives after them" Kenil- worth is now in ruins, but the stones of the great banquet hall stand in place enough to show that when intact 1t must have been indeed palace of great beau ty. This hall had not one but two great fireplaces. and the windows were so high they reached from the floor to the ceil- ing in that showy Gothic style so popu- lar at one time. There are the five story walls of the part Leicester himself built. but the part built by the Normans many years before is still the strongest part of it all, nor will this seem strange when one is told that the walls are often twenty fet thick, and almost solid stone. | The Normans did not build for show but | for strength. In this part-the keep-is | the fortress well so that when besieged | the inmates would not be forced to sur ! render for lack of water. Here is the dungeon, a well twenty feet deep, walled with rock, into which prisoners were sometimes put and starved to death. The room where Amy. the heroine of | Scotts "Keniworth." staid Is shown and 1 it is too tiny to be in comfortable. much | less to live in. Wentworth seems to have f c..If .-I. '. .t, fc | in one of the towers.
 | In one of the churches in Warwch, one may see the tomb of the earl who was the queens favorite, where be rests beside his wife Their effisies are said | to be likenesses-a rare thing in those | times. Near the altar is a small figure of child. This is the earl's son, whom | he is said to have poisoned becauce he was hunch- backed; it is also told hat | a little later he attempted to poison his wife but she so contemplated that she not only escaped but lived over twenty years after his death.
 Of course long years ago England was a Catholic country ard in ibis little church there is a confessional whose stone steps have been worn away entirely by
 the thousands who have ascended to sk 1 the pardon the priests believed they might give I have several very pretty pictures of Warwich scenery. It is a very beautiful and as Prof. Powers said
 Much more interesting thnn Sttatfnrd only Shakespeare dd not happsn to be
 born there" But in Stratfnrd and shat-
 tery every other house would make a beautiful picture frrn an artistic stand point
 In Warwich the city gat= stni sand
 through which one entering or leaving
 the town in i've days of olde" must go
 Now the wall is removed or the side SC
 that the greater travel and tra5c may
 be accommodated. England is full of
 striking contrasts-this old gate stands
 side by side with a letter box of most
 modern design and little horse cars wind
 around it through the gas lighted streets.