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D I R E C T O R Y .]

B E R K S H IR E .

hood, was unveiled by H.R.H. Prince Christian K .G .
high steward of W indsor, in the presence of Her late
M ajesty and the Royal Fam ily, June 22nd, 1887. The
figure, which represents the Queen in regal attire,
wearing the ribbon of the Garter and holding the orb
and sceptre, is of bronze, from a design by the late
Sir J. E. Boehm R.A. and stands about 15 feet high,
on a pedestal of Aberdeen granite, which has angel
supporters at each corner ; on the south side is the
following inscription :
“ To commemorate the fiftieth
year of the glorious
reign of Victoria, Queen and
Empress, June 20th,
1887.”
The total cost of the
memorial was about ¿2,500.
The foundation stone of the pedestal for the bronze
equestrian statue of H.R.H. the Prince Consort, pre­
sented to the late Queen Victoria by the women of the
United Kingdom as part of their Jubilee offering, was
laid by 9 er late M ajesty on 14th July, 1887, and the
statue was unveiled on Monday, May 12th, 1890, in the
presence of Her late M ajesty and the Royal Fam ily.
T he statue, which has been erected on Sm ith’s Lawn,
Windsor Great Park, is a copy of the late Baron Marochetti’s figure of the Prince Consort at Glasgow,
executed by the late Sir J. Edgar Boehm R.A. The
front panel contains the following inscription: “ Albert,
Prince Consort, born. Aug. 26, 1819; died Dec. 14, 1861.
This statue was presented to Victoria, Queen and
Empress, a token of love and loyalty from the daughters
of her Em pire, in remembrance of her Jubilee, June 21,
1887. and was unveiled May 12, 1890.” The three other
panels bear sim ilarly worded inscriptions in Latin,
G aelic and Sanskrit.
Windsor Castle, occupying a lofty and isolated em in­
ence of chalk, on the right bank of the river Thames,
was begun by W illiam the Norman and enlarged by
Henry I. who held here, in 1122, his m arriage feast
with Adelais or Adeliza, daughter of Godfrey, Duke of
Louvaine. In 1170 Henry II. held a parliam ent here,
a t which tim e he also entertained W illiam, K in g of
Scotland and his brother David. King John retired
here during his dispute with the barons and went
thence to Runnymede, 15th June, 1215, to sign the
G reat C h arter: in the time of his son, Henry III. it
was frequently attacked by the contending parties.
The next succeeding kings lived at Windsor, where
several of their children were born, including Edward
III. hence known as Edward of Windsor ; this monarch
rebuilt the greater part of the Castle, the famous
William of W ykeham , then one of the king’s chaplains,
acting as architect ; this great undertaking was carried
out from 1356 to 1373 and included the Palace, St.
George’s Hall, the east and south sides of the Upper
Ward, the Round Tower, St. George’s chapel, the
canons’ houses, and the whole circumference of the
walls, with the towers and gates. The existing chapel
was, however, built by Edward IV. and the nave, roof
and choir added by Henry VII. and Henry V III. Most
of the succeeding monarchs contributed in some way to
the building, but George IV. was its chief restorer, and
■devoted nearly a m illion to the beautifying of this the
most magnificent building of the kind in Europe, the
whole of the work being effected from the designs and
under the supervision of Sir Jeffrey W yatville, the
king’s surveyor-general.
The Castle comprises two
■quadrangles, or Upper and Lower wards, between which
is the Round tower or keep, raised on an artificial
mound surrounded by a m oat, and form erly separated
from the Lower ward by a moat with a drawbridge.
The Upper court or ward contains, on the north side,
the state apartm ents, the K in g’s private chapel, the
hall of St. George and the library ; it includes with
these K ing John’s tower, George IV .’s tower, the Corn­
wall and Brunswick towers and the Prince of W ales’s
tow er; at the south-east angle are the Queen’s private
apartments ; on the south those reserved for visitors
and comprising the Victorian tower, the Y ork and
Lancaster towers, flanking George TV.’s gateway and
King Edward in .’s tower ; these three sides are almost
completely surrounded by a m ost noble terrace, faced
by a rampart of solid freestone and commanding, north­
wards, a prospect the beauty and extent of which is
scarcely to be excelled ; below the north terrace, 1,870
fees in length, are “ the slopes,” thickly planted with
every variety of tree and shrub, intermingled with
grottoes, fish ponds and cascades and intersected by
rustic bridges and sequestered walks, and at the foot
of the east terrace are the K in g’s private gardens,
adorned with statues of bronze and marble, vases and
fountains and enclosed by a pentagonal terrace, beneath
part of which is an extensive orangery and a photo­
graphic studio. Within the court, on the north side,
is the state entrance, at the south-east angle the
Sovereign’s entrance and opposite to it that for visitors ;

WI N D SO R.

263

at the west end is an equestrian statue in copper, by
Stada, of Charles I I executed at the cost of Tobias
Rustat, housekeeper at Hampton Court, and towards
the eastern end is a well 120 feet in d e p th ; at the
extrem e south-west corner is St. George’s gate, leading
to Castle H ill, while on the opposite side of the Round
tower the Norman gate conducts to the Lower ward;
this ward contains the chapel of St. George, placed
alm ost centrally and im m ediately adjoining it, on the
east, the Albert chapel, with the deanery and cloisters ;
north of these and of the chapel are the residences of
the canons, and west of the chapel the Horseshoe
cloisters, with houses appropriated to the organist and
the m inor canons; on the south side of the chapel is
a spacious open court, in part laid down with turf, of
which the southern boundary is constituted by the
dwellings of the m ilitary knights, while the Guard
house, erected originally by Sir Francis Crane kt. chan­
cellor of the order of the G arter, shuts it in on the
w est; the whole is surrounded, like the Upper ward,
by a wall and a series of towers, the chief of which are
Henry I l l . ’s tower, the Salisbury and G arter towers and
Julius Caisar’s or the Curfew to w e r; the last named
was frequently used, especially during the reign of
Henry I I I . as a prison, and m any names of persons
confined there are visible upon its w a lls : the upper
portion or belfry was rebuilt under the direction of
H .R.H. the late Prince Consort, and it now contains a
clock with chimes and a peal of 8 bells. The Round
tower or Keep, form erly called “ La Rose,” and built bv
Edward I I I . has been the prison house of John, K ing
of France, David and James I. Kings of Scotland, the
Earl of Surrey, John, 2nd Earl and 1st Duke of Lauder­
dale K .G . and John 1st Earl of Lindsay, both of whom
were released at the Restoration, and Charles I. was
brought here (1648), the Castle being held for the
Parliam ent; Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, Comte de
Belleisle and Marshal of France, captured when passing
through Hanover in the reign of George II. was the
last state prisoner confined here, and after his release
resided at Frogm ore: at its foot is a sm all garden, in
summer time ablaze with flowers, where James I. of
Scotland first saw the Lady Jane Beaufort, afterw ards
his q u een ; the tower was raised 39 feet and its flag
turret added by George I V . ; the sum mit of the lofty
mound on which it stands is reached by a flight of 100
steps and affords a splendid view extending into 12
shires, the height from the level of the Little park to
the top of the flagpole being 295 feet; in 1868 a bell
weighing 17 cwt. taken at the siege of Sebastopol, was
hung in the k e e p ; the original well, 164 feet deep, for
supplving the garrison, is still in existence, 60 feet of
the upper part is lined with stone, the rem ainder cut
through the solid chalk to the river level.
Access is obtained to the State apartm ents of the
castle by the North terrace and thence by the North
entrance. The Audience chamber has a ceiling with an
allegorical painting by Verrio, in which Catherine of
Braganza, queen of Charles I. is represented as B rit­
annia, on a car drawn by swans; m agnificent Gobelins
tapestrv, with subjects' from the story of Esther,
decorates the walls, and pictures by Honthorst (Gherardo
della Notte) and Janet. The old ball room, now called
the Vandyck room, is entirely hung with portraits by
that m aster, including the famous picture of Charles I.
and his familv and the scarcely less rem arkable portrait
in which the' king’s face is seen from three points of
view ; here are also some magnificent cabinets. The
Kind’s State Drawing room or Picture G allery, contains
some of Zucarelli’s finest landscapes. The State Ante­
room has a painted ceiling by V errio, representing a
banquet of the gods, and exquisite carvings of fish,
game, flowers and fruit, by G rinling Gibbons, this
apartment having been, in Charles II. ’s tim e, the king’s
public dining room. The W aterloo cham ber was con­
structed during the reign of W illiam IV. and its pecu­
liarity of design, resem bling the cabin of a ship, is
said to have been suggested by that k in g; it is 98 feet
long, 45 feet high and 47 broad and contains portraits
of the sovereigns, statesm en and generals connected
with the great European war term inated by the battle
of Waterloo in 1815 ; this fine apartm ent forms one of
the splendid series including the Throne Room, St.
George’s Hall and the Grand Reception R oom ; the
latter is 90 feet long, 34 broad and 33 high, splendidly
decorated in the style of Louis XIV. and hung with
Gobelins tapestry of 1744-90, depicting scenes from the
history of Jason and the Golden Fleece. St. George's
Hall is 230 feet long, 34 broad and 34 h ig h ; the north
wall is hung with portraits of the kings from James I.
to George IV. and the ceiling and walls are studded
with the armorial bearings of the knights of the Order
of the Garter from its first in stitution ; at the east end