EXERCISE CVI.

WINDSOR CASTLE. Miss Sedgwick.

WINDSOR CASTLE, you know, is rich with the accumulated associations of ages, having been begun by Henry III., and enlarged and enriched, from time to time, down to George IV., who put it in complete order. It stands on an eminence just above the little town of Windsor, which, built of brick and stone, is compact and clean, as is every thing English, individual and congregate. It is said to be the best specimen of castellated architecture in England. Certainly it is very beautiful; and the most beautiful thing about it, is the view from the terrace, which it would be little better than impertinent to describe in any other words than Gray's, in his invocation to those who stand on the terrace:

"And ye, that from the stately brow

Of Windsor's heights, the expanse below
Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey,

Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among,
Wanders the hoary Thames along

His silver winding way"

But such a mead! such turf! such shade! "Father Thames" might be compared to an old king winding his way through his court: the very sheep that were lying on the grass under the majestic trees in the "home park," looked like princes of the blood. The most thought-awakening object in the view, is undoubtedly the Gothic pile of Eton College, with its spires and antique towers.

We spent some hours in going through the magnificent apartments of the palace, looking at the pictures, the Gobelin tapestry, &c. The quaint, curious banqueting-room of the knights of the garter, with their insignia, pleased me best.

We had enough of the enjoying spirit of children to be delighted, and felt much in the humour of the honest man who said to Prince Esterhazy, when he was blazing in diamonds, "Thank you for your diamonds." Why do you thank me?" naturally asked the prince. "You have the trouble

of keeping them, and I the pleasure of looking at them." Wise and happy man! He solved a puzzling problem. In truth, the monarch has not the pleasure of property in Windsor Castle, that almost every American citizen has in the roof

that shelters him. "I congratulate your majesty on the pos session of so beautiful a palace," said some foreign prince to whom Victoria was showing it. "It is not mine, but the country's," she replied. And so it is, and all within it. She may not give away a picture, or even a footstool.

We went into St. George's Chapel, which is included in the pile of buildings. We saw there the beautiful effect produced by the sun shining through the painted windows, through all the colours of the rainbow, on the white marble pillars and pavement. The royal family are buried in the vaults of this chapel. There is an elaborate monument, in wretched taste, in one corner, to the Princess Charlotte. We trod on a tablet in the pavement, which told us that, beneath it, were lying the remains of Henry VIII. and Jane Seymour! It is such memorials as these that we are continually meeting, which, as honest uncle Stephen says, "give one feelings."

Lady B. had said to me in a note, "If you attend service in St. George's Chapel, observe the waving of the banners to the music. It seems like a strange sympathy with the tones of the organ, before one reflects on the cause." We did attend the service, and realized the poetic idea. The banner of every knight of the garter, from the beginning of the institution, is hung in the choir.

This was the third time we had been present, since we came to England, at worship in the temples into which art has breathed its soul. First in Winchester Cathedral, then at Westminster Abbey, and now at this old royal chapel. The daily service appointed by the Church was performing with the careless and heartless air of prescription. The clergyman and clerk hurried sing-songing through the form of prayers, that, perfect as they are, will only rise on the soul's wings.

I felt the Puritan struggling at my heart, and could have broken out with Mause's fervour, if not her eloquence. I thought of our summer Sunday service in dear J- -'s "long parlour." Not a vacant place was there. The door open into the garden, the children strewed round the door-step, their young faces touched with an expression of devotion and love, such as glows in the faces of the cherubs of the old pictures; and for vaulted roof, columns, and storied glass, had the blue sky, the everlasting hills, and lights and shadows playing over them, — all suggestive of devotion, and in harmony with the pure and simple doctrine our friend Dr. Follen taught us. To me, there was more true worship in those all

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embracing words, "Our Father!" as he uttered them, than in all the task-prayers I have heard in these mighty cathedrals. Here it is the temple that is greatest. Your mind is preoccupied, filled with the outward world. The monuments of past ages, and the memorials of individual greatness, are before you. Your existence is amplified; your sympathies are carried far back; the "inexorable past" does give up its dead. Wherever your eye falls, you see the work of a power new to you, the creative power of art. You see forms of beauty which never entered into your "forge of thought." You are filled with new and delightful emotions; but they spring from new impressions of the genius of man, of his destiny and history.No; these cathedrals are not like the arches of our forests, the temples for inevitable worship; but they are the fitting places for the apotheosis of genius.

EXERCISE CVII.

LIGHT CONVERSATION WITH A HEAVY MAN. Anon.

"CHARLOTTE, my dear, there is a ring at the hall bell," 66 "Who can it said Mrs. Shawford, the morning after a ball. be?"-"Perhaps the Sydenhams-no! it is Henry Waring." "What shall we do? He is so very heavy, and is

always calling.'

The servant announced Mr. Henry Waring.

"How do you do?" inquired Mrs. Shawford; "I hope Mrs. Waring and Eliza are quite well."

"Quite well, I thank you.'

"I hope they are not fatigued. It was so very kind of

"Pray, is it true, Mr. Henry Waring," inquired Charlotte, "that Dewhurst Hall is taken?"

"I don't know."

"Very great thing for the neighbourhood, if it be."

"Yes." (A pause.) "Beautiful weather," remarked Mr. Henry Waring.

"Very fine, indeed," agreed Mrs. Shawford "When do your family go to town?"

"Next week."

"I hope we shall induce papa to take us soon," said Charlotte; "I want to hear Paganini."

"Yes."

"The Dean ages, I think," observed Mrs. Shawford, with a sigh.

"I think he does."

'I suppose William Rushton will soon return," observed Miss Charlotte Shawford.

"I suppose he will," replied Mr. Henry Waring. — (Pause the third.)

"Pray, is there any talk of Donnington balls this year?" "I don't know."

"They were very pleasant.'

"Yes, very." —(Pause the fourth.)

"Have you heard any thing of your cousin?" inquired Mrs. Shawford.

"Believe they had a letter, the other day."

"I hope he is quite well?"

"Yes, quite well."

"I suppose the important day will soon arrive now?" "I suppose it will."(Pause the fifth.)

"Will you take some luncheon, Mr. Waring?—It is in the dining-room."

"Thank you,

I have lunched."

"How does John like Oxford?"

"Oh! I don't know:- pretty well."

"Great change!"

"Yes."-(Pause the sixth.)

"Sure you will not take any luncheon?”

"No, thank you.

Good morning, Mrs. Shawford: Good

morning, Miss Shawford."

"Good morning. Pray remember us most kindly at home." Yes, Good morning;

and he retired.

"Very heavy man is Mr. Henry Waring," observed Mrs. Shawford."Shocking!" said Charlotte.

"O CAPTAIN of the Moorish hold, Unbar thy gates to me!

And I will give thee gems and gold,

To set Fernando free.
For I a sacred oath have plight
A pilgrim to remain,

Till I return, with Lara's knight,
The noblest knight of Spain."

"Fond Christian youth," the captain said, Thy suit is soon denied;

Fernando loves a Moorish maid,

And will with us abide.

Renounced is every Christian rite;

The turban he hath ta'en;
And Lara thus hath lost her knight,
The noblest knight of Spain."

Pale, marble pale, the pilgrim turned, -
A cold and deadly dye;

Then in his cheeks the blushes burned,
And anger in his eye;

From forth his cowl a ringlet bright
Fell down of golden grain :

"Base Moor! to slander Lara's knight,
The boldest knight of Spain !

"Go look on Lugo's gory field,
Go look on Tayo's tide!
Can ye forget the red-cross-shield,
That all your host defied?
Alhama's warriors turned to flight,
Granada's sultan slain,

Attest the worth of Lara's knight,
The boldest knight of Spain."