1, Edward III.'s Tower; 2, Lancaster Tower; 3, York Tower; 4, South Turret; 5, Victoria Tower; 6, Clarence Tower; 7, Chester Tower-State Drawing-room; 8, Prince of Wales's TowerState Dining-room; 9, Brunswick Tower, octagon, 38 feet diameter externally, height 100 feet; 10, Cornwall Tower-Ball-room, 90 x 32 feet; 11, George IV.'s. Tower; 12, King John's Tower; 13, Keep-not a perfect circle, 102 feet in greatest diameter, 93 in smallest; height, 80 feet from the top of the mound; Watch-tower, 25 more; entire height from level of Quadrangle, 148 feet. a, George IV.'s Gateway, directly facing the Long Walk; b, State Entrance, with vestibule continued through to North Terrace; c, State Staircase, occupying site of Brick Court, 50 x 36 feet; d, Waterloo Gallery, on site of Horn Court, 95 x 46 feet; e, St. George's Hall, 180 x 32 feet; f, Visitors' Entrance; 9,9, 9, Grand Corridor; h, Entrance for public to State Apartments; i, Henry VII.'s Building; k, Queen Elizabeth's Gallery; 1, Norman Towers and Gateway; m, Statue of Charles II.; n, St. George's Gateway.

It will be perceived that such enlargement has been made principally within the quadrangle, on the exterior facing the North Terrace, to which the Brunswick Tower has been added; and by converting what were two open courts in that northern mass of building, viz., Brick Court and Horn Court, into the State Staircase and the Waterloo Gallery. Some general communication along the whole extent of the private apartments was indispensable, unless that part of the Castle was to remain as incommodious and as impracticable as ever, with no other real improvement than that of enlarging some of the rooms, by throwing two or three of them together, but without gaining any corresponding increase of breadth. There was no practicable alternative, except to provide such communication by encroaching upon the quadrangle, and erecting a corridor on the east and south sides. The present corridor is about fifteen feet wide, and as many high; and in its full extent, from the Visitors' Staircase and Ante-room at the north end, to its termination near Edward III.'s Tower, is 450 feet,

but not in a direct line, which is perhaps an advantage. That branch of it which runs north and south has eight windows on its west; the other, fourteen on its north side; and between these two divisions the corridor takes a bend, passing, as it were, behind what is called the Oak or Wainscot Breakfast-room, which is built over the porch that forms the Royal Entrance. One side of this room forms a spacious bay, whose windows, like those of the corridor, command a fine view of the whole Quadrangle and Keep. Though subordinate in purpose, all this part of the interior possesses a good deal of effect and many contrived points, many circumstances unfavourable in themselves having been turned to good account. As to the corridor itself, it does, in fact, answer a twofold purpose; since, besides being what its name imports, it serves also as an in-door promenade and lounge, and is richly stored with pictures and other works of art. But still it looks expressly intended for what it is—a corridor, so adorned, rather than a gallery made use of as a corridor. On the south side the corridor communicates, through intermediate lobbies, with the private rooms appropriated to visitors, which form distinct apartments of three or four rooms each, with their separate private staircases, &c. On the east side, from the Victoria Tower inclusive to midway between the Clarence and Chester Towers, are the Royal Private Apartments, to which succeed what may be called the Private State Rooms, viz., Library, or First Drawing-room, State Drawing-room (Chester Tower), Saloon, State Dining-room (Prince of Wales's Tower). All these last-mentioned rooms have very spacious oriels and bays (that of the Great Drawing-room is not less than 24 feet wide, and 23 deep), which, while they contribute to great variety of form within, constitute the principal and richest features of the east front of the Castle. Beyond the State Dining-room there is an octagon-room, 28 feet in diameter, commanding a view in one direction along the North Terrace. All this part of the Castle is not to be viewed, except by very special permission, and then, of course, only partially.

Although fewer changes, upon the whole, have been made in the northern range of the edifice, some highly important ones have taken place. Beginning with the State Entrance, to which a spacious projecting carriage porch has been added, the lower vestibule, which used to be nearly occupied by the Gothic staircase erected by James Wyatt, has been cleared, so as to afford a fine architectural vista quite through to the North Terrace, from which there is an entrance through George IV.'s Tower; and a new state staircase has been formed within what was a confined inner court. This is admirably well planned for effect, for the staircase itself shows all the more strikingly, by coming suddenly into view, when its greater spaciousness and loftiness (70 feet from the floor to the top of the lantern) forms an imposing contrast to the lengthened perspective of the vestibule. Another improvement consequent upon the alteration of the staircase is the obtaining an upper state vestibule in connection with the Guard Room, which last has been extended by being carried out over the porch of the State Entrance. Thus a continuous and varied grand line of approach is formed to St. George's Hall, which was before hardly accessible from the staircase, otherwise than by passing through the rooms of the north front, owing to the intervention of the Royal Chapel at the west end of the hall. By that chapel being added to the hall, a decided improvement has been produced: the latter has been extended to 180 feetnearly double its former length; and it forms a fine climax in the general arrangement. The Waterloo Gallery, which is an entirely new feature in this part of the plan, contributes in no small degree to give not only greater variety, but an appearance of much greater extent than formerly to this portion of the Castle; while, owing to its being well lighted from above, it contrasts pleasingly with the other rooms, and serves to bring into one group with itself and the hall two of the most spacious of

them, viz., the Throne-room and the Ball-room. The architect appears also to have been happy in his arrangement of Queen Elizabeth's Gallery, which, together with the adjoining room in Henry VII.'s Building, has been fitted up as a library.

Until renovated and remodelled by Sir Jeffrey Wyatville, the exterior had very little of either architectural character or dignity, or even of picturesqueness, except that arising from situation; whereas now it is marked by many bold features and welldefined masses, and presents a series of parts, all varied, yet more or less interesting. Even where the principal masses remain the same, the general outline, before feeble and insipid, has been greatly improved. Somewhat greater height than formerly has been given to most of the buildings by deep embattled parapets, and in some of them by machicolations also. Some of the towers have been carried up higher, and others added. Among these last are the Lancaster and York, flanking George IV.'s Gateway, and distinctly marking that as the principal portal of the Castle; also the Brunswick Tower, which, owing to its difference of form and greater mass, adds very much to the architectural effect of the north-east angle. But the most striking improvement of the kind was that of carrying up the Round Tower 90 feet higher, exclusive of the Watch Tower on its summit, which makes the height in that part 25 feet more.

It was generally understood that the Castle was to be re-instated, as far as it consistently could be, in what was, or what might be supposed to have been, its original character. No question, therefore, was started as to style. Still, the style of a genuine feudal castle and fortress is fitter at the present day for a prison than a palace; it has accordingly been more or less softened down, in some parts so much, that its character is almost neutralized. Where it has been most preserved it looks rather too stern and uncouth. There is also very much that is open to animadversion with respect to details, and the strange intermixture in several parts of the earliest and latest styles of Gothic. However, though sober criticism cannot pronounce Windsor Castle to be by any means a complete and perfectly-studied production of architecture, it is still a noble one, and such as to justify all but the unqualified praise bestowed upon it.

After the first grant of £300,000, others were successively made, and the total expenditure down to the end of the reign of William IV. amounted to £771,000. There has since been a grant of £70,000 for new stables, which form an extensive range of buildings, only 400 feet from the Castle, on its south side, and to the west of the Long Walk: they extend upwards of 600 feet, and include a riding-house, nearly 200 feet in length by 68 feet in breadth.

To form some adequate notion of the vastness of the Castle itself, we ought to look down upon its roofs from the leads of the Round Tower. The interior of the Tower is not now exhibited. The panorama of the country around Windsor is very remarkable, from its extent and variety. But these bird's-eye prospects are anything but picturesque.

The State Apartments! It is a matter of congratulation that these are now shown without payment. Tickets must, however, be procured either at London or Windsor before the stranger is admitted. But when the ticket is presented, there is that politeness from the attendant which well befits the atmosphere of a palace. The visitor is waited upon by a man of intelligence, not to hurry him along, nor to disgust by his ignorant jargon, but to name the objects of curiosity, quietly and unobtrusively. How different are those objects now from those of a quarter of a century ago! Then were to be seen the State beds, whose faded hangings had been carefully preserved from periods when silk and velvet were the exclusive possessions of the high-born; chairs of ebony, whose weight compelled the sitter to remain in the place of the

seat; and tables of silver, fine to look upon, but worthless to use. Then we cast up our eyes through many an interminable length of King's Presence Chambers, and King's Audience Chambers, and Queen's Presence Chambers, and Queen's Audience Chambers, and State Bed-rooms, and Guard-rooms, and Ball-rooms, and Banquetingrooms-upon ceiling after ceiling-where Charles II. and his queen were humbly invited to their banquets by Jupiter and Neptune, and Mercury and Bacchus. Truly his Majesty was a fit companion for the scoundrels of the mythology! But there were better things than these to be seen-ay, better things than King Charles's Beauties, which are now banished, to make the Londoners, who go in thousands to Hampton Court, wonder that such bold meretricious hussics could ever be called "Beauties." There were the 'Misers' of Quentin Matsys; the 'Cleopatra' and 'Venus' of Guido (now in the National Gallery); the Titian and Aretin' of Titian; the 'Silence' of Annibal Caracci.

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The State Apartments now shown are few in number. They consist of 'The Queen's Audience Chamber,' with one of Verrio's ceilings, and magnificent hangings of Gobelin tapestry: and The Queen's Presence Chamber,' with a similar ceiling, and a continuation of the same tapestry-the story of Queen Esther and Mordecai. These rooms have a few old royal portraits of no beauty or interest; the portrait of Mary Queen of Scots is, indeed, an exception, though not for any beauty it possesses. It is by Janet, and was painted after her death. In the back-ground is a representation of her execution. The carvings in the Queen's Presence Chamber are the work of Grinling Gibbons. The Vandyke Room is alone worth a pilgrimage to Windsor. The noble portraits which fill this room used to be scattered about the Castle. Brought together, they not only show us the greatness of the painter, but they fill the mind with the memory of that unhappy prince, whose fate seemed written in his pensive face-he, to whom Windsor was the last prison ere he walked to the scaffold out of the window of Whitehall. Here is one of the three grand pictures of Charles I., with his equerry, D'Epernon— of which the Middle Temple Hall and Warwick Castle can also boast. Here is the celebrated head, in three points of view, painted for Bernini the sculptor; several portraits of Queen Henrietta; and that noble composition of Charles's children, with their great mastiff. What a head, too, is that of Vandyke, by himself! Shall any one look at these pictures, and doubt whether Portrait be a high department of Art? We proceed through what is called The State Ante-room,'-where on the ceiling is Verrio's Banquet of the Gods,' and in a window a portrait of George III., painted on glass-to 'The Grand Staircase,' which has a statue of George IV., by Chantrey, and so to The Grand Vestibule,' and 'The Waterloo Chamber.' The Staircase, the Vestibule, and the Waterloo-room, are amongst the most conspicuous of Sir Jeffry Wyatville's improvements, and have been already mentioned in the general notice of these improvements. Of Sir Thomas Lawrence's collection of portraits in the Waterloo Chamber it would be easier to speak in terms of enthusiasm, if we had not so recently been gazing upon the noble groups by Vandyke. With some striking exceptions, the portraits of Lawrence want solidity and grandeur. There are few heroic heads amongst them. Pius VII. is, perhaps, the finest of the series; George Canning, the most disappointing, because unlike him in the social hour.' The Duke of Wellington' is a fine picture, but hardly conveys the proper idea of the Iron Duke. However, it was a fine idea to bring together the portraits of the men who were more or less agents in the pacification of Europe, after the final defeat of the arch-impostor of the Revolution; and no one living in the time of Lawrence could have carried out the plan with any approach to his success. The Waterloo-room itself is a noble apartment, 98 feet long by 47 feet wide, and 45 feet high, and of course richly embel

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lished. The carvings of the doors and picture-frames are by Gibbons, and will repay examination. From the Waterloo-room we go to 'the Ball-room,' glittering with burnished gold, and bright with 'Gobelin tapestry.' The Ball-room is 90 feet long by 34 feet broad, and 33 feet high, and is by far the most sumptuous in style of any of the rooms to which the public is admitted. As it is seen in the day-time by the ordinary visitor, with all the rich gilt and crimson furniture and the lofty candelabra covered up, the walls and ceiling have a somewhat gaudy, almost a tawdry-look ; but doubtless at night, when fully lit up, and filled with the noble and beautiful of the court and country, in all the glitter of full-dress and brilliant uniforms, its appearance must be eminently splendid. 'Saint George's Hall' is an oblong room, 200 feet in length. This is the great Banqueting-room, when the sovereign holds high festival. The Guard Chamber' closes the apartments upon which the crowd may look-with shield and banner, and complete mail. The pedestal of Nelson's bust, formed out of a block of the mainmast of 'The Victory,' is worth all the swords and pikes which gleam on these walls. But there is a shield which ought to be examined. It was a present from Francis I. to Henry VIII., and is believed to be the work of Benvenuto Cellini: it is assuredly worthy of that singular genius. The material of which it is constructed is steel, Damascened with gold and silver. The carvings represent scenes from the life of Julius Cæsar. The Sikh guns, at the end of the room, deserve to be noticed.

These are all the State Apartments which are open to the public, and most visitors acknowledge to feeling disappointment after going over them: in truth, too little is shown of them to admit of their being fairly estimated. The carpets are taken up, the whole of the furniture is jealously concealed under brown-holland coverings; and State Apartments, seen under such circumstances, have a very unstately appearance. It is like looking at a fair lady in curl-papers. If it is worth while to let them be seen at all, we confess to thinking it would be as well to show them in company garb.

In the days before George III. occupied the Castle, the State Apartments exhibited to the public were of much greater extent than the present suite. They ranged from the gallery called after Queen Elizabeth, at the west end of the Upper Quadrangle, to St. George's Hall on the east; and included most of the rooms looking on the North Terrace and into the Great Square. No doubt these apartments were the actual dwelling-rooms of former sovereigns. The want of passages, by which each room could have an independent approach, was not regarded in the old days of cumbrous state. It was not only in some of the larger rooms-perhaps in her own Gallerythat Elizabeth listened to the Merry Wives of Windsor;' but in some of the smaller chambers the learned queen sate translating Horace's 'Art of Poetry;' and anon descended by a private staircase, to pace with stately step the Northern Terrace which she had raised. Here James I. fidgeted about in his trunk-hose, and solaced the hot evenings of the dog-days of 1621 with the learned slang of Ben Jonson's masque of "The Gipsies Metamorphosed,' and looked knowingly about him as the new language, which contained such words as 'gentry coves' and 'rum morts,' required expla

nation.

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Here walked his successor, in solitary gloom; great in misfortune-a loveable man when danger surrounded him on every side-a true king when a fated prisoner. Here the uncrowned mighty one who struck him down, kept state with his Ironsides.' The restored Stuart here brought his French tastes in building, and turned the old fortress-palace into an incongruous Versailles. Anne here spent her summer months ---sometimes 'hunting in a chaise with one horse, which she drives herself, and drives furiously, like Jehu,'-and sometimes, according to the same authority, the Dean of