Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

Royal Highness, now Queen of Wirtemburgh, in imitation of etchings; the black japan room; the red japan room; both these apartments are indebted for their tasteful appearance to her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth; Princess Royal's second closet, fitted up also with drawings from the pen of her Royal Highness; second pavilion; drawing-room, hung with sketches for the altar-piece of the Foundling Hospital, by West; oval pictures of Cleopatra and Dido, by Cipriani, and a small sea-view, by Mr. Cowden, after the manner of Morland; state bedroom and dressing-room; yellow bed-room, filled with portraits by Edridge, in the earlier manner of that excellent artist; and the QUEEN's library, in which hangs the picture of HIS MAJESTY, which was sent to Germany, previous to his marriage with his present Royal Consort." My astonishment was excited by observing the profusion of presents which HER MAJESTY had received from the four quarters of the WORLD!

The GARDENS, thirteen acres in extent, are very diversified, and a piece of water winds through them with a pleasing variety. The Ruin, and Hermitage, and Gothic temple, have their respective beanties. The RUIN, with its creeping ivy and fractured buttresses, is an interesting object; the HERMITAGE, a small circular thatched building, fit for the residence of Parnell's Hermit, was constructed from a drawing of the Princess Elizabeth; and lastly, the GOTHIC TEMPLE, sacred to solitude, augments the solemnity

[blocks in formation]

of the scenery. Roaming about, exploring its variegated beauties, we were unwilling to quit it. These gardens reminded me of Eden, the abode of our first parents, which, if we believe Milton, had every thing to beguile the senses and to exhilarate the heart.

"A Garden," says LORD BACON, "is the purest of human pleasures; it is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man, without which, buildings and palaces are but gross handy-works, and a man shall ever see that when ages grow to civility and elegancy, men come to build stately, sooner than to garden finely, as if gardening were the greater perfection."

At FROGMORE HER MAJESTY has held several fêtes, to which the public were admitted. The first was May 19, 1795, to celebrate her Majesty's birthday; the second, 23d May, 1797, in honour of the marriage of the Princess Royal; the third, August 8, 1799, on the recovery of the late Princess Amelia; and the fourth, May 15, 1800, on the escape of his Majesty at Drury-Lane, from the hand of an assassin. These fêtes were conducted with splendour and festivity.

The little village of Datchet lies on the banks of the Thames, and in the parish church is the monu

*TO COLONEL DESBROWE, M. P. and Vice-Chamberlain to the Queen, we stood indebted for a ticket to Frogmore, and here I would gratefully acknowledge his flattering politeness on more occasions than one, to the author and his family during their stay at Windsor.

[blocks in formation]

ment of the famous printer to Queen Elizabeth, Christopher Barker, who died in 1607. The bridge, built in the reign of Queen Anne, fell down in 1795. A ferry was for some time used, but the bridge was rebuilt, and in 1812, opened for public use. The Irish are said to be so impressed with the importance of bridges over their rivers, that individuals have taken off their hat in passing over a bridge, praying for the repose of the soul of the builder-so grateful are they to his memory!

On the other side of the town of WINDSOR, we meet with the venerable structure of ETON COLLEGE, the celebrated public seminary, whence have issued characters whose talents and acquirements have at once delighted, as well as astonished the world. It is viewed by the spectator on Windsor Terrace with considerable interest

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among,

Wanders the hoary Thames along

His silver-winding way!

GRAY.

ETON is a pleasant village, separated from WIND

SOR by the Thames, over which is a wooden bridge. It

352

FAMOUS SCHOLARS.

is twenty-two miles distant from London. Its situation is said to combine a happy union of monastic gloom and rural beauty. HENRY THE SIXTH, in 1440, founded the seminary here, the fame of which extends throughout the world. Its establishment now consists of a provost, vice provost, six fellows, two schoolmasters, with their assistants, seventy scholars, seven clerks and ten choristers, besides inferior officers and servants The independent scholars at Eton, commonly called oppidans, are very numerous, amounting to upwards of three hundred, on a general average. They are boarded at private houses in the environs of the College; and the title of Domine and Dame, the presiding masters and mistresses have immemorially enjoyed. At nineteen years of age the scholars are superannuated, when they pass off some to Cambridge, and others to Oxford. Among the celebrated characters educated on the foundation, are Bishops Fleetwood and Pearson, the learned John Hales, Doctor Stanhope, Sir Robert Walpole, and the late Earl Camden. Of famous men not educated on the foundation, are Outred, the mathematician; Boyle, the philosopher; Waller, the poet; the late Earl of Chatham; Horace, Earl of Orford, Lord Lyttleton, Gray, West, George Stevens, and the late erudite Jacob Bryant. To these may be added many others, particularly CHARLES JAMES Fox, whose name I saw rudely cut on the wooden pannels in the school, that common indication, even in the thoughtless school boy, of the love of immortality! Our nature abhors

SINGULAR PROCESSION.

353

the raven-plumed gulph of oblivion, and it is the lofty attribute of genius to attract the notice and command the applauses of mankind

Who would not LIVE in songs of distant days? *

The ancient custom of the Montem is celebrated at Eton every third year on Whit-Tuesday. It consists of a procession of the Eton pupils to a small tumulus on the southern side of the Bath road, which has given the name of Salt Hill to the spot, better known to the public by the splendid inns of the Castle and of the Windmill. The chief object to this celebration is to collect money for salt, according to the language of the day, those collecting it being called salt-bearers, who are arrayed in fancy dresses. The money collected sometimes exceeds £800, and is given to the senior scholar, denominated the captain of the school. The ceremony is numerously attended, and has been frequently honoured by the presence of his MAJESTY

* Whether a private or public education is to be preferred, has been much agitated, and is a question not easily to be determined. Indeed, the mode of education should be accommodated to the genius and destination of the pupil. But in either case, the tutor has a most arduous duty to discharge, by cherishing the virtuous principles of our nature, and by facilitating the progress of mental improvement. See An Essay on Education, fifth edition, by J. Evans, in which the best productions in the several departments of literature are pointed out, and the most eligible mode prescribed for rendering the rising generation happy and respectable.

« ZurückWeiter »