images and produce its results. Immortality must be the goal of such creative power, and shall not that immortality find repose at last in His presence, who delighted in the works of His own hands, when he saw that they were good, and whose Palace, from everlasting to everlasting more crystalline than light, is eternal in the heavens ! XXXII. Windsor Sreurs and Sports. "There is an old tale goes, that Herne, the Hunter, Doth all the winter time, in still midnight Walk round about an oak, with great ragged horns." Shakspeare. MUCH prefer the railroad route up the valley of the Thames, past Richmond to Windsor, to any other ride in the environs of London. A whole day must be given to it at the least. Cars leave Waterloo bridge station almost hourly, and before you are aware of it, you are ushered, by the unpoetical steam-car, through Windsor Forest, where Herne the Hunter took his round, and where the fairies danced in the jocund moonlight to plague Falstaff for his sins. The railroad station is under the shadow of the Castle; which is a congregation of towers and buildings of stone somewhat ancient-some of them even dating back to Cæsar, but fitted up with every comfort for the residence of the Queen, who delights, it is said, to retire here. We easily obtained admission to the halls and reception rooms of the Castle. The portraits of the Stuarts, especially of the unfortunate Charles I., and his family, by Vandyke, are fine artistic pieces, more admirable than their power-besotted originals. The line of heavy Dutchmen (always excepting the bright and manly form of William III.), who followed the Stuarts, hung upon the walls of the splendid dining halls. Elegance, taste, and richness, beyond comparison with any thing except Versailles, are displayed throughout the apartments. The object of all, the Queen herself, had just left Windsor for the Isle of Wight, where the yatching season is opening. We rode up in the cars, with the India-rubber man to the Queen. He was visiting the riding-school to line the riding-rings with India-rubber. "Why?" do you ask? As an Englishman would say "Don't you zee,-Hif an 'orse kicks and makes a sound, he kicks again. Hif he kicks hindia-rubber, don't you zee, he makes no sound. He don't kick again. The 'orses are spirited and high kept. They never kick twice at hindia-rubber. Don't you zee, zur?" The transcendentalism of the above, I would love to enlarge upon. The Queen and her children practise daily in the riding-rings at Windsor, and extend their drives through the adjacent parks. From the towers or from the terrace there is one of the grandest views in England." Twelve counties can be seen. Eton, in neat Gothic, and white compared to the buildings of the metroplis, the nursery of the greatest and best of England, lies immediately below. Slough, where Gray is buried, and the churchyard in which he composed his elegy, are plainly discernible. There is intervening and every where filling up the view, the greenest, goodliest English landscapes we have yet admired. The Royal relatives, including the Queen's mother, whose wealth has been unsparingly bestowed to decorate these vales and hills, reside in the precincts of Windsor. But what immense area is that, stretching over 6,000 acres, measuring a circuit of 48 miles, interspersed with the lime, chestnut, becch, holly, fir, and oak?-None other than the Windsor Forest, upon whose domain we intrenched when we entered the tower below. Look down the green lane, miles long, known as Queen Anne's walk, and terminated by a colossal statue of George III, with its triple roads, and you will see a part of our magnificent drive to the Virginia Waters. These waters lie on the other side of the forest; consequently we shall have a ride through the fairy-haunted greenwood. But before we go, let us give a few thoughts to that dim elder |