Ward, into which some of his windows looked, was not fine enough for a regal abode. "Then shall the ransom of your majesties make it better," said Edward; and tradition asserts that it was from the money so got that many of the improvements were made. Poor King John lived to see what had been done, for the whole amount asked was not to be got, and, true to his knightly honour, he came back from France to "render himself," and died in the Savoy, in London.

INTERIOR OF THE CASTLE, NORTH SIDE.

The interior of the group of rooms extending from the north side of the Norman Gate to the angle at which the red-coated porters await visitors, now devoted to a very fine library, is not always shown. But for those who have leave, a most interesting collection of medals, illuminated manuscripts, ancient bindings, and Oriental miniatures, is displayed. Handsome Elizabethan chimney-pieces, on one of which the great Queen herself is represented, warm the north wall (p. 105). The windows on the other, embayed in presses full of well-arranged literature, look out towards that far-off church, the spire of which is easily recognised through a glass, where Gray wrote his immortal" Elegy." One little room is that in which Queen Anne was sitting when Marlborough's despatch announcing the victory of Blenheim waṣ brought to her (p. 103).

Where the library ends is the first of a set of

splendid apartments, used only by the public, and the greatest sovereigns. Paintings by Zuccarelli, who, at his best, is always most pleasing, are hung over cabinets containing very beautiful porcelain. Onwards, on the north side, room after room can be most profitably examined, for the pictures are of particular interest, either on account of their history or their art. Formerly the Sovereign's family lived in this part of the Castle. Now they live on the southern side of the Upper Ward, where dwelt in other days the great officers of state.

The Czar of Russia, who met such a dreadful death at St. Petersburg through the explosion of bombs thrown by Nihilists, was lodged here during his last visit to England, his faithful Cossacks keeping watch in an adjoining room. The man who had freed the serfs, and done more for reform of government than any of his predecessors, was doomed to be never without the haunting dread of assassination.

It is well to pursue your way along the north side, passing through the audience chamber until you reach the grand drawing-room (p. 111). The audience room has a throne and canopy (p. 109), and there the Queen has often received embassies of state, who advance up the whole length of the apartment making their obeisance to the Sovereign seated under the canopy. Installations of the various Orders of chivalry have generally taken place here, while the dining-room is used as a reception room after any

great affair of State. The tapestries of the story of Esther most worthily ornament the walls. Turning through part of this large room, return by

THE WATERLOO GALLERY (p. 107),

which is built over a court-yard, formerly open to the air, between St. George's Hall and the north rooms. The pictures are all portraits of men distinguished as soldiers or as statesmen at the time of the end of the last great war with France. There, high above one of the fireplaces, is "Brunswick's fated chieftain," who fell himself at Waterloo, and whose father had died in battle also fighting the French. The "Iron Duke” of Wellington is well painted, but the figure gives the idea of a man far taller than was Wellington. He and Nelson were both slight men, of no commanding stature. Here the modern “masques” and plays are given, the stage stretching across the western end. The neighbouring rooms are used by the actors as "green-rooms;" and with the auditorium filled with seats on a raised platform, and the intervening space between them and the orchestra (in case of an opera being given) or stage filled with flowers and palms, the grim memories of Waterloo give place to more attractive if to less glorious recollections.

HALL AND STAIRCASE.

Another small court has been built over for the stair, which is not successful in its effect. In the hall