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The other public buildings are-the County Hall, a handsome building, ornamented in front with Corinthian pillars, used for the assizes, quarter sessions, and county meetings, and its large hall occasionally as a ball-room; erected about 1776. The Court House, used for municipal business, town meetings, and festive gatherings; a stately and commodious structure; erected in 1730. The County Gaol, a massive stone building, with columns of the Doric order; the Museum, in the Market House, containing some interesting objects; a Public Library, and some Meeting Houses. Some remains of an ancient Priory of St. Sepulchre are on the northern side of the town. It is a fine specimen of the Elizabethan style, and is, we believe, the property of the Great Western Railway Company.

WARWICK CASTLE,

"That fairest monument," as Scott remarks, "of ancient and chivalrous splendour, which yet remains uninjured by time," is situated at the south-east side of the town, on a rock, the base of which is washed by the Avon. It is one of the few real old baronial residences still kept up and inhabited; and, whether on account of the antiquity of its architecture, the magnificence and costliness of the objects of art which it contains, the beauty of its grounds, or its old historic and poetical associations, it has no ordinary claims on the attention of the tourist. The foundation of this Castle is attributed to Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great, in 915. The building erected by this lady was styled the Dungeon, and is supposed to have occupied an artificial mound of earth on the west side of the present structure. Before the Conquest it was the residence of the vice-comites, or lieutenants of the Earls of Mercia. Turchill, who possessed it at the time of the Conquest, added considerably to its fortifications by direction of king William, and was shortly afterwards removed to make way for Henry de Newburgh, constituted the first Norman Earl of Warwick. In the war with the barons, which embroiled the latter years of the reign of Henry III., the Castle was surprised by the rebels, and, with the exception of the towers, levelled with the ground. It was restored and greatly strengthened by Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick in the reign of Edward III. His son, of the same name, built

Guy's Tower, in the north-east part of the building, in 1394. Various additions were made from time to time; and it is stated that the foundation of a new tower was laid by Richard III. Sir Fulke Greville, afterwards Lord Brooke, to whom the estate was granted by James I., restored the Castle from the ruinous and dilapidated condition into which it had been suffered to fall. He expended the enormous sum, for that time, of £20,000 in repairs and embellishments, making it, as Dugdale remarks, “not only a place of great strength, but extraordinary delight; with most pleasant gardens, walks, and thickets, such as this part of England can hardly parallel; so that now it is the most princely seat that is within the midland parts of this realm." During the Parliamentary war an unsuccessful attack was made on the Castle by the Earl of Northampton, August 1642. On this occasion it was gallantly defended by Sir Edward Peyto, with a single piece of ordnance, until relieved by Lord Brooke. The Castle and estate have continued down to the present day in the family of Greville. The title of Earl of Warwick, however, did not come into the family till 1759, when, on its extinction in the person of the last male representative of the house of Rich, Earls of Warwick and Holland (with whom it had remained since 1618), it was conferred on the eighth Lord Brooke. George, second Earl Brooke and Warwick, grandfather of the present earl, expended vast sums in the adornment of the Castle and grounds. An idea of what this earl accomplished may be obtained from the following passage, cited in a history of the county as in the earl's own words, though their authority is not given :—

"I purchased a magnificent collection of pictures by Vandyke, Reubens, etc. The marbles are not equalled, perhaps, in the kingdom. I made a noble approach to the Castle through a solid rock, built a porter's lodge, and founded a library full of books, some valuable and scarce, all well chosen. I made an armoury, and built walls round the court and pleasure gardens. I built a noble greenhouse, and filled it with beautiful plants. I placed in it a vase considered the finest remain of Grecian art for its size and beauty. I made a noble lake, from three to six hundred feet broad, and a mile long. I planted trees now worth £100,000, besides 100 acres of ash. I built a stone bridge of 105 feet in span, every stone from 2000 to 3800 pounds weight. The weight of the first tier on the centre was estimated at 100 tons. I gave the bridge to the town with no toll on it. I will not enumerate

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a great many other things done by me. Let Warwick Castle speak for itself."

The present earl, George Guy Greville, resides only occasionally in the Castle.

On entering within the principal gateway of the Castle, the tourist will be invited to inspect the objects of interest contained in the PORTER'S LODGE. These consist chiefly of very imposing relics of the legendary Guy of Warwick. Here are shown Guy's sword, shield, breast-plate, helmet, and walking-staff, all of enormous weight and size. The helmet weighs 7 pounds, the shield 32 pounds, the sword 20 pounds, the breast-plate 52 pounds. The horse armour is of a later date, and of lighter construction. Conspicuous among the relics are Guy's porridge-pot and flesh-fork. The former of these is a large pot of bell metal, and produces a deafening sound when struck with the flesh-fork, which in dimensions resembles a pitchfork. The old woman who has charge of these relics informs the tourist that the porridge-pot is "now used as a punch-bowl," she herself having seen it thrice filled and emptied on the occasion of the coming of age of the present Earl of Warwick. It contains 102 gallons. Other relics of Guy are an immense rib of the famous Dun Cow which he killed at Dunsmore heath, the pith of her horns, and one joint of the spine; the tusk and shoulder blade of a wild boar; his lady's iron stirrups and slippers, etc. Besides these relics, the Porter's Lodge contains a Toledo sword; a Spanish halbert; maces; daggers; bar, chain, and spike-shot found in the outer court; and a stone coffin found in the inner court.

The approach to the Castle is by a winding road cut out of the solid rock, at the termination of which the majestic structure bursts at once on the view. The two lofty towers immediately arrest the eye. That on the left is Caesar's Tower, the most ancient part of the building. On the right is Guy's Tower, so named in honour of the famous champion whose relics have just been examined. These will be noticed in a survey of the grounds and exterior features of the building; but, in the first instance, the attention of the visitor will be drawn to

The principal

THE INTERIOR OF THE CASTLE. entrance is by a flight of stone steps through a Gothic porch on the south-east side of the inner court. Here the visitor is admitted into the Great Hall. This is the first of a magnificent suite of apartments, the whole length of which

can be taken in at a glance from this point. The apartments form a truly noble vista of 110 yards. The Great Hall is 62 feet long, 10 wide, and 35 high. The ancient ceiling was removed in 1830, when the present elaborately wrought Gothic roof was constructed. In the centre are the arms of the present noble earl, adorned with various insignia. The ceiling is also adorned with armorial bearings of the Earls and Dukes of Warwick who have been Knights of St. George, as well as with quarterings of the noble families with which the Earls of Warwick have been allied in different generations. The roof was designed by Poynter of London. The floor will attract admiration, consisting of polished squares of white and red marble alternately arranged in lozenge fashion. This apartment contains ancient armour, weapons, carvings, and other curiosities, all of a very interesting kind. It would be impossible to find room for a list of all the objects of value and interest in this and the other apartments; we must be content with noting the chief of them. Over the fire-place, and on other parts of the walls, are some noble antlers. Over the west door is a large gun of curious and antique workmanship, taken from a Spanish ship by Lord Archibald Hamilton, great grandfather by the female side to the late earl. Along the wainscot is arranged a fine collection of armour and weapons, in which the following will be noticed with interest: the figure of a belted knight, exhibiting a beautiful suit of polished steel armour; a helmet of Oliver Cromwell; the leathern doublet in which Lord Brooke, one of the generals of the Parliamentary army, was killed at Lichfield, in 1643spotted with his blood; swords, and other weapons of various nations and ages. In the recess of one of the windows is a fine bust of Hercules. A Greek sarcophagus, and a wood carving after a painting by Reubens, will also attract attention. The "Kenilworth Buffet," an exquisite piece of decorative furniture, originally placed here, but we believe since removed into another apartment in this range of state rooms, demands a distinct notice. It was constructed out of a colossal oak tree from the grounds of Kenilworth Castle, measuring 10 feet in diameter, and containing 600 cubic feet of timber. It was executed by Cookes and Sons, cabinet makers and decorative artists, of Warwick, who very appropriately took the subjects for their carved relievos from Scott's novel of "Kenilworth." The buffet, or sideboard, was exhibited at the "world's fair" in 1851, and was regarded as one of the finest specimens of wood carving displayed in the Crystal Palace. The carving on the centre panel represents Queen

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