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admiration. On the south side of the great hall is a winding staircase, terminating in two vaulted apartments. In connection with this noble apartment, it will not be inappropriate to quote Sir Walter Scott's description of it when dignified by

the presence of Elizabeth. It will help the visitor to realize to some extent what must have been the grandeur of an apartment, the ruins of which have still such an aspect of magnificence: "The Queen......at length found her way to the great hall of the castle, gorgeously hung for her reception with the richest silken tapestry, misty with perfumes, and sounding to strains of soft and delicious music. From the highly carved oaken roof hung a superb chandelier of gilt bronze, formed like a spread eagle, whose outstretched wings supported three male and three female figures, grasping a pair of branches in each hand. The hall was thus illuminated by twenty-four torches of wax. At the upper end of the splendid apartment was a state canopy, over-shadowing a royal throne, and beside was a door, which opened to a long suite of apartments, decorated with the utmost magnificence for the Queen and her ladies, whenever it should be her pleasure to be private."

Following the line of the building, which here turns to the east, the visitor finds the indistinct traces of

The White Hall, an apartment which seems to have measured about 50 feet by 25. It seems to have been erected at the same time as the Great Hall. Next in order to this apartment, according to Dugdale, were

The Presence Chamber and the Privy Chambers-from the latter of which it is supposed that the chimney-piece already referred to, as exhibited in the gate-house, was removed. These ruins possess no particular interest. Beyond these, and finishing the square, is the stately range of

Leicester's Buildings. As the name implies, this stupendous pile was erected by the Earl of Leicester, and a tablet on the wall shows the date of its construction as 1571. Leicester's Buildings are less strongly and durably built than other parts of the castle. The stone of which it is composed is softer, and less able to resist the weather than that of the more ancient portions of the structure. From this cause it has even a more time-worn aspect than some parts of an earlier date. The floors have all fallen in; and the visitor can readily mark the different storeys into which the gigantic pile has been divided, the remains of beams, and disfigured fire-places rising above each other in the desolate walls. The ivy which so thickly covers this and the other parts of the castle adds greatly to the picturesqueness of the various views. The ivy in some places has a trunk almost as large as a man's body. The surrounding country may be seen to great advantage from various points of the castle; in particular from the windows of the Great Hall, and from the top of the Strong Tower.

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The Outer Wall of the Castle, as has been already said, enclosed seven acres. The Garden was on the north side of the Castle. With it was connected the Pleasance, which was more to the west, adjoining the Strong Tower. The Pleasance, it will be remembered, was the scene of the meeting of Queen Elizabeth and Amy Robsart. Several towers are connected with the walls. At the west corner of the north wall is the Swan Tower. To the eastward, beyond the Gatehouse, may be seen Lun's Tower, the Stables, and the Water Tower, which are shut out from inspection, forming part of a farmyard. The ruins of Mortimer's Tower, at the beginning of the Tilt-Yard, and the Tilt-Yard itself, will not fail to excite the interest of the tourist, who will obtain a charming view of the Castle from this side.

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We cannot but add," says Scott, concluding his general description of Kenilworth, "that of this lordly palace, where princes feasted and heroes fought, now in the bloody earnest of storm and siege, and now in the games of chivalry, all is now desolate. The bed of the lake is but a rushy swamp; and the massive ruins of the Castle only serve to show what their splendour once was, and to impress on the musing visitor the transitory value of human possessions, and the happiness of those who enjoy a humble lot in virtuous contentment."

THE ABBEY, some remains of which may still be seen, is near the parish church, and not far from the Castle. It owed its origin to Geoffrey de Clinton, the founder of the Castle, who endowed it with all the woods and lands he had in the parish of Kenilworth, except the site of the Castle and its park, and with other privileges, the preservation of which he solemnly enjoined upon his heirs. His descendants showed an equal interest in the prosperity of the monastery. It was of the order of St. Augustine, and "endowed to the honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary." At the general survey, taken in the 26th of King Henry VIII., its clear annnal revenue was £533: 15:4. When the abbey was surrendered at the dissolution (1539), it had been in their possession more than four hundred years. Henry VIII. granted its site to Sir Andrew Flamock, whose grand-daughter brought it in marriage to John Colburn, Esq. of Mareton Marrell, in this county, who was intimidated into parting with it, on very easy terms, to the Earl of Leicester. It is now, like the Castle, the property of the Earl of Clarendon.

The most interesting part of the ruins is the old Gateway, which is in good preservation. This very picturesque object,

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