not entirely consistent. The front towards the lake is said to be after a design of Inigo Jones. There are many features in the architecture of different portions of this building, which, for richness and beauty of execution, are eminently deserving

of notice.

On entering Combe Abbey, the tourist passes through a hall or corridor which contains many interesting specimens of arms, more or less ancient, and worthy of more than a passing glance. But the great attraction of this fine mansion consists in its extensive and splendid collection of paintings, the examination of which will fully occupy all the time the visitor has to spare. It would be impossible to find room for a full list of the pictures in the different apartments: we can only notice those which have been most generally admired.

The Great Gallery is wholly hung with portraits, many of them of great historical interest. Among them may be mentioned half-length portraits by Honthorst of the King and Queen of Bohemia, and Princes Rupert and Maurice; Charles II., at the age of 14; Gustavus Adolphus; William, Earl Craven; and a fine portrait, by Vandyke, of Sir Kenelin Digby.

The Breakfast or Elizabethan Room is magnificent in size and decorations, having been fitted up for the reception of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia. Its chief pictures are five large and splendid landscapes of Norwegian scenery by Luytens.

The North Parlour, also a noble room, contains wholelength portraits of the King and Queen of Bohemia by Honthorst; and of Charles I., Prince Rupert, Prince Maurice, and James Duke of Richmond, by Vandyke. The tourist will hardly fail to note with interest the resemblance between the Queen of Bohemia and her equally unhappy brother Charles I.

The Vandyke Room, so called from the artist, some of whose productions adorn its walls, contains a fine painting of Charles I. and his Queen, Henrietta Maria, executed at the desire of the Queen of Bohemia. There is also a good portrait of Vandyke by himself, as well as paintings by Rubens, Teniers, Brughel, and Frank Hals.

In the Yellow Drawing Room there is a landscape by Rubens, with Christ and St. John. Among other paintings will be observed a portrait of the Duchess of Cleveland by Lely, an excellent and characteristic likeness of this shameless woman.

The Gilt Parlour has a whole-length portrait of William, Earl Craven, by Honthorst. He is in armour, with a baton

in his hand. In this apartment there are also some choice works by Rembrandt, Vandyke, Zoust, and Mierveld.

The Beauty Parlour is so named from the subjects of the paintings with which it is hung. Here there are portraits of twenty-two of the ladies of the Court of Charles II.

The Cedar Room is adorned with some fine paintings, among which may be particularized a magnificent landscape by Rubens, with Moses and the Brazen Serpent for its subject; and a sea-piece by Willarts, representing the Queen of Bohemia's passage to Holland.

The apartments thus briefly noticed are those generally shown to tourists. Besides paintings, several of the apartments contain busts, and other objects of interest. From the windows of several of the rooms fine views of the park may be obtained. From the Vandyke Room, in particular, the extensive and picturesque park, with its fine spread of water, may be seen to great advantage.

ARBURY HALL AND ASTLEY CASTLE.

These two places of interest are in the neighbourhood of Nuneaton, a considerable market town, 14 miles from Rugby, and 10 from Coventry. Nuneaton possesses nothing deserving of notice, if we except the parish church, a handsome Gothic building with a lofty tower, and some fine monuments. The principal manufacture is that of ribbons. Population, 4859.

ARBURY HALL may be reached by a walk of about two miles from the Bedworth station of the Nuneaton Railway. This fine mansion is erected on the site of a monastery, which was founded for monks of the order of St. Augustine in the reign of Henry II., and suppressed, like all similar institutions, in the reign of Henry VIII. The site and possessions being purchased, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by Sir Edmund Anderson, that gentleman, as Dugdale informs us, "totally demolished the whole fabric of the house and church, built out of their ruins a fair structure, in a quadrangular form, and having done so, passed it away, in exchange for other property, to John Newdegate, Esq.' Sir Roger Newdegate, a descendant of the last named person, by his numerous alterations and improvements, gave the mansion its present elegant appearance. Arbury Hall has been called the "Strawberry

Hill of Warwickshire." Like Horace Walpole's famous villa, it has been altered to the Gothic style, the architectural style and ornaments being copied from ancient ecclesiastical edifices of that order. The introduction of ecclesiastical details both in the exterior and interior of a dwelling-house is regarded by many as incongruous; yet, whatever may be the tourist's opinion in this matter, the building will be found worth examination. It stands in the centre of a noble park, finely ornamented with wood and water. The approach on the north is through a magnificent avenue. The four fronts are different in design, but consistent with the plan of the whole. The principal apartments are exquisitely ornamented in the Gothic style. The ceiling of the Dining Room is enriched with pendant ornaments, and supported by taper pillars. This room is further adorned with fine casts from the antique, under elaborate Gothic canopies, and with the top of a Roman sarcophagus, on which is sculptured the marriage of Bacchus and Ariadne. The Drawing Room is peculiarly chaste in its decorations. It contains several whole-length family portraits, and the ceiling is adorned with armorial bearings. The Saloon is a fine apartment. Its ceiling is an elaborate imitation of that of Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster, which is acknowledged to be the finest of the kind in this country. The large bay window of this apartment looks into the gardens, which are extensive and tastefully laid out. A room adjoining the Saloon contains a very curious and interesting painting, an engraving of which is given in Dugdale's "Antiquities of Warwickshire." It represents the achievements of John de Astley, and consists of two central compartments, and eight smaller ones, four on each side, and displays two combats of John de Astley; one in Paris, in 1438, with a French knight, in the presence of Charles VII., the other in London, in 1446, before Henry VI., with a Spanish champion. These combats (in both of which he was victorious), and various circumstances connected with them, are displayed in the different compartments of this ancient painting. It was removed to Arbury from Astley Castle, which is also the property of the Newdegates of Arbury. As may be easily observed from the modern form of the letters of the inscription under each compartment, the painting has been recently "restored."

ASTLEY CASTLE is about a mile from Arbury. It was long the seat of the ancient and powerful family of Astley. One member of this house fell at Evesham, fighting against Henry III.; two were taken prisoners at Bannockburn; and

John de Astley, mentioned in the last paragraph, was knighted by King Henry VI., and rewarded with a pension, and subsequently with the order of Knight of the Garter, for his military services. Sir William de Astley was the last male of the family of Astleys of Astley Castle. With his daughter the estate passed to the family of Grey. Sir John Grey, a member of this family, was the husband of Elizabeth Woodville, who, after his death, became the Queen of Edward IV. Thomas, son of Sir John and Elizabeth Woodville, was, through his mother's influence, created Marquis of Dorset. Henry, his grandson, third Marquis, married Frances, eldest daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by Mary, daughter of Henry VII., and Queen Dowager of France. Thus was brought into the Grey family the claim of Mary to the English throne, after the death of Edward VI., in the failure of the male issue of the Brandons. This Marquis was raised to the dukedom of Suffolk by right of his wife on the failure of heirs male. The result of the unfortunate insurrection of the Duke of Suffolk, and Sir Thomas Wyatt, with the view of raising Suffolk's daughter, Lady Jane Grey, to the throne, is sufficiently well known. For some time after its suppression he lurked in concealment in the woods of Astley, but was at length betrayed by a forest keeper for the sake of the reward offered for his apprehension. He was executed on Tower Hill, 1554.

The castle is surrounded by a moat, overshadowed with fine trees. The remains of the original structure are picturesquely mantled with ivy. For a long time this interesting building was much neglected, being used only as a farmhouse. It was, however, afterwards carefully fitted up, and is now an elegant and aristocratic residence. The castle contains some old armour, and several paintings, among which is a portrait of the last Duke of Suffolk. There are also preserved a table and chair, said to have belonged to the Duke. The gardens and grounds are beautifully laid out.

The Church, though scarcely half its original size, is a building of some interest. It contains the remains of ancient monuments, which have been treated with shameful neglect or positive injury by former proprietors of the estate.

RUGBY.

HOTELS.-George; Eagle-Bed 1s. 6d. to 2s., breakfast 1s. 6d. to 2s., dinner 2s. to 3s., tea 1s. 6d. Royal, William Blick -Same charges. Three Horse Shoes.

Population in 1851, 6317; Inhabited houses, 1103.

Rugby from London, 822 miles; from Birmingham, 293; from Leamington, 15; from Coventry, 114; from York,

137.

Situated near the eastern border of the county, Rugby has little to interest the tourist, with the exception of its celebrated public school. In Domesday-book it is called Rocheberie; roche, as Dugdale remarks, signifying a rock or quarry of stone, and berie, a court or habitation of note. Whatever may have been its consequence in earlier times, it seems to have been of little importance at the Conquest, when it belonged to Turchill de Warwick. Near the town is an eminence called Castle Mount, from its having been formerly the site of a castle. Dugdale is of opinion that this was one of the fortresses erected by King Stephen when threatened with invasion by the Empress Matilda (daughter of Henry I. of England, and widow of Henry V., Emperor of Germany), whose crown he had usurped. The castle was probably demolished by order of Henry II., who put a stop to the encroachments of the barons in the early part of his reign. Few traces of this building are now to be seen.

Rugby is a pleasant market town, with nothing in its architecture calling for particular description. It has been steadily increasing in population, and in commercial activity, for many years. In 1831 the population was 2501; now it is 6317. The prosperity of the town shows itself in the improved style of architecture. Among the buildings which will attract notice may be mentioned the Church, Lawrence Sheriff's Almshouses, the George Hotel, and the Railway Station. The Church is said to have been partly built of stone taken from the ruins of the castle. It has undergone repeated alterations and enlargements. In the churchyard may be seen a few curious epitaphs. There are several other places of worship in the town. The Almshouses will attract