The Castle is divided into a great number of apartments, many of which are memorable for their historical recollections, and among them are St. George's Chapel, Beaufort Chapel, the Round Tower, the North Terrace, the Audience Chamber, the Vandyck Gallery, the Queen's Drawing Room, the State Ante-Room, the Grand Vestibule, the Waterloo Chamber, the Grand Ball Room, St. George's Hall, the Guard Chamber, the Queen's Presence Chamber, the King's Closet, the Queen's Private Closet, the King's Drawing Room, the Throne Room, the State Apartments, and the Private Apartments. The Home Park attached to the Castle is a private garden in which the Queen walks or rides while residing at Windsor. The Queen seldom rides on horseback of late years, as she has become so fat and pursy that she is in constant dread that she will have to take any such exercise as walking in the open air, or even promenading upon the Grand Terrace of Windsor.
In St. George's Chapel, a beautiful little edifice, are hung the banners of the Knights of the Order of the Garter, and under each banner is the carved stall, made of wood, on which each Knight of the Chapter sits, at the installation of a new member, or when any grand ceremony may make their presence necessary. In the groined roof above the banners, are worked the arms of Edward the Black Prince, Henry VI, Edward IV, Henry VII, and the succeeding English Sovereigns. The helmets, swords, and mantles of the Knights, together with the brass plates, recording their titles, are also to be seen here. In this Chapel is buried the crumbled dust of poor Jane Seymour, one of Henry VIII's unfortunate wives and the mother of Edward VI, who reformed the Prayer Book and Liturgy of the Church of England. The body of Charles I also lies here, but he was more fortunate than Jane Seymour, whose memory is almost forgotten.
In the Beaufort Chapel is the family tomb of that perverse old idiot of a king, George III, in which repose the ashes of his children and Queen; the Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria, Princess Charlotte, William IV, uncle to Queen Victoria, the royal blackguard and scoundrel George IV, the Princess Augusta, who was believed to have been insane, and Queen Adelaide.
It is in the Beaufort Chapel that the Poor or Military Knights of St. George's College, assemble to pray and beseech the Almighty for the health and welfare of the Queen of England, and for the Most Noble Companions of the Order of the Garter, to whom the Poor Knights cling as a species of indigent parasites. The Order of Poor Knights was established by act of Parliament of Edward IV, in the name of the "Poor Knights of St. George's College," and was to consist of a Dean, 12 Secular Canons, 13 Priests, 4 Clerks, 6 Choristers, and 24 "Alms Knights."
PRAYING FOR CHEESE AND BEER.
At divine service in the Beaufort Chapel, these old, broken-down looking men may be seen, on every festival, and on all occasions when services are held, praying for the reigning Sovereign of England. For this service they receive bread, cheese, beer, and meat, ten times a week. I saw these worn, meek-looking men, who seemed to glide rather than walk during service, but it seemed to me that very little prayers were uttered by them for the Sovereign, as they all had a vacant, absent look, with the exception of one or two who had the regular fixed John Bull stare, and were evidently awaiting the hour when bread, cheese, and beer, were to be announced.
WINDSOR CASTLE.
In the Round Tower, which is 295 feet high, there were confined nearly all the State prisoners whom despotism found it necessary to secure in its dungeons, from Edward III to Charles II, and in the "Audience Chamber," which is hung with Gobelin Tapestry, representing the story of Queen Esther, are paintings of Mary, Queen of Scots, and William, Prince of Orange. This is an "Audience Chamber" only in name, for the Queen very seldom holds levees in this big, desolate-looking room.