His second wife, Anne Boleyn, the most charming of the lot, whom Henry first married, afterward divorcing her rival, paid the penalty of her attractiveness, or coquetry, at the executioner’s block in the Tower of London. She, with a gorgeous retinue attending her, was met at this gate by Henry and welcomed to the place with the assurance that she would shortly be its real mistress. All this, however, to the great regret of the “delegate’s” wife, took place before our arrival.
How different is the architecture of the Norman gate with its graceful round towers! Here, in these chambers which you may see above the entrance, and in the rooms of the towers themselves, were kept, during the struggle between Crown and Parliament, many famous prisoners.
As we entered the lower ward, by Henry VIII’s gateway, the beautiful proportions of St. George’s Chapel rose before us on the left. Adjoining, on the east, is Albert Memorial Chapel, the gem of the entire group. Still traveling east and ascending the hill, we come first to the residence of the Dean and Chapter, and then to the famous Round Tower. Directly across from St. George’s the group of buildings is the residence of the Military Knights, who date from the founding of the order of the Garter, when Edward III established this to provide for the relief of poor knights. It was called by Elizabeth, “Poor Knights of Windsor,” but William IV took away its reproach by giving it the present name.
These are the main features of the lower ward, the buildings being grouped around a large balloon-shaped court.
WINDSOR CASTLE, NORMAN GATEWAY.
Beyond the Round Tower lies the upper ward, perfectly level, with stately buildings on three sides of a square which contains a splendid example of artistic gardening. The buildings on the north are the State apartments, and those on the south and east the royal suites. This group has twenty-four towers, seventeen state apartments, forty-eight rooms, seventy-nine bedrooms, sixty-five sitting rooms, and rooms containing two hundred and thirty-one beds for servants.
Our first objective point was St. George’s Chapel. The exterior of this building is very beautiful and singularly in harmony with the surrounding structures. This effect the architect accomplished by avoiding the use of the conventional church tower, while at the same time preserving the ecclesiastical appearance.
We found, within, a group of people in charge of a verger, who was explaining to them the various objects of interest. We went our own way and when we had finished, found that the verger and his flock had departed and the door was locked. It felt, at first, a trifle like being in jail, but conscious of our rectitude, we waited till the door opened again and then passed out. As we had found the door open when we arrived and had entered in unchallenged, it did not occur to us that the verger considered it necessary to personally conduct us through the building and bid us farewell when we left; nor did we think that we had in any way slighted him till the Kentucky parson, who had remained behind to ask a few questions, later reported that the ecclesiastical pathfinder had enquired of him, with fine scorn, if “that aristocratic party belonged to him.” The “aristocratic party,” was the professor, the “delegate” and myself, who were now safely out of reach, while the verger’s fee jingled merrily at the bottom of our pockets.
On every hand, at Windsor, are posted notices forbidding the servants to receive any gratuities, but we learned, that notwithstanding the seemliness of such a regulation in such a place, none but a novice took it seriously. Consequently, when we later visited the Royal Stables, we emerged proudly from the ordeal after having deposited a shilling in the ever ready hand of the guide.