While The
Rest Are At Dinner Or Supper In A Great Hall, Where They Are All
Assembled, One Of The Students Reads Aloud The Bible, Which Is
Placed On A Desk In The Middle Of The Hall, And This Office Every
One Of Them Takes Upon Himself In His Turn.
As soon as grace is
said after each meal, every one is at liberty either to retire to
his own chambers or to walk in the College garden, there being none
that has not a delightful one.
Their habit is almost the same as
that of the Jesuits, their gowns reaching down to their ankles,
sometimes lined with fur; they wear square caps. The doctors,
Masters of Arts, and professors, have another kind of gown that
distinguishes them. Every student of any considerable standing has
a key to the College library, for no college is without one.
In an out-part of the town are the remains of a pretty large
fortification, but quite in ruins. We were entertained at supper
with an excellent concert, composed of a variety of instruments.
The next day we went as far as the Royal Palace of Woodstock, where
King Ethelred formerly held a Parliament, and enacted certain laws.
This palace, abounding in magnificence, was built by Henry I., to
which he joined a very large park, enclosed with a wall; according
to John Rosse, the first park in England. In this very palace the
present reigning Queen Elizabeth, before she was confined to the
Tower, was kept prisoner by her sister Mary. While she was detained
here, in the utmost peril of her life, she wrote with a piece of
charcoal the following verse, composed by herself, upon a window
shutter:-
"O Fortune! how thy restless wavering state
Hath fraught with cares my troubled wit!
Witness this present prison whither fate
Hath borne me, and the joys I quit.
Thou causedest the guilty to be loosed
From bands wherewith are innocents enclosed;
Causing the guiltless to be strait reserved,
And freeing those that death had well deserved:
But by her envy can be nothing wrought,
So God send to my foes all they have thought.
A.D., M.D.L.V."
"Elizabeth, Prisoner.
Not far from this palace are to be seen, near a spring of the
brightest water, the ruins of the habitation of Rosamond Clifford,
whose exquisite beauty so entirely captivated the heart of King
Henry II. that he lost the thought of all other women; she is said
to have been poisoned at last by the Queen. All that remains of her
tomb of stone, the letters of which are almost worn out, is the
following:-
The rhyming epitaph following was probably the performance of some
monk:-
"Hic jacet in tumba Rosamundi non Rosamunda,
Non redolet sed olet, quae redolere solet."
Returning from hence to Oxford, after dinner we proceeded on our
journey, and passed through Ewhelme, a royal palace, in which some
alms-people are supported by an allowance from the Crown.
Nettlebed, a village.
We went through the little town of Henley; from hence the Chiltern
Hills bear north in a continued ridge, and divide the counties of
Oxford and Buckingham.
We passed Maidenhead.
Windsor, a royal castle, supposed to have been begun by King Arthur,
its buildings much increased by Edward III. The situation is
entirely worthy of being a royal residence, a more beautiful being
scarce to be found; for, from the brow of a gentle rising, it enjoys
the prospect of an even and green country; its front commands a
valley extended every way, and chequered with arable lands and
pasturage, clothed up and down with groves, and watered by that
gentlest of rivers, the Thames; behind rise several hills, but
neither steep nor very high, crowned with woods, and seeming
designed by Nature herself for the purpose of hunting.
The Kings of England, invited by the deliciousness of the place,
very often retire hither; and here was born the conqueror of France,
the glorious King Edward III., who built the castle new from the
ground, and thoroughly fortified it with trenches, and towers of
square stone, and, having soon after subdued in battle John, King of
France, and David, King of Scotland, he detained them both prisoners
here at the same time. This castle, besides being the Royal Palace,
and having some magnificent tombs of the Kings of England, is famous
for the ceremonies belonging to the Knights of the Garter. This
Order was instituted by Edward III., the same who triumphed so
illustriously over John, King of France. The Knights of the Garter
are strictly chosen for their military virtues, and antiquity of
family; they are bound by solemn oath and vow to mutual and
perpetual friendship among themselves, and to the not avoiding any
danger whatever, or even death itself, to support, by their joint
endeavours, the honour of the Society; they are styled Companions of
the Garter, from their wearing below the left knee a purple garter,
inscribed in letters of gold with "HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE," I.E.,
"Evil to him that evil thinks." This they wear upon the left leg,
in memory of one which, happening to untie, was let fall by a great
lady, passionately beloved by Edward, while she was dancing, and was
immediately snatched up by the King, who, to do honour to the lady,
not out of any trifling gallantry, but with a most serious and
honourable purpose, dedicated it to the legs of the most
distinguished nobility. The ceremonies of this Society are
celebrated every year at Windsor on St. George's Day, the tutelar
saint of the Order, the King presiding; and the custom is that the
Knights Companions should hang up their helmet and shield, with
their arms blazoned on it, in some conspicuous part of the church.
There are three principal and very large courts in Windsor Castle,
which give great pleasure to the beholders:
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 11 of 34
Words from 10221 to 11222
of 35052
