The First Is Enclosed
With Most Elegant Buildings Of White Stone, Flat-Roofed, And Covered
With Lead; Here The Knights Of The Garter Are Lodged; In The Middle
Is A Detached House, Remarkable For Its High Tower, Which The
Governor Inhabits.
In this is the public kitchen, well furnished
with proper utensils, besides a spacious dining-room, where all the
Poor Knights eat at the same table, for into this Society of the
Garter, the King and Sovereign elects, at his own choice, certain
persons, who must be gentlemen of three descents, and such as, for
their age and the straitness of their fortunes, are fitter for
saying their prayers than for the service of war; to each of them is
assigned a pension of eighteen pounds per annum and clothes. The
chief institution of so magnificent a foundation is, that they
should say their daily prayers to God for the King's safety, and the
happy administration for the kingdom, to which purpose they attend
the service, meeting twice every day at chapel. The left side of
this court is ornamented by a most magnificent chapel of one hundred
and thirty-four paces in length, and sixteen in breadth; in this are
eighteen seats fitted up in the time of Edward III. for an equal
number of Knights: this venerable building is decorated with the
noble monuments of Edward IV., Henry VI., and VIII., and of his wife
Queen Jane. It receives from royal liberality the annual income of
two thousand pounds, and that still much increased by the
munificence of Edward III. and Henry VII. The greatest princes in
Christendom have taken it for the highest honour to be admitted into
the Order of the Garter; and since its first institution about
twenty kings, besides those of England, who are the sovereigns of
it, not to mention dukes and persons of the greatest figure, have
been of it. It consists of twenty-six Companions.
In the inward choir of the chapel are hung up sixteen coats-of-arms,
swords, and banners; among which are those of Charles V. and
Rodolphus II., Emperors; of Philip of Spain; Henry III. of France;
Frederic II. of Denmark, &c.; of Casimir, Count Palatine of the
Rhine; and other Christian princes who have been chosen into this
Order.
In the back choir, or additional chapel, are shown preparations made
by Cardinal Wolsey, who was afterwards capitally punished, {12} for
his own tomb; consisting of eight large brazen columns placed round
it, and nearer the tomb four others in the shape of candlesticks;
the tomb itself is of white and black marble; all which are
reserved, according to report, for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth;
the expenses already made for that purpose are estimated at upwards
of 60,000 pounds. In the same chapel is the surcoat {13} of Edward
III., and the tomb of Edward Fynes, Earl of Lincoln, Baron Clinton
and Say, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, and formerly
Lord High Admiral of England.
The second court of Windsor Castle stands upon higher ground, and is
enclosed with walls of great strength, and beautified with fine
buildings and a tower; it was an ancient castle, of which old annals
speak in this manner: King Edward, A.D. 1359, began a new building
in that part of the Castle of Windsor where he was born; for which
reason he took care it should be decorated with larger and finer
edifices than the rest. In this part were kept prisoners John, King
of France, and David, King of Scots, over whom Edward triumphed at
one and the same time: it was by their advice, struck with the
advantage of its situation, and with the sums paid for their ransom,
that by degrees this castle stretched to such magnificence, as to
appear no longer a fortress, but a town of proper extent, and
inexpugnable to any human force. This particular part of the castle
was built at the sole expense of the King of Scotland, except one
tower, which, from its having been erected by the Bishop of
Winchester, Prelate of the Order, is called Winchester Tower; {14}
there are a hundred steps to it, so ingeniously contrived that
horses can easily ascend them; it is a hundred and fifty paces in
circuit; within it are preserved all manner of arms necessary for
the defence of the place.
The third court is much the largest of any, built at the expense of
the captive King of France; as it stands higher, so it greatly
excels the two former in splendour and elegance; it has one hundred
and forty-eight paces in length, and ninety-seven in breadth; in the
middle of it is a fountain of very clear water, brought under
ground, at an excessive expense, from the distance of four miles.
Towards the east are magnificent apartments destined for the royal
household; towards the west is a tennis-court for the amusement of
the Court; on the north side are the royal apartments, consisting of
magnificent chambers, halls, and bathing-rooms, {15} and a private
chapel, the roof of which is embellished with golden roses and
FLEURS-DE-LIS: in this, too, is that very large banqueting-room,
seventy-eight paces long, and thirty wide, in which the Knights of
the Garter annually celebrate the memory of their tutelar saint, St.
George, with a solemn and most pompous service.
From hence runs a walk of incredible beauty, three hundred and
eighty paces in length, set round on every side with supporters of
wood, which sustain a balcony, from whence the nobility and persons
of distinction can take the pleasure of seeing hunting and hawking
in a lawn of sufficient space; for the fields and meadows, clad with
variety of plants and flowers, swell gradually into hills of
perpetual verdure quite up to the castle, and at bottom stretch out
in an extended plain, that strikes the beholders with delight.
Besides what has been already mentioned, there are worthy of notice
here two bathing-rooms, ceiled and wainscoted with looking-glass;
the chamber in which Henry VI.
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