ments which are always open for inspection are on the north; Her Majesty's private apartments are on the east and south, and the round tower on the west side of the square.

A considerable portion of the castle has been repaired and much improvements made by the celebrated Architect Sir Jeffry Wyatville by the order of King George the Fourth, to whom, the credit of rendering this place truly worthy of the residence of British sovereigns, is to be attributed; he spent large sums of money in augmenting and furnishing the palace, and his notions of things is said to have been princely; this personage is represented as the first gentleman of the age he lived in, he was the most accomplished man that ever adorned the British throne, and for politeness and elegance of taste he is said to have been never exceeded.

He never had any thing done which was not truly splendid and magnificent, he cared little for spending thousands of pounds upon objects which were of no other use than to please the eye.

We first saw the private apartments, we entered through what is called the visitors' entrance, and a lady, who is the housekeeper, showed us the apartments. On ascending a noble stair case we entered a corridor which at first sight struck us with amazement and wonder, it is what we should call a varendah, 520 feet long and about 18 feet wide, by folding doors it communicates with

all the principal rooms. It is also used as an indoor promenade when the weather is unfavourable and is so costly and tastefully furnished as to baffle all description. The ceiling is very richly gilt in various pleasing and ornamental devices, and on both sides of the corridor are placed a variety of ornamental and curious things, elegant cabinets, tables, chairs and such other things, ancient and modern, so distributed as to afford a varied and pleasing picture to the eye; here are some hundreds of busts in marble of members of the Royal Family, foreign princes, English noblemen, heroes who fought battles and other distinguished persons living and dead, almost all of which were the productions of the best sculptors.

The corridor is divided into two parts by a pair of folding doors, which when opened the whole length, with the splendid furniture give it an air of grandeur and magnificence not to be surpassed.

We were then shown into the Dutchess of Kent's apartments, which consisted of a drawingroom, a dressing and a bed room, the walls of these rooms are hung with beautiful and light coloured silk damask, and the ceiling and doors are chastely ornamented with gilt mouldings; the bed was after the French fashion, that is, a bedstead, without the curtain poles, is placed against the wall and three poles project out above the bed, the middle one of which is a little higher than the other two, over these the curtains are thrown, it is

also called a canopy bed. The frame of her Royal Highness's bedstead was nicely carved and gilt and the curtains was of fine silk.

We then came into a small room in which we were informed that the late King and his brother King George the Fourth died, it was handsomely fitted up, but not in use.

From this we were conducted to Her Majesty's writing room, which was a small one but elegantly furnished, the walls were covered with silk and the ceiling and the doors had some very good carving, which was gilt.

There are three large rooms which are called the white, green, and crimson drawing rooms, which are the best, and the most expensively fitted up; their walls are hung with fine silks of the colour that their names respectively indicate, and chairs and sofas cushioned with silks of the same colour and quality, the carpets are very beautiful of the first rate workmanship, and of the colour to match the hangings. These rooms are lighted with very large and handsome windows, and command a delightful view of the park together with the country several miles round.

The doors which lead from one room to the other have on their pannels, carved devices, all different from each other, the carvings are the most perfect specimens of the art and masterly executed; all the doors are most luxuriantly gilt and burnished, and the appearance of these rooms,

the magnificence and the costliness of furniture and the profusion of gilded decorations, all is so beautiful and so truly splendid, that we cannot by any possibility convey even the faintest idea of it to our countrymen; suffice it to say that it is quite worthy of the occupation of Kings and Queens of this mighty country.

Next to the crimson drawing room is the Queen's dining room, which is of princely dimensions. On a gilt table stands the magnificent wine cooler, made in London by the celebrated jewellers, Rundell and Bridge, for King George the Fourth; it is silver gilt, richly chased, and most exquisitely finished. We could not learn its weight, but is large enough for a full grown person to sit in with ease, and requires six men to lift it. This splendid thing is said to have cost £10,500. sterling!

We forgot to mention, that in the corridor there is a cabinet of dark wood, very beautifully carved, and which belonged to Cardinal Wolsey, who lived in the sixteenth century, and that all the cabinets in the splendid suite of rooms we have just noticed, are of most superb manufacture, many of them were inlaid with mother of pearl, ebony, satin, and such other expensive wood.

We are much indebted to the housekeeper for her attention to us. We here think it proper to state, that the Queen's own apartments are not

allowed to be shewn to any one, and they are only open when her Majesty resides at the castle, and the private apartments can only be seen during her absence from Windsor.

The state apartments are open to the public every day (except Sunday), from nine in the morning till six in the evening. They are also magnificent and well decorated rooms, and will amply repay the trouble of visiting them. These apartments command a delightful prospect of the picturesque and almost evergreen neighbourhood of Windsor, and contain a valuable collection of oil paintings and tapestry.

The entrance for the public is through a porch, where a porter is stationed (the present porter is a civil man, and has all the court politeness about him), and ascending a flight of stairs, we come to a small room called the Queen's Audience Chamber; the walls are decorated with French tapestry, that is, pictures made by coloured woollen threads, on a coarse fabric, and so beautiful is the working of it, that one could hardly believe it was not a painting, and to prove how nearly it resembles it, the ceiling, which is really painted in the same style, is very difficult to distinguish from the tapestry, as the whole looks as if it were done by one artist.

Going through a door on the right, we find ourselves in the Queen's ball room, which is of great length, but the appearance is very plain;