[Illustration: Rosamond's Well and Labyrinth at Woodstock.]
For the originals of the annexed engravings we are indebted to the
sketchbooks of two esteemed correspondents.[1] The sites are so
consecrated, or we should rather say perpetuated, in history, and the
fates and fortunes of Rosamond Clifford are so familiar to our readers,
that we shall add but few words on the locality of the Well and Bower.
Their existence is thus attested by Drayton, the poet, in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth:--"Rosamond's Labyrinth, whose ruins, together with her
Well, being paved with square stones in the bottom, and also her Tower,
from which the Labyrinth did run, are yet remaining, being vaults arched
and walled with stone and brick, almost inextricably wound within one
another, by which, if at any time her lodging were laid about by the
queen, she might easily avoid peril imminent, and, if need be, by secret
issues, take the air abroad, many furlongs about Woodstock, in
Oxfordfordshire."
Sir Walter Scott (of whom, as of Goldsmith, it may hereafter be said, he
"left no species of writing untouched or unadorned by his pen") has
resuscitated the interest attached to this spot, in his masterly novel
of _Woodstock_.[2] It is here that the beautiful Alice meets the
facetious Charles in his disguise of an old woman; and on the bank over
the Well is the spot where tradition relates fair Rosamond yielded to
the menaces of Eleanor. Our correspondent, _T.W._, jocosely observes,
that he sends us the Labyrinth "without the silken cord which guided the
cruel Eleanor to her rival, in the hope that the ingenuity of the reader
will be sufficient to serve him in its stead. Observe," continues he,
"the maze is entered at one of the side gates, and the bower must be
reached without any of the barriers (--) being passed over--that is, by
an uninterrupted pathway."[3]
The bower consists of fine tall trees, whose branches hang entwined over
the front of the well. The spring is contained in a large basin, formed
by a plain stone wall, which serves as a facing and support to the bank;
the water flows from hence through a hole of about five inches in
diameter, and is conveyed by a channel under the pavement into another
basin of considerable dimensions, fenced with an iron railing. Hence it
again escapes by means of a grating into the beautiful lake of Woodstock
Park, or, as it is more modernly termed, Blenheim.
In these days of "hobgoblin lore," it may not be incurious to add, that
Woodstock is distinguished in Dr. Plot's _History of Oxfordshire_ (the
_title_ of which is well known to all readers of the marvellous) as the
scene of a series of hoax and disturbance played off upon the
commissioners of the Long Parliament, who were sent down to dispark and
destroy Woodstock, after the death of Charles I.; and Sir Walter Scott
thinks it "highly probable" that this "piece of phantasmagoria was
conducted by means of the secret passages and recesses in the Labyrinth
of Rosamond"--it must be admitted, a very convenient scene for such a
farce. Sir Walter says, "I have not the book at hand"--neither have we;
but we may probably allude to this curious affair on some future
occasion. In the meantime, if our present reference should kindle the
curiosity of the reader, and he may not be disposed to await our time,
we beg to recommend him to Glanville's well-known work on witchcraft,
which not only contains Dr. Plot's narrative of the Woodstock
disturbances, but a multitude of argument for all who are sceptical of
this and similar mysteries. This is an age of inquiry, and we do not see
why such follies should be left unturned--from Priam's shade to the
murderous dreams and omens of our own times.
[1] SAGITTARIUS--and T.W. of Hoxton.
[2] For an abstract of "Woodstock," an engraving, and much
valuable information respecting the palace, see our vol. vii.
pp. 289--316--322--327--338, &c.
[3] As there is a vulgar error on Rosamond's being buried in the
labyrinth, we subjoin the following by another correspondent.
Many readers of the MIRROR, perhaps, have hitherto been only
acquainted with the fictitious part of Fair Rosamond's history.
The few subjoined facts, relative to the eventful life of that
lady, may be implicitly relied on, as they are very carefully
gleaned from the _most authenticated sources_.
The first mistress to king Henry II. was Rosamond, daughter of
Walter Clifford, Baron of Hereford. She was esteemed the
greatest beauty in England, and her intrigue with Henry was most
probably began when he was not much above sixteen years of age.
Very soon after his amorous acquaintance with this lady, the
state of political affairs in England required his absence, and
he did not again return to this country until the year 1153; so
that there must have been a lapse of nearly six years from the
period of his first intimacy with Rosamond, to the renewal of
that intimacy at his return.
About the year 1157, king Henry took extraordinary precautions
to conceal his intrigue from the knowledge of queen Eleanor, a
woman, of wonderful spirit and penetration, to whom he had been
espoused at the period of his accession to the throne, in 1155.
This circumstance has given rise to the romantic tradition of
his forming a sort of labyrinth at Woodstock Palace, for the
purpose of concealing his fond mistress from the vengeance of
Eleanor; but the story of her being murdered in that palace by
the queen is perfectly false, for it is sufficiently evident
that she retired to the nunnery of Godstow, where she ended her
days in peace, though in what year it is difficult to decide.
After Rosamond's decease, the king bestowed large revenues on
the convent, in return for which, he required that lamps should
be kept continually burning about the lady's remains, which were
interred near the high altar, in a tomb covered with silk.
We may naturally conclude from these circumstances, that, as
long as the connexion between king Henry and Rosamond continued,
the former had no other object in his affections; yet we are
informed by a writer of Thomas à Becket's life, that there lived
a remarkably handsome girl, at Stafford, with whom king Henry
was said to cohabit. However, observes the same writer, Rosamond
_might_ have been dead before the second intrigue was commenced.