[Illustration: WARWICK CASTLE.]
The renowned castle of Warwick is upon the Avon, a short distance above
Stratford. Warwick was founded by the Britons at a very early period,
and is believed to be as old in some parts as the Christian era; it was
afterwards held as a Christian stronghold against the Danes. Lady
Ethelfleda, daughter of King Alfred, built the donjon-keep upon an
artificial mound of earth that can still be traced in the castle
grounds. The most ancient part of the present castle was erected in the
reign of Edward the Confessor, and in William the Conqueror's time it
received considerable additions, and he created the first Earl of
Warwick. It was a great stronghold in the subsequent wars, and an
heiress brought the castle to Richard Neville, who assumed the title in
right of his wife, and was the famous Warwick, "the King-maker." After
many changes it came to the Grevilles, who are now the Earls of Warwick.
This castle is one of the best specimens of the feudal stronghold
remaining in England, and occupies a lovely position on the river-bank,
being built on a rock about forty feet high; its modern apartments
contain a rich museum filled with almost priceless relics of the olden
time. Here are also valuable paintings and other works of art, among
them Vandyck's portrait of Charles I. and many masterpieces of
Rembrandt, Paul Veronese, Leonardo da Vinci, Rubens, Holbein, and
Salvator Rosa. In December, 1871, the great hall and suite of private
apartments at Warwick were burnt, but the valuable contents were almost
all saved with little injury. The castle was restored by a public
subscription. It is built around a large oval-shaped court; the
gatehouse tower is flanked by embattled walls covered with ivy, and
having at either extremity Caesar's Tower and Guy's Tower; the inner
court is bounded by ramparts and turrets, and has on one side an
artificial mound surmounted by an ancient tower. From the modernized
rooms of the castle, where the family live and the museum is located,
and which extend in a suite for three hundred and fifty feet, all the
windows look out upon beautiful views; many of these rooms are hung with
tapestry. Caesar's Tower, believed to be the most ancient part of the
castle and as old as the Norman Conquest, is one hundred and
seventy-four feet high; Guy's Tower, which was built in 1394, has solid
walls ten feet thick and is one hundred and twenty-eight feet high,
disclosing fine views from the turrets. The grounds are extensive, and
the magnificent marble "Warwick Vase," brought from the Emperor Adrian's
villa at Tivoli in Italy, is kept in a special greenhouse, being one of
the most completely perfect and beautiful specimens of ancient sculpture
known. St. Mary's Church at Warwick is a fine building, which in the
early part of the last century replaced the original collegiate church
of St. Mary, an edifice that had unfortunately been burnt. Thomas
Beauchamp, one of the earlier Earls of Warwick, was the founder of this
church, and his monument with recumbent effigy is in the middle of the
choir. The Beauchamp Chapel, over four hundred years old, is a beautiful
relic of the original church still remaining, and stands on the southern
side of the new building. The whole of this portion of Warwickshire is
underlaid by medicinal waters, and the baths of Leamington are in the
valley of the little river Leam, a short distance north-east of the
castle, its Jephson Gardens, a lovely park, commemorating one of the
most benevolent patrons.
Warwick Castle, like all the others, has its romance, and this centres
in the famous giant, Guy of Warwick, who lived nearly a thousand years
ago, and was nine feet high. His staff and club and sword and armor are
exhibited in a room adjoining Caesar's Tower; and here also is Guy's
famous porridge-pot, a huge bronze caldron holding over a hundred
gallons, which is used as a punch-bowl whenever there are rejoicings in
the castle. There is nothing fabulous about the arms or the
porridge-pot, but there is a good deal that is doubtful about the giant
Guy himself and the huge dun cow that once upon a time he slew, one of
whose ribs, measuring over six feet long, is shown at Guy's Cliff. This
cliff is where the redoubtable Guy retired as a hermit after championing
the cause of England in single combat against a giant champion of the
Danes, and is about a mile from Warwick. It is a picturesque spot, and a
chantry has been founded there, while for many years a rude statue of
the giant Guy stood on the cliff, where the chisel had cut it out of
the solid rock. The town of Warwick is full of old gabled houses and of
curious relics of the time of the "King-maker" and of the famous Earl of
Leicester, who in Elizabeth's time founded there the Leicester Hospital,
where especial preference is given to pensioners who have been wounded
in the wars. It is a fine old house, with its chapel, which has been
restored nearly in the old form, stretching over the pathway, and a
flight of steps leading up to the promenade around it. The hospital
buildings are constructed around an open quadrangle, and upon the quaint
black and white building are some fine antique carvings. The old
"Malt-Shovel Inn" is a rather decayed structure in Warwick, with its
ancient porch protruding over the street, while some of the buildings,
deranged in the lower stories by the acute angles at which the streets
cross, have oblique gables above stairs that enabled the builders to
construct the upper rooms square. This is a style of construction
peculiar to Warwick, and adds to the oddity of this somnolent old town,
that seems to have been practically asleep for centuries.
[Illustration: LEICESTER'S HOSPITAL, WARWICK.]
[Illustration: OBLIQUE GABLES IN WARWICK.]