WINDSOR CASTLE.

of the new building the words, "This made Wykeham," | a sentence capable of a double meaning, but which he explained as intended to imply that the castle was the making of his fortune. St. George's Chapel was begun by Edward the Third, and finished by Edward the Fourth, who was buried there, and whose remains were found in 1789, in a coffin beneath his monument.

Nearly all the successive monarchs down to the time of Elizabeth made some additions or improvements to the Castle; and indeed the same may be said of subsequent sovereigns. Henry the Seventh made additions to the chapel and upper ward; Henry the Eighth rebuilt the principal gateway; Elizabeth constructed the terrace on the north side of the Castle; and Charles the First also made some alterations. During the fury of the Republicans, the Castle suffered much damage; but Charles the Second, on his restoration, repaired the injuries which it had sustained, furnished the royal apartments in a costly manner, formed a collection of paintings, and also a magazine of arms.

Passing over the intermediate monarchs, we come to the time of George the Third, who made very great alterations under the superintendence of Mr. James Wyatt. These consisted chiefly in rendering the apartments habitable, and introducing the more modern comforts into their arrangements; in the rebuilding of the great staircase; the restoration of the pointed style of architecture, which Charles the Second had displaced for others inconsistent with the general character of the building; the thorough repair of St. George's Chapel; and the preparation of a mausoleum for his Majesty and his descendants. After the death of that monarch, his successor George the Fourth planned other and still more extensive changes, upon which Sir Jeffry Wyatville was engaged throughout the king's reign. Even since that period, considerable alterations have been made, and great qutlay has been incurred in making the palace fit for the residence of the sovereign of a great country. The buildings composing the Castle are about a mile in circumference, and are contained in or surrounded by three wards or courts. The upper ward contains on the north side the state apartments, and the hall and chapel of St. George. On the east and south sides are the sovereign's private apartments and those of the royal household. The old principal gateway, being low and inconvenient, was replaced by a new one, of noble and imposing appearance, opposite to the grand entrance of the state apartments, and directly in a line with the Long Walk in the Great Park, which thus forms a magnificent avenue in the approach to the Castle. On either side of the gateway is a tower, one called York and the other Lancaster tower, Around the south and east sides of the court runs a fine corridor, more than five hundred feet in length, forming a medium of communication between the different buildings and apartments which surround it.

As we cannot attempt in this place to describe the state apartments which surround the upper ward, we shall pass to the lower ward. This is much more spacious than the other, and is divided into two parts by St. George's Chapel, behind which are the residences of the dean and canons. The apartments of the minor canons, clerks, and other ecclesiastical officers, are situated at the west end of the chapel, in what are termed the Horseshoe Cloisters. The collegiate chapel of St. George, considered as an ecclesiastical establishment, consists of a dean, twelve canons, seven minor canons, thirteen lay clerks, ten choristers, a steward, a treasurer, and inferior officers. Various towers, appropriated to different purposes, occupy portions of the buildings surrounding the lower ward."

The middle ward is occupied almost solely by the celebrated Keep, or Round Tower, the most conspicuous object in the Castle. It contains the apartments of the constable or governor of the Castle, who has the com

mand of the Castle, its garrison, and magazine of arms, holds a court of record, and is judge of the pleas between parties within the precincts of Windsor Forest. In ancient times the custody of distinguished state prisoners was committed to his care. John, king of France, David, king of Scotland, the Earl of Surrey, the Earl of Lauderdale, the Earl of Lindsay, and the Marshal de Belleisle, are among the distinguished men who were at different periods confined in this keep. In the view enjoyed from the battlements of this tower, the windings of the Thames, with the succession of villages, mansions, and detached farm-houses, the luxuriant landscape of the parks and forest, the bird's-eye prospect of the town, and a vast tract of country extending to the hills in the remote distance, combine to form a panorama which, for beauty and magnificence, is considered to be almost unequalled. Twelve counties are included within the range of view, viz.: Middlesex, Essex, Hertford, Bedford, Buckingham, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent.

Two parks are attached to the royal domain. The Little Park contains about five hundred acres, and is four miles in circumference, extending on the north and east sides of the Castle to the river Thames. It was enclosed with a brick wall by William the Third, and is chiefly stocked with sheep, cattle, and a small herd of red deer. In this park, which abounds with hares, George the Third frequently took the diversion of coursing; and on the south-east side of it stood a venerable tree, known by the name of Herne's Oak, and which, according to tra dition, was the identical tree mentioned by Shakspere. "Master Page" informs us that

There is an old tale goes, that Herne the hunter,
Some time a keeper here in Windsor Forest,
Doth all the winter time, at still midnight,
Walk round about an oak with great ragged horns.
And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle.
And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain,
In a most hideous and dreadful manner.

It has been said that Herne, who was keeper of the forest in the time of Queen Elizabeth, having committed some great offence, was hung on this tree; and that the credulity of the times easily worked on the minds of the ignorant to suppose that his ghost should haunt the spot. It was cut down a few years ago, and converted into various little articles of furniture and ornament, as Shaksperian relics. Frogmore Lodge, formerly belong ing to Queen Charlotte, and afterwards the property and residence of the Princess Augusta Sophia, is separated from the Little Park only by the London road.

The Great Park adjoins the south side of the town. At one time it consisted of four thousand acres, and was fourteen miles in circumference; but King George the Third set apart about half of it, for the formation of experimental farms, and other purposes connected with agriculture. The scenery of this park, which is stocked with several thousand heads of deer, is both varied and picturesque. It is intersected by several roads, the prin cipal of which, known as the Long Walk, skirted by an avenue of majestic trees, commences at the new entrance gateway of the upper ward, and extending nearly three miles in length, terminates at the summit of a bold rise, commanding a superb view of the Castle, Eton College on the other side of the river, and the country beyond them. At various parts of the park have been erected lodges or cottages, as retired summer residences for different members of the royal family; among which were the Royal Lodge and Cumberland Lodge. One of the rides in the park forms the principal approach to Virginia Water, a beautiful lake at the southern extremity of the park, and terminating at a fanciful building called the fishing temple. This spot was a favourite resort of his Majesty George the Fourth; and was by him adorned with miniature frigates and pleasure boats. Several bridges, one of them with a single arch of a hundred and sixty-five feet span, cross this fine piece of

water, which, near the road to Basingstoke, forms a beautiful cascade, and then flows on in a stream that winds through the western part of Surrey, and falls into the Thames near Chertsey.

To enumerate the various points of interest and attraction presented by Windsor Castle, would be wholly out of place in a series of articles such as the present; we must therefore proceed onward in our tour. Passing under Windsor Bridge, and along the margin of the playing fields of Eton College, the bend of the Thames presents a fine view of the north front of Windsor the Castle. Winding round the Little Park, the river pursues its course to Datchet, a pretty village on the northern shore; at a short distance from which is Ditton Park, the residence of Lord Montagu. The original mansion, a venerable structure which had been enlarged at various times since its first erection in the reign of Edward the Third, was destroyed by fire in 1812. On its site has been built, from the designs of Mr. Atkinson, a handsome castellated edifice, with turrets and battlements, surrounded by a moat, and having its principal entrance defended by an embattled gateway, flanked with towers. A drawbridge crossing the moat, connects the house and grounds with the park.

Ex

On the opposite bank of the river soon appears Old Windsor, which has been termed a "village of villas." Near the margin of the river is situated Old Windsor Manor House, partly surrounded by a moat, and exhibiting on the water-front the appearance of an ancient manorial edifice. But the most conspicuous object at Old Windsor is Beaumont Lodge, built a few years ago on the site of an older structure erected in the early part of the last century. The mansion is remarkable as presenting a specimen of what has been termed a new style of architecture, viz. the British. The principal front is of considerable elevation; its chief feature is a corridor consisting of coupled columns, or rather columns in imitation of twin trees growing from one root; between the stems is introduced the shield of a knight; and the capitals are formed after the caps worn by the Knights of the Garter, the star of the order forming a centre; and the whole is finished with Ionic volutes, and emblematic figures of the arms of England. The metopes are ornamented by the George and Collar; the decorations of the frieze over the columns are composed of ostrich feathers, tied with ribbons and blended with acorns; while the continued frieze is made up of naval and military trophies. This attempt to form a national style of architecture was made by a Mr. Emlyn of Windsor; but it does not appear to have met with encouragement.

celebrated for its supposed efficacy in rheumatic pains when used as an embrocation to the parts affected: for this purpose also oil was obtained by crushing the insects in a press. This oil was also used as a specific against madness, and farriers in some cases employed oil in which these insects had been macerated. These insects, of which eight or nine species occur in Britain, are most frequent in spring and autumn, and some of them, especially the type, Meloe proscarabæus, are not uncommon. They possess to a certain extent the vesicatory powers of the Cantharides, and are used in some parts of Spain instead of the true blister-fly. The females, when filled with eggs, become greatly dilated, and exceed the males in size. Goëdart preserved a female proscarabæus, and fed it with anemone and ranunculus leaves. Between the 12th of May and the 12th of June it laid 2212 eggs, besides about as many more which were not counted. These eggs were produced at two separate times, the insect depositing the eggs in a hole in the ground, which it had made with the posterior extremity of its belly. These eggs were yellow, and resembled small grains of sand pressed together. The larvæ, according to this observer, have the body long, cylindrical, sprinkled with hairs, composed of eleven rings, almost equal, and with an oval head, furnished with two eyes and two longish antennæ. They have six legs, of rather large size, compared with the body, which is terminated with two long appendages, in the form of silky hairs. Goëdart was not able to rear these larvæ, although he fed them with a variety of animal and vegetable matter. This want of success has attended the efforts of many other entomologists.

These larvæ are supposed by some observers to be parasitical on the bodies of winged insects. Degeer having noticed that a strong resemblance existed between the larvæ of Meloe and a small insect which he found adhering to the body of a fly resembling the humble bee, placed some domestic flies among the larvæ of the Meloe, and found that in less than half an hour a very great number of these larvæ had become attached to the breast and belly of the flies. After some vain efforts to get rid of the larvæ the flies perished on the second or third day, and the larvæ abandoned the body. Having been furnished during many days with living flies, they fastened on them. As soon as a fly passed near them there were always some which directly seized it by the foot or wing, and never quitted their hold until in a favourable situation to attack the body. Degeer found, however, that they did not increase in size, and, neglecting to supply them with victims, they all died.

Other observers have contended that the larvæ spoken of above were not those of the Meloe, but of some

THE OIL-BEETLE AND THE BLISTERING- other insect; but as the information does not rest upon

BEETLE.

Degeer's information alone, the early history of the
Meloe must be considered as quite unsettled.

rically by the possession of complete wings and wingcovers, by having the joints of the tarsi entire, and not bilobed, and the thorax nearly ovoid: the body is long and narrow, with the head rather longer than the thorax: the second joint of the antennæ is very small. This insect varies very much in its size, being sometimes not more than half an inch long, while others are twice that length. It is of a rich green and golden colour, very shining, and delicately punctured, with the antenna (except the first joint) black. It is very rare in this country, but has been seen occasionally near Cheltenham and elsewhere.

THE genus of coleopterous insects, named MELOE by The Meloe vesicatorius of Linnæus (Cantharis officiLinnæus, belonging to the section Heteromera and the nalis of Geoffroy) is the celebrated blister-fly, or Spanish family Cantharidæ, includes some very remarkable in-fly, so much used in medicine. It is distinguished genesects, which may be generally described as having the body large and distended, the wings entirely wanting, and the elytra short, oval, and folding partially over each other at the base: the antennæ are eleven-jointed, of nearly equal thickness throughout, or dilated and knotted in a singular manner, or elbowed in the centre, especially in the males. The body is generally of a deep black, bordering in many species on bluish and violet, and very much punctuated. These insects are of a comparatively large size: they are very inactive, crawling Inggishly upon the ground, in the fields, tilled lands, on he edges of highways, or among low herbage upon which they feed; but they seem to prefer sandy or calreus places exposed to the sun. When seized or disrbed they emit, from the articulations of each knee of eir legs, a viscous fluid, similar to oil, of a yellow colour and disagreeable odour. This oil was once highly

The Cantharis is one of those insects which have been most anciently and most universally known. Physicians, who were the first natural philosophers, and the first observers of nature, have made mention of the cantharides in the remotest times. But they have only considered them

under that relation which was most suitable to their own profession, and as furnishing to medicine one of its most powerful agents. The naturalist, who is less anxious about becoming acquainted with the medicinal virtues of the dead, than with the peculiar habits of the living cantharides, is yet very far from having acquired in this respect certain, extensive, and satisfactory information. The only species which has been deemed to be endowed with useful properties has caused a forgetfulness of all the others which compose the entire genus; and all that we know in general respecting these insects is, that in our European climates they live on plants, devour the leaves of certain trees, shun the cold, appear at the commencement of spring, and disappear at the beginning of autumn. We are therefore unable to do any more than present some general ideas respecting the cantharis which is peculiarly consecrated to the purposes of medicine.

they are collected on a linen cloth, which is folded and steeped several times in vinegar and water. This is the method most generally adopted.

The second method is to spread cloths about the tree, and the vapour of vinegar is diffused by causing it to be boiled in earthen pans placed in chafing-dishes. The trees are then shaken to cause the cantharides to fall: they are picked up immediately, and enclosed for twentyfour hours in vessels of wood, earth, or glass. When the insects are dead it is necessary to dry them thoroughly, otherwise they would contract a most detestable odour, and be rendered unfit for medicinal purposes. For this purpose they are exposed to the heat of the sun, or of a stove, or they are placed in a well-aired attic on hurdles covered with linen cloth or paper. They are It is more than probable that experiments on insects occasionally stirred about with a stick, or with the hands relatively to their utility in medicine and the arts, protected with gloves, for without this precaution the have been too much neglected in general. Their diminu-workmen would be exposed to the most painful sensative size has doubtless caused them to be too much tions. When properly dried, the cantharides are so despised. It cannot, however, be doubted that there must be a great number of them whose virtues are at least light that fifty of them weigh scarcely a dram. equal to those of the cantharides, and many others which are less acrid and less caustic, might in many cases be taken internally, with less danger and a greater chance of success. We may rest assured that all the species which belong to the genus Cantharis possess pretty nearly the same virtues as the species which is most generally known, and consequently in all the countries in which they are found, the same usage might be made of them. Among the insects taken from other genera, which might furnish caustic and irritating particles, and which might be substituted for the cantharides to a certain extent, we may range meloe, mylabris, carabus, tenebrio, cicindela, scaribes, coccinella, &c. The cast skin of the majority of the caterpillars produces a dust, which scattered by the winds, raises pustules on the face with which it comes in contact. The same effect is occasioned by the hair and wool of certain phalene when they are touched. Marian found at Surinam some species of the larvæ of lepidoptera, which one could not touch without being suddenly attacked with inflammation.

The early history of this insect is but little known. The female deposits her eggs separately, forming them into an agglutinated mass, and burying them underground. The larvæ have a soft body, of a yellowish white, composed of thirteen rings; the head rounded, somewhat flat, and furnished with two short antenna: the mouth is provided with two tolerably solid jaws, and four antennulæ. They have six short and scaly feet. They live in the earth and feed on various roots. When they have attained their full growth, they change into the nymph state in the earth, and do not come out of it until they have assumed the perfect insect form.

The cantharides are abundant in Spain and in the south of France, especially in the month of June, when they assemble for the purpose of pairing. This is the time when they must be seized, especially at the hour of sunset or sun-rise, when they are in a somewhat torpid state. They are found upon ash-trees, Tartarian honey-suckles, lilacs, rose-trees, poplars, elms, &c., the leaves of which they devour, and when this sort of food is wanting, they throw themselves upon corn and grass, and commit great damage. As they appear in large troops or swarms, and are accompanied by a very penetrating odour, somewhat similar to that of mice, it is not difficult to discover and collect them, provided certain precautions are adopted which should never be neglected. The odorous particles exhaled by them are so very corrosive, that people have been violently affected whilst gathering them during the heat of the day with bare hands, or even when they have fallen asleep under trees where swarms of them have gathered. The persons who collect them are protected by masks and gloves.

There are two modes of collecting cantharides. The first and most simple consists in spreading under the tree which harbours these insects several cloths on which they are made to fall by shaking or beating the branches. The insects are then gathered on a hair sieve, and held over the vapour of boiling vinegar, which kills them; or

The insects are preserved in boxes or bands lined with paper, and firmly closed. A part of our supply of cantharides is from Astracan and Sicily: but though bearing the name of Spanish blistering flies, the greatest quantity is obtained from St. Petersburg; and the Russian insects Cantharides are liable to the attacks of many insects and are said to be superior to those from Sicily and France. worms, but as these feed only on the inert part, they do not destroy the vesicant property.

Chemists have subjected cantharides to analysis, and have separated from them a peculiar substance, which is called cantharadin: this is the vesicating or blistering principle of the insect. It is a white substance under the form of small crystalline plates; when pure it is insoluble in water; it is soluble in ether, in boiling hot alcohol, and in the fixed oils. Some chemists regard it as a kind of animal camphor.

Cantharides also yield to analysis the following substances:-1. A greenish fluid oil, insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol. This is inert. 2. A black matter, also inert; it is soluble in alcohol but not in water. 3. A yellow viscid matter soluble both in water and in alcohol. This has no blistering property. 4. A little fatty matter; phosphates of lime and magnesia; acetic and uric acids also occur in cantharides.

The external application of cantharides is made by reducing them to powder, mixing them up with some fatty substance and applying a plaster thus formed to the surface of the body. It immediately begins to act, and detaches the outer skin from the dermis with great rapidity. When given internally it is in the form of an ethereal or alcoholic tincture; but it is a medicine requiring the utmost degree of caution and circumspection in its administration; and the cases in which it is proper to give it as an internal remedy are very few.

Meloe proscarabæus, Linn. THE OIL BEETLE.

Meloe vesicatorius, Linn. THE BLISTERING-BENTLE

RURAL SPORTS FOR THE MONTHS.

JULY.

THE present month is not distinguished for any special employment which can be designated a rural sport: the angler continues to ply his vocation, and we might dwell on many interesting particulars in connection with this sport, but as we have already given a brief outline of his proceedings, and are engaged in a course of articles descriptive of several of the most highly-prized among the inhabitants of our rivers, it appears unnecessary to devote further space to this subject. The approaching season, however, presents so many attractions to the sportsman, and enters so largely into his anticipations of pleasures to come, that we shall not be considered as deviating from our course, if we also look forward to the Shooting season," and make a few observations on the sagacious and truly interesting animals employed by the shooter to secure the different kinds of game which will shortly become the object of his pursuit.

England has long been celebrated for the superior excellence not only of its horses but of its sporting-dogs. Our grey-hounds, fox-hounds, and harriers are unequalled, and that they are so results from the care which is taken to keep the species distinct. The instinct and the fine olfactory powers of these animals are remarkable; but in the pointer and setter the instinct manifested is still more extraordinary. These latter animals

appear to be endowed with their peculiar qualities especially for the service of man, while those of all other animals are calculated for the supply of their own individual wants, as well as being secondarily of import

ance to the human race.

rejoice in our joy, be vigilant and bold in our defence, obedient to order, faithful in our adversity, understand our least words and signs, and die on our graves from pure attachment? These qualities, we all know, dogs possess. Here, then, we find the source of that consideration which is granted them by all men near a state of nature; and although conceded by them with niggardly hands, the wild man of the old world, the stoical hunter of the new, differ only in their mode of acknowledgment from the the half-frozen Esquimaux, and the savage of Australia, expressions of favour with which the drover, the shepherd, the sportsman, and the fine lady of civilized society regard them.

As the dog alone, of all the brute creation, voluntarily associates himself with the condition of man's existence, it is fair to presume also that he was the first, and therefore the oldest of man's companions; that to his manifold good and subjugation of other species. We do even now perceive, qualities the first hunters were indebted for their conquest notwithstanding the advance of human reason and the progress of invention, that in a thousand instances we cannot dispense with his assistance.-LIEUT.-COL. SMITH.

Doubtless it required, at first, a long course of patient education and careful management to produce even a distant approach to the perfection of the present breed of pointers; but certain it is that an instinct favourable to " pointing" must have existed in this race of dogs in particular, for of no other animal can it be said, that with proper training he would form a substitute for the true pointer.

The pointer was originally a native of Spain; and among our English breed, such dogs as have the most Spanish blood in their veins are esteemed the best. The Spanish pointer is about twenty-one inches in height. He has a large head, is heavily made, broad-chested, stout-limbed, with a large dew-lap; his eyes are full and When the intellectual endowments of the domesticated widely separated, and his nose broad; his tail is straight, races of dogs are permitted to weigh in the scale,-when we short and thick, and his ears large, pendulous, and fine; begin to consider the faculties which the bounty of nature the finest dogs have a round and not a flat foot. When has bestowed upon them, the sincerity and disinterested-pointing, he raises one of the fore-legs, and stands on ness of their attachment, the sagacity, strength, velocity, three only, with his face and tail in a line with his back. courage, and perfect obedience which they proffer to man, This is the position he always assumes when he comes what other species could we look for voluntary association gradually upon the scent; but whenever, by running with with our fortunes? Which of them would, like the dog, the wind, or any other circumstance, he comes suddenly lend us the full use of senses so acute as his? Which can upon game, he will stand in the most extraordinary

-we cannot refuse them our admiration and affection. To