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tonishment and awe for some moments rendered us silent, and we stood fixed to the spot like statues. Immediately before us, yawned an immense gulf in the form of a crescent, about two miles in length, nearly a mile in width, and apparently eight hundred feet deep. The bottom was covered with lava, and the south-west and northern parts of it were one vast flood of burning matter, rolling to and fro its waves of fire, and boiling up with terrific violence,

"Above fifty hillocks, from twenty to seventy feet high, and in shape resembling the chimneys of a glass house, rose either round the edge, or from the surface of the burning lake. From the summits of many of these hillocks, were constantly shooting forth clouds of grey smoke, or fountains of brilliant flame, and several of them, were at the same time vomiting from their mouths, streams of lava, which rolled in blazing torrents down their black and rugged sides, into the boiling mass below. The flood of melted metal was therefore kept in a constant state of agitation, while the lively flame which danced over its troubled surface, now tinged with sulphurous blue, now glowing with mineral red, cast a broad glare of dazzling light on the hillocks, whose soaring mouths shot up, at firequent intervals, with the report of cannon, large masses of melting lava, or red hot stones."

No one can wonder that these enormous volcanoes, from which they have so frequently suffered, should have inspired the natives of Owhyhee with terror and superstition; or that the worship of Peli, should have been continued even after Christianity had been adopted by many of the natives. That idolatrous worship is now no more: it was the last and most powerful that remained; and its abolition was at length effected by one of the greatest acts of moral courage, which has perhaps ever been performed. The king, with the assistance of all his chiets, and all the endeavours of the missionaries strove, and strove in vain, to put down | the worship of Peli; nothing it seemed, was ever to be able to expel the belief that the goddess, when offended, visited the children of men with thunder and lightning, and earthquakes, and streams of liquid fire, the instruments of her mighty power and vengeance.

What the united efforts, however, of kings and chiefs and missionaries failed to accomplish, has been brought about by the heroic act of one woman !

Kapiolani, a female chief of the highest rank, had recently embraced Christianity: and, desirous of propagating it, and of undeceiving the natives as to their false gods, she resolved to climb the mountain, descend into the crater, and, by thus braving the gods of fire in their very home, convince the inhabitants of the island that Jehovah is the one true God, and that Peli existed only in the fancy of her weak adorers. Thus determined, and accompanied by a missionary, she, with part of her family and a crowd of followers, ascended the mountain. At the edge of the first precipice which bounds the sunken plain, many of her companions lost courage and turned back at the second, the rest earnestly entreated her to desist from her dangerous enterprize, and to forbear to tempt the gods of the fires. But she proceeded: and on the very brink of the crater caused a hut to be built for herself and her followers. Here she was assailed anew by their entreaties to return home, and their assurance that if she persisted in violating the houses of the goddess, she would draw on herself, and those with her, certain destruction. Her answer was noble :"I will descend into the crater," said she, "and if I do not return safe, then continue to worship Peli; but if I come back unhurt, you must learn to adore the God who created and who can control these fires!"

She accordingly went down the steep and difficult

side of the crater, accompanied by some few, whom love or duty induced to follow her. Arrived at the bottom, she pushed a stick into the liquid lava, and stirred the ashes of the burning lake!

The charm of superstition was at once broken. Those who had expected to see the goddess, armed with flame and sulphurous smoke, burst forth and destroy the daring being who had thus braved her in her only sanctuary, were awe-struck when they saw the fire remain harmless, and the flames roll harmless, as though none were present. They acknowledged the greatness of the GoD of Kapiolani; and from that time few indeed have been the offerings, and little the reverence which has been paid to the fires of Peli!

THE COTTAGE.

WHERE is there a lovelier sight to be seen,
Than a cottage embosom'd in covert of green ?
Where the rose and the woodbine embower the gate,
And health and contentment and loveliness wait!
And if in this home of the poor there be found
That goodness and love which sheds blessing around.
The beauty without, though so lovely, has been
Less fair than the beauty of spirit within,

If sickness or poverty enter, the peace
Which Jesus bequeath'd, will in sorrow increase;
And new strength to the faith, and new grace to the heart,
The sweet from the bitter, will sorrow impart.
More than halls of high splendour, a cottage like this
Is endow'd with a portion of heavenly bliss;
Though the low humble dwelling in secrecy lies,
There spirits of Christians grow ripe for the skies!
Homerton.
JAMES EDMESTON.

COTTAGERS' ALLOTMENTS, THE burthen of the poor-rates has forced the condition of the poor upon the attention even of the selfish and indolent; and, among a multitude of schemes, suggested or revived, for improving their lot, there is none which at present meets with more favour than that of garden allotments to the industrious poor. This will not surprise any one who has seen its cheerful and cheering operation, I am not now about to enter into a disquisition on its merits, and will only add, that its admirers must not expect too much from its adoption; neither must they look to it as alone sufficient for the renovation of our peasantry; still less can the rate payer wisely hope that even in purely agricultural parishes it can effect any thing approaching to an extinction of the poor-rate. The sooner such extravagant notions can be dissipated, the better; they can only lead to disappointment; but in judicious hands it may be safely looked to as one among other means of raising the spirit, increasing the comforts, employing the leisure, and rewarding the industry of the well-conducted and diligent poor, and so indirectly but certainly diminishing the amount of the poor-rate.

My object however now is to draw attention-and I hope not too late to a statute recently passed on this subject, with the provisions of which it is desirable for parish authorities and the poor to be made acquainted—I mean the 42d of 2d of Will. 4, intituled, "An Act to authorize (in parishes inclosed under any Act of Parliament) the letting of the Poor Allotments in small portions to industrious Cottagers." This statute professes to contemplate the case where, an enclosure having taken place, an allotment has been set apart for the poor, chiefly with a view to their winter supply of fuel; and some of its provisions are applicable only to such a case; but by the last section its general enactments are extended to every case in which land shall in any parish "be found appropri

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In the first week in September, a vestry, with ten days' notice, may be holden, at which the trustees of such allotments may attend and vote, if they think proper at this Vestry any industrious cottager of good character, being a day-labourer or journeyman, legally settled in the parish, and dwelling within or near its bounds, may apply to take not less than a quarter, nor more than the whole of an acre of such land, as a tenant from year to year, from the Michaelmas following. The vestry must take into consideration his character and circumstances, and either reject the application, or make an order in his favour, which will be to all intents and purposes a sufficient authority for him to enter and occupy at the time fixed. The rent must be such as lands of the same quality are usually let for in the parish, and payable in one gross sum at the end of the year, to the churchwardens and overseers of the poor in behalf of the vestry; and the occupier is held bound to cultivate the land in such a manner 66 as shall preserve it in a due state of fertility."

There are very proper provisions, to be embodied as I understand, in the order of vestry, for no lease or agreement of any kind seems necessary: but by sections 5 and 6, means are provided for turning the tenant out of possession at a week's notice, if at the end of any one year the rent shall be four weeks in arrear, or the land in the opinion of the vestry, shall not have been duly cultivated; and, by sect. 7, the arrears of rent in such case may be recovered by a summary application to two justices of the peace, who may levy the same by distress upon the party's goods. Where the land so let has been a fuel allotment, the rent is to be applied by the vestry in the purchase of fuel, to be distributed in the winter to the settled poor of the parish, resident in or near it; and by analogy I conceive that in other cases the rent must be applied for the general benefit of those for whom the land itself was originally destined.

No habitations are to be erected on any portion of the land so demised; and if the land lies at an inconvenient distance from the residences of the cottagers of the parish, the vestry may let it, and hire other land more favourably situated for the purposes of the act in lieu thereof.

These are the provisions of the statute, conceived, I think, in a wise and benevolent spirit, though they will admit of amendments in another session of parliament, to which at a fitting time I may perhaps direct the attention of the readers of the Magazine.

No room is left for them now, and I regret that I myself was not sooner aware of the existence of the statute; my remarks, however, may, even now, be important to those who have prepared themselves to act upon it immediately; and where that is not the case, may suggest useful hints to individuals or parishes in which the allotment system is already in operation without the aid of the legislature.

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WE all talk of the ass as the stupidest of the browsers of the field; yet if any one shuts up a donkey in the same inclosure with half a dozen horses of the finest blood, and the party escape, it is infallibly the poor donkey that has led the way. It is he alone that penetrates the secret of the bolt and latch. Often have we stood at the other side of a hedge, contemplating a whole troop of blood-mares and their offspring, patiently waiting, while the donkey was snuffing over a piece of work to which all but he felt themselves incompetent."-Quart.

Review.

CLIMATE.

THE discontented frequently complain of our uncertain climate, (and it is doubtless trying to some constitutions) but let them read the accounts of other countries, and say which is to be preferred.

"The rains in the West Indies are by no means the things they are with us. Our heaviest rains are but dews comparatively. They are floods of water poured from the clouds, with a prodigious impetuosity; the rivers rise in a moment; new rivers and lakes are formed; and in a short time all the low country is under water." The rains make the only distinction of seasons in the West Indies; the trees are green the whole year round; they have no cold, no frosts, no snows-and but rarely some hail; the storms of hail, however, when they do happen, are very violent and the hailstones very great and heavy." It is in the rainy seasons (principally in August, more rarely in July and September) that they are assaulted by hurricanes; the most terrible calamity to which they are subjected from the climate. This destroys at a stroke the labours of many years, and prostrates the most exalted hopes of the planter, and often just at the moment when he thinks himself out of the reach of fortune. It is a hidden and violent storm of wind, rain, thunder and lightning, attended with a furious swelling of the seas, and sometimes an earthquake; in short, every circumstance which the elements can assemble, that is terrible and destructive. Firstthey see, as a prelude to the ensuing havock, whole fields of sugar-canes whirled into the air, and scattered over the face of the country. The strongest trees of the forest are torn up by the roots, and driven about like stubble. Their windmills are swept away in a moment; their works, fixtures, coppers, &c. wrenched up and battered to pieces; their houses are no protection, the roofs are torn off at one blast; whilst the river, which in an hour rises five feet, rushes in upon them with irresistible force."-European Settlements. He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.-Matt. 11. 12. The custom of loosing the sandals from off the feet of an Eastern worshipper, was ancient and indispensable. It is also commonly observed in visits to great men. The sandals or slippers are pulled off at the door, and either left there, or given to a servant to bear. The person to bear them, means an inferior domestic, or attendant upon a man of high rank, to take care of, and to return them to him again. This was the work of servants among the Jews; and it was reckoned so servile, that it was thought too mean for a scholar or disciple to do. The Jews "All services which a servant does for a master, a disciple does for his master, except unloosing his shoes." John thought it was too great an honour for him to do that for Christ, which was thought too mean for a disciple to do for a wise man.-BURDEr.

say,

THE BLACK OR GREAT OSTRICH. THIS species of Ostrich stands so very high as to measure from seven to nine feet from the top of the head to the ground: from the back, however, it is seldom more than three or four feet, the rest of its height being made up by its extremely long neck. The head is small, and, as well as the greater part of the neck, is covered only with a few scattered hairs. The feathers of the body are black and loose; those of the wings and tail are of a snowy white, waved and long, having here and there a tip of black. The wings are furnished with spurs: the thighs are naked; and the feet strong, and of a gray-brown colour.

The sandy and burning deserts of Africa and Asia are the only native residences of the Black Ostriches. Here they are seen in flocks so large as sometimes to have been mistaken for distant cavalry.

There are many circumstances in the form and habit

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of this animal which show it to be peculiarly different | other; this its pursuers take advantage of, and, by from the rest of the feathered race. It seems to form rushing directly onward, save much ground. In a one of the links of union in the great chain of nature, few days, at most, the strength of the animal is much connecting the winged with the four-footed tribes. exhausted, and it then either turns on the hunters, and fights with the fury of despair, or hides its head and tamely receives its fate.

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The Black Ostrich.

Its strong jointed legs, and (if I may venture so to call them) cloven hoofs, are well adapted both for speed and defence. The wings and all its feathers are insufficient to raise it from the ground. Its camelshaped neck is covered with hair; its voice is a kind of hollow, mournful lowing, and it grazes on the plain with the gua-cha and the zebra.

The ostriches frequently do great damage to the farmers in the interior of Southern Africa, by coming in flocks into their fields, and destroying the ears of wheat so completely, that in a large tract of land it often happens that nothing but the bare straw is left behind. The body of the bird is not higher than the corn; and when it devours the ears, it bends down its long neck, so that at a little distance it cannot be seen; but on the least noise it rears its head, and generally contrives to escape before the farmer gets within gunshot of it.

When the ostrich runs, it has a proud and haughty look; and even when in extreme distress, never appears in great haste, especially if the wind is with it. Its wings are frequently of material use in aiding its escape, for when the wind blows in the direction that it is pursuing, it always flaps them in this case the swiftest horse cannot overtake it; but if the weather is hot, and there is no wind, or if it has by any accident lost a wing, the difficulty of out-running it is not so great.

The ostrich itself is chiefly valuable for its plumage, and the Arabians have reduced the chase of it to a kind of science. They hunt it, we are told, on horseback, and begin their pursuit by a gentle gallop; for, should they, at the outset, use the least rashness, the matchless speed of the game would immediately carry it out of their sight, and in a very short time beyond their reach; but when they proceed gradually, it makes no particular effort to escape. It does not go in a direct line, but runs first to one side, then to the

Frequently the natives conceal themselves in the skin of one of these birds, and by that means are able to approach near enough to surprise them.

Some persons breed up ostriches in flocks, for they are tamed with very little trouble, and in their domestic state few animals may be rendered more useful. Besides the valuable feathers they cast, the eggs which they lay, their skins, which are used by the Arabians as a substitute for leather, and their flesh, which many esteem as excellent food, they are sometimes made to serve the purposes of horses.

In a tame state it is very pleasant to observe with what dexterity they play and frisk about. In the heat of the day, particularly, they will strut along the sunny side of a house with great majesty, perpetually fanning themselves with their expanded wings, and seeming at every turn to admire and be enamoured of their own shadows. During most parts of the day, in hot climates, their wings are in a kind of vibrating or quivering motion, as if designed principally to assuage the heat.

They will swallow, with the utmost eagerness, rags, leather, wood, or stone, indiscriminately. "I saw one at Oran," says Dr. Shaw, "that swallowed, without any seeming uneasiness or inconvenience, several leaden bullets, as they were thrown upon the floor scorching hot from the mould!"

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During Mr. Adamson's residence at Podor, a French factory on the southern bank of the river Niger, he says that two ostriches, which had been about two years in the factory, afforded him a sight of a very extraordinary nature. These gigantic birds, though young, were of nearly the full size. They were, (he continues) "so tame, that two little blacks mounted both together on the back of the largest. No sooner did he feel their weight than he began to run as fast as possible, and carried them several times round the village, as it was impossible to stop him otherwise than by obstructing the passage. This sight pleased me so much that I wished it to be repeated; and, to try their strength, directed a fullgrown negro to mount the smallest, and two others the largest. This burden did not seem at all disproportioned to their strength. At first they went at a tolerable sharp trot; but when they became heated a little, they expanded their wings, as though to catch the wind, and moved with such fleetness, that they scarcely seemed to touch the ground. Most people have, at one time or other, seen a partridge run, and consequently must know that there is no man whatever able to keep up with it; and it is easy to imagine, that if this bird had a longer step, its speed would be considerably increased. The ostrich moves like the partridge, with this advantage; and I am satisfied that those I am speaking of would have distanced the fleetest race-horses that were ever bred in England. It is true they would not hold out so long as a horse, but they would undoubtedly be able to go over the space in less time. I have frequently beheld this sight, which is capable of giving one an idea of the prodigious strength of an ostrich, and of showing what use it might be of, had we but the method of breaking and managing it as we do a horse.

He who is catching opportunities because they seldom occur, would suffer those to pass by unregarded which he expects hourly to return.-JOHNSON.

KENILWORTH CASTLE.

THY walls transferred to Leicester's favoured earl
He long, beneath thy roof, the maiden queen
And all her courtly guests, with rare device
Of mask and emblematic scenery,
Tritons, and sea-nymphs, and the floating isle,
Detain'd. Nor feats of prowess, just, or tilt
Of harness'd knights, nor rustic revelry,

Were wanting: nor the dance, and sprightly mirth
Beneath the festive walls, with regal state,
And choicest luxury, served. But regal state
And sprightly mirth, beneath the festive roof,
Are now no more.

THE magnificent CASTLE OF KENILWORTH, of whose ruins we here present an engraving, was founded by Geoffrey de Clinton, in the reign of Henry I. On the death of Geoffrey, it descended to his son, from whom it was transferred to the crown, and was garrisoned by Henry II during the rebellion of his son. In the reign of Henry III it was used as a prison, and in 1254, the king, by letters patent, gave to Simon Montford, who had married Eleanor the king's sister, the castle in trust for life. Simon soon after joined the rebellion against the king, and, together with his eldest son, was killed at the battle of Evesham, in 1265. His youngest son, Simon, escaped, and with other fugitives took shelter in the Castle, where they became regular banditti.

The king, determined to put an end to their excesses, marched an army against them. Simon fled, and escaped to France, but his companions held out against a six months' siege. At length their provisions failed, a pestilence broke out, and the governor surrendered the castle to the king, who bestowed it upon his youngest son, Edmund, Earl of Leicester, afterwards created Earl of Lancaster.

In 1286, a grand chivalric meeting of one hundred knights of high distinction, English and foreign, and the same number of ladies, was held at Kenilworth; and at this festival, it is said, that silks were worn for the first time in England.

In the reign of Edward II the castle again came into the hands of the crown, and the king intended to make it a place of retirement for himself; but in the rebellion which soon followed, he was taken prisoner in Wales, and brought to Kenilworth: here he was compelled to sign his abdication; and soon after was privately removed to Berkeley Castle, where he was inhumanly murdered in 1327.

Edward III restored the Castle to the Earl of Lancaster, whose grand-daughter brought it in marriage to the celebrated John of Gaunt, afterwards duke of Lancaster, who made many additions to the

castle, which still retain the name of Lancaster's buildings. On his death it descended to his son, afterwards Henry IV.

During the civil wars between the houses of York and Lancas ter, it was alternately taken by the partizans of the white and the red roses and very long after their termination, Queen Elizabeth bestowed it upon her heartless and ambitious favourite, Dudley, Earl of Leicester. That wealthy nobleman spared no expense in beautifying the castle, and in making many splendid additions, called after him Leicester's Buildings. But the most memorable incident in the history of Kenilworth Castle, is the royal entertainment given by the aspiring earl to his

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queen.

Elizabeth visited him in state, attended by thirtyone barons, besides her ladies of the court, who, with four hundred servants, were all lodged in the castle. The festival continued for seventeen days, at an expense estimated at one thousand pounds a day (a very large sum in those times). The waiters upon the court, as well as the gentlemen of the barons, were all clothed in velvet ten oxen were slaughtered every morning; and the consumption of wine is said to have been sixteen hogsheads, and of beer, forty hogsheads, daily.

An account of this singular and romantic entertainment published at the time, by an eye-witness, presents a curious picture of the luxuriance, plenty, and gallantry, of Elizabeth's reign.

After her journey from London, which the queen performed entirely on horseback, she stopped at Long Itchington, where she dined; and hunting on the way, arrived at the castle, on Saturday, July 9, 1575. "Here," says the writer of the curious little book to which we have referred, and whose descriptions we borrow in his own words, " she was received by a person representing one of the ten sybills, cumly clad in a pall of white sylk, who pronounced a proper poezie in English rime and meteer," on the happiness her presence produced, wherever it appeared; concluding with a prediction of her future eminence and success.

"On her entrance into the tilt-yard," continues the writer, a porter, tall of person and stern of countenance, wrapt also in sylk, with a club and keiz of quantitee according, in a rough speech, full of passions, in meter aptly made to the purpose," demanded the cause of all this "din and noise, and riding about within the charge of his office," but upon seeing the queen, as if he had been instantaneously stricken, he falls down upon his knees, humbly begs pardon for his ignorance, yields up his club and keys, and proclaims open gates and free passage to all. "clad in

After this pretty device, six trumpeters, long garments of sylk, who stood upon the wall of the gate, with their silvery trumpets of five foot long, sounded a tune of welcome." These "harmonious blasters, walking upon the walls, maintained their delectable music, while her highness, all along the tiltyard, rode into the inner-gate," where she was surprised "with the sight of a floating island, on the large pool, on which was a beautiful female figure, representing the Lady of the Lake, supported by two

nymphs surrounded by blazing torches, and many ladies clad in rich silks as attendants; whilst the genii of the lake greeted her Majesty with "a wellpenned meeter," on "the auncientee of the castle," and the hereditary dignity of the Earls of Leicester. This pageant was closed with a burst of cornets and other music, and a new scene was presented to view. Within the base court, and over a dry valley leading to the castle gates, waz thear framed a fayr bridge, twenty feet wide, and seventy feet long, with seven posts that stood twelve feet asunder; and thickened between with well-proportioned turned pillars ;" over which, as her Majesty passed, she was presented, by persons representing several of the heathen gods and goddesses, with various appropriate offerings, which were piled up, or hung in excellent order, on both sides the entrance, and upon different posts; from Sylvanus, god of the woods, "live bitters, curlews, godwitz, and such-like dainty byrds;" from Pomona, "applez, pearz, lemmons, &c.; from Ceres, "sheaves of various kinds of corn (all in earz green and gold); from Bacchus, grapes, "in clusters, whyte and red ;' various specimens of fish from Neptune; arms from Mars; and musical instruments from Apollo.

pounds sterling, a sum equal to half a million of our present money, including seven acres, a part of which was occupied by extensive stables, and by a pleasure garden, with its fine arbours and parterres,' and the rest formed the large base-court, or outer yard, of the noble castle. The lordly structure itself, which rose near the centre of this spacious enclosement, was composed of a huge pile of magnificent castellated buildings, evidently of different ages, surrounding the inner court, and bearing in the names attached to each portion of the magnificent mass, and in the armorial bearings which were there emblazoned, the emblems of mighty chiefs who had long passed away, and whose history, could ambition have lent ear to it, might have read a lesson to the haughty favourite, who had now acquired and was augmenting the fair domain. A large and massive keep, which formed the citadel of the castle, was of uncertain though great antiquity. It bore the name of Cæsar, perhaps from its resemblance to that in the Tower of London so called. Some antiquaries ascribed its foundation to the time of Kenelph, from whom the castle had its name, a Saxon king of Menia, and others to an early æra after the Norman conquest. On the exterior walls frowned the scutcheon of the Clintons, by whom they were founded in the reign of Henry I, and the yet more redoubted Simon de Montford, by whom, during the Barons' Wars, Kenilworth was long held out against Henry III. Here Mortimer, Earl of March, famous alike for his rise and fall, had once gaily revelled, while his dethroned sovereign, Edward II, languished in its dungeons. Old John of Gaunt, "time honoured Lancaster," had widely extended the castle, erecting that noble and massive pile, which yet bears the name of Lancaster buildings; and Leicester himself had out-done the former possessors, princely and powerful as they were, by erecting another immense structure, which now lies crushed under its own ruins, the monument of its owner's ambition. The external wall of this royal castle was, on the south and west sides, adorned and defended by a lake partly artificial, across which Leicester had constructed a stately bridge, that Elizabeth might enter the castle by a path hitherto untrodden, instead of the usual entrance.

A Latin inscription over the castle, explained the whole; this was read to her by a poet, "in a long ceruleous garment, with a bay garland on his head, and a skroll in his hand. So passing into the inner court, her Majesty (that never rides but alone) thear set down from her palfrey, was conveyed up to a chamber, when after did follo a great peal of gunz and lightning by fyr-works." Besides these, every diversion the romantic and gallant imagination of that period could devise, was presented for the amusement of her Majesty and the court-tilts, tournaments, deer-hunting in the park, savage men, satyrs, bear and bull baitings, Italian tumblers and rope-dancers, a country bridal ceremony, prize fighting, running at the quintin, morris dancing, and brilliant fireworks in the grandest style and perfection; during all this time the tables were loaded with the most sumptuous cheer. On the pool was a Triton riding on a mermaid, eighteen feet long, and an Arion on a dolphin, who entertained the royal visitor with an excellent piece of music. The old Coventry play of Hock Tuesday, founded on the massacre of the Danes in 1002, was also performed here, "by certain good-hearted men of Coventry." In this was represented, "the outrage and importable insolency of the Danes, the grievous complaint of Hunna, King Ethelred's chieftain in wars, his counselling and contriving the plot to dispatch them; the violent encounters of the Danish and English knights on horseback, armed with spear and shield; and afterwards between hosts of footmen, which at length ended in the Danes being beaten down, overcome, and led captive by our English women; whereat her Majesty laught, and rewarded the performers with two bucks, and five marks in money." For the greater honour of this splendid entertainment, Sir Thomas Cecil, son and heir to Lord Burleigh, and four other gentlemen of note, were knighted; and in On the departure of Elizabeth, the Earl of Leicompliment to the queen, and to evince the Earl's hos-cester made Kenilworth his occasional residence, pitable disposition, the historian observes, "that the clok bell sang not a note all the while her highness waz thear: the clok stood also withal, the hands of both the tablz stood firm and fast, always pointing at two o'clock, the hour of banquet."

Such is a slight but accurate account of this farfamed entertainment. Of the castle at this period, Sir W. Scott has given us the following animated account. "The outer wall of this splendid and gigantic structure, upon improving which, and the domains around, the Earl of Leicester had, it is said, expended 60,000

"Beyond the lake lay an extensive chase, full of red deer, fallow deer, roes, and every species of game, and abounding with lofty trees, from amongst which the extended front and massive towers of the castle were seen to rise in majesty and beauty. Of this lordly palace, where princes feasted, and heroes fought, now in the bloody earnest of storm and siege, and now in the games of chivalry, where beauty dealt the prize which valour won, all is now desolate. The bed of the lake is but a rushy swamp; and the massive ruins of the castle only show what their splendour once was, and impress on the musing visitor the transitory value of human possessions, and the happiness of those who enjoy a humble lot in virtuous contentment."

till his death in 1538, when he bequeathed it to his brother, Ambrose, Earl of Warwick, and after his death to his own son, Sir Robert Dudley; but, his legitimacy being questioned, Sir Robert quitted the kingdom in disgust; his castles and estates were seized by a decree of the court of Star-Chamber, and given to Henry, son of James I.

The castle on Henry's death went into the possession of his brother, Charles I, who granted it to Cary, Earl of Monmouth; but the downfall of this gigantic structure was fast approaching. During the wars it

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