Windsor Castle
Page 25
V.
The Last Great Epoch in the History of the Castle.
A prince of consummate taste and fine conceptions, George the Fourthmeditated, and, what is better, accomplished the restoration of thecastle to more than its original grandeur. He was singularly fortunatein his architect. Sir Jeffry Wyatville was to him what Williamof Wykeham had been to Edward the Third. All the incongruities ofsuccessive reigns were removed: all, or nearly all, the injuriesinflicted by time repaired; and when the work so well commenced wasfinished, the structure took its place as the noblest and most majesticpalatial residence in existence.
To enter into a full detail of Wyatville's achievements is beyond thescope of the present work; but a brief survey may be taken of them.Never was lofty design more fully realised. View the castle on thenorth, with its grand terrace of nearly a thousand feet in length,and high embattled walls; its superb facade, comprehending the statelyBrunswick Tower; the Cornwall Tower, with its gorgeous window; Georgethe Fourth's Tower, including the great oriel window of the statedrawing-room; the restored Stuart buildings, and those of Henry theSeventh and of Elizabeth; the renovated Norman Tower; the Powder Tower,with the line of walls as far as the Winchester Tower;--view this, andthen turn to the east, and behold another front of marvellous beautyextending more than four hundred feet from north to south, anddisplaying the Prince of Wales's Tower, the Chester, Clarence, andVictoria Towers--all of which have been raised above their former level,and enriched by great projecting windows;--behold also the beautifulsunken garden, with its fountain and orangery, its flights of steps, andcharming pentagonal terrace;--proceed to the south front, of which theVictoria Tower, with its machicolated battlements and oriel window,forms so superb a feature at the eastern corner, the magnificent gatewayreceiving its name from George the Fourth, flanked by the York andLancaster Towers, and opening in a continued line from the Long Walk;look at Saint George's Gate, Edward the Third's renovated tower, and theoctagon tower beyond it; look at all these, and if they fail to excite adue appreciation of the genius that conceived them, gaze at the triumphof the whole, and which lords over all the rest--the Round Tower--gazeat it, and not here alone, but from the heights of the great park,from the vistas of the home park, from the bowers of Eton, the meadsof Clewer and Datchet, from the Brocas, the gardens of the navalknights--from a hundred points; view it at sunrise when the royalstandard is hoisted, or at sunset when it is lowered, near or ata distance, and it will be admitted to be the work of a prodigiousarchitect!
But Wyatville's alterations have not yet been fully considered. Passthrough Saint George's Gateway, and enter the grand quadrangle to whichit leads. Let your eye wander round it, beginning with the innersides of Edward the Third's Tower and George the Fourth's Gateway,and proceeding to the beautiful private entrance to the sovereign'sapartments, the grand range of windows of the eastern corridor, theproud towers of the gateway to the household, the tall pointed windowsof Saint George's Hall, the state entrance tower, with its noblewindows, until it finally rests upon the Stuart buildings and KingJohn's Tower, at the angle of the pile.
Internally the alterations made by the architects have been ofcorresponding splendour and importance. Around the south and east sidesof the court at which you are gazing, a spacious corridor has beenconstructed, five hundred and fifty feet in length, and connected withthe different suites of apartments on these sides of the quadrangle;extensive alterations have been made in the domestic offices; the stateapartments have been repaired and rearranged; Saint George's Hallhas been enlarged by the addition of the private chapel (the onlyquestionable change), and restored to the Gothic style; and the WaterlooChamber built to contain George the Fourth's munificent gift to thenation of the splendid collection of portraits now occupying it.
"The first and most remarkable characteristic of operations of SirJeffry Wyatville on the exterior," observes Mr. Poynter, "is thejudgment with which he has preserved the castle of Edward the Third.Some additions have been made to it, and with striking effect--as theBrunswick Tower, and the western tower of George the Fourth's Gate-waywhich so nobly terminates the approach from the great park. The moremodern buildings on the north side have also been assimilated to therest; but the architect has yielded to no temptation to substitute hisown design for that of William of Wykeham, and no small difficultieshave been combated and overcome for the sake of preserving the outlineof the edifice, and maintaining the towers in their original position."
The Winchester Tower, originally inhabited by William of Wykeham, wasbestowed upon Sir Jeffry Wyatville as a residence by George the Fourth;and, on the resignation of the distinguished architect, was continued tohim for life by the present queen.
The works within the castle were continued during the reign of Williamthe Fourth, and at its close the actual cost of the buildings hadreached the sum of 771,000, pounds and it has been asserted that thegeneral expenditure up to the present time has exceeded a million and ahalf of money.
The view from the summit of the Round Tower is beyond descriptionmagnificent, and commands twelve counties--namely, Middlesex, Essex,Hertford, Berks, Bucks, Oxford, Wilts, Hants, Surrey, Sussex, Kent,and Bedford; while on a clear day the dome of Saint Paul's may bedistinguished from it. This tower was raised thirty-three feet by SirJeffry Wyatville, crowned with a machicolated battlement, and surmountedwith a flag-tower.
The circumference of the castle is 4180 feet; the length from east towest, 1480 feet; and the area, exclusive of the terraces, about twelveacres.
For the present the works are suspended. But it is to be hoped that thedesign of Sir Jeffry Wyatville will be fully carried out in the lowerward, by the removal of such houses on the north as would lay SaintGeorge's Chapel open to view from this side; by the demolition of theold incongruous buildings lying westward of the bastion near the HundredSteps, by the opening out of the pointed roof of the library; the repairand reconstruction in their original style of the Curfew, the Garter,and the Salisbury Towers; and the erection of a lower terrace extendingoutside the castle, from the bastion above mentioned to the point oftermination of the improvements, and accessible from the town; theconstruction of which terrace would necessitate the removal of thedisfiguring and encroaching houses on the east side of Thames Street.This accomplished, Crane's ugly buildings removed, and the three westerntowers laid open to the court, the Horse-shoe Cloisters consistentlyrepaired, Windsor Castle would indeed be complete. And fervently dowe hope that this desirable event may be identified with the reign ofVICTORIA.
THUS ENDS THE THIRD BOOK OF THE CHRONICLE OF WINDSOR CASTLE
BOOK IV. CARDINAL WOLSEY
I.
Of the Interview between Henry and Catherine of Arragon in the Urswick Chapel--And how it was interrupted.