14 
obscured the far distance, but nevertheless the views which lay 
before us were of the most charming character. A fair, well- 
wooded landscape, soft and sweet in all its features, spread itself 
out in the sunshine, with here and there a mansion-house, church- 
spire, village, or prosperous little town rising amid the foliage of 
trees to give life and variety of interest to the scene. Several 
gentlemen connected with the Castle accompanied the party to 
the top of the Tower, and kindly pointed out to them the more 
prominent and interesting places and objects which were discern- 
ible from that elevated spot. ‘To the north, and just across the 
Thames, lay the town of Eton, with its cluster of old colleges ; 
and away over the green ‘playing fields” beyond it was seen a 
well-wooded,country, with the white mansion of Stoke Park con- 
spicuously glittering in the sunshine, near which is the famous 
ancient church and village of Stoke Pogis, where the poet Gray 
wrote his “ Elegy.” A little to the east were seen in the distance 
the Chiltern Hills; and away to the eastward the eye strove to 
catch a glimpse of the City of London beneath the canopy of 
overhanging smoke, or to determine the whereabouts of Hampton 
Court in the hazy landscape. Nearer at hand and to the south- 
ward lay the heath-clad Surrey Hills, with many wooded dells 
and bare commons; while immediately beneath the eye, and 
spreading out before us, were the grand avenues, drives, and wide 
expanses of pasture which form the Royal Domain, stretching 
away towards Ascot and Virginia Water on the southern confines 
of the Great Park and the Royal Forest of Windsor. Among the 
most interesting of all the spots to which attention was called 
while the company were on the top of the Tower, were Runnymede, 
and Magna Charta Island, on the latter of which King John 
signed the Great Charter on the 25th of June in the year 1215. 
The island stands in the Thames towards the Bucks shore; and 
Runnymede is a level strip of land nearly 2 miles in length lying 
along the Surrey bank of the river. 
THe TERRACES AND FLOWER GARDEN. 
Leaving the Tower, and passing out of the Castle yard on to 
the Grand Esplanade of the North Terrace, the party were taken in 
charge by Mr Owen Thomas, the Queen’s Gardener, who ably con- 
ducted them over the whole of the extensive ornamental grounds 
