43 
for firing Royal salutes. The Fort is almost hidden from sight, 
until we are close upon it, by the luxuriant vegetation which has 
sprung up in course of years. To this retired spot Her Majesty 
occasionally resorts when at Windsor, and partakes of tea in the 
Queen’s Tea-Room, set apart in the Fort for the purpose. On the 
greensward of the lawn, beside a six-gun battery, the company 
were served to a most refreshing tea; and, after the long drive 
over dry, dusty roads and through the close-heated woods, with- 
out a breath to cool the air, never was beverage more grateful to 
thirsty travellers. 
Just beyond the low embrasured parapet wall of the battery 
there was a genuine bit of wild woodland, with an undergrowth 
of heath and bracken—thoroughly Scottish in character—where, 
in a small open space on its edge, the Council of the Society planted, 
in due form, a nice healthy young specimen of Prince Albert’s Fir, 
Abies Albertiana, which had been presented to the Society for the 
occasion by Mr Alexander Milne, of James Dickson & Sons, Nur- 
serymen, Edinburgh, who had carefully brought it all the way 
with him to be here planted. Long may it thrive and flourish! 
in commemoration of the Society’s visit to the Royal Domain. 
BELVIDERE Fort To WINDSOR. 
At the conclusion of the ceremony, the order was passed round 
to mount the carriages for the return journey to Windsor. 
Retracing our steps along the beautiful drive and following the 
margin of the lake as far as Blacknest, it was there forded near 
the outlet, in clear shallow water, the cooling effects of which 
the horses seemed to enjoy ; thus saving a stiff hill and a con- 
siderable detour. After a lovely drive along the eastern shore of 
' Virginia Water, with the rays of the declining sun brilliantly 
tinting the glorious landscape, the route onwards lay through a 
part of the ancient Forest, the scene of Pope’s ‘‘ Windsor Forest.” 
His brilliant description of the dying pheasant— 
‘* See! from the brake the whirring pheasant springs, 
And mounts exulting on triumphant wings: 
Short is his joy; he feels the fiery wound, 
Flutters in blood, and panting beats the ground,” 
which is said to have been inspired by the Forest scenes, is nearly 
as familiar as the oft-quoted lines in his ‘‘ Essay on Man” — 
‘* Hope springs eternal in the human breast : 
Man never is, but always to be blest.” 
