480 LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 



grounds, and saw in the orangery or green-house, the celebrated 

 Warwick vase the giant among vases. It is a magnificent mass 

 of marble, weighing 8 tons, of beautiful proportions, of which re- 

 duced copies are now familiar to us all over the world. It was 

 brought from the temple of Vesta, and is larger than I had been led 

 to believe, holding nearly two hogsheads. It is also rather more 

 globular in form, and more delicate in detail than one would sup- 

 pose from the copies. 



In the pleasure grounds my admiration was riveted by the 

 " cedar walk" a fine avenue of cedars of Lebanon that noblest of 

 evergreens some sixty feet high, a tree which in its stately sym- 

 metry and great longevity, seemed a worthy companion of this 

 princely castle. But even the cedar of Lebanon is too short-lived, 

 for the two oldest trees which stand almost close to the southern 

 walls of the castle, and which are computed to be about five hun- 

 dred years old gigantic and venerable in appearance have lately 

 lost several of their finest branches, and are evidently fast going to 

 decay. It was striking to me to see, on the other hand, how much 

 the hoary aspect of the outer walls of the castle were heightened 

 by the various beautiful vines and climbers intermingled with hare- 

 bells, daisies and the like, which had sprung up of themselves on 

 the crevices of the mighty walls that overhang the Avon, and, sus- 

 tained by the moisture of its perennial waters, were allowed to grow 

 and flower without molestation, though every thing else that hastens 

 the decay of the building is jealously guarded against. 



If any thing more were wanting to heighten the romantic interest 

 of this place, it would be found in the relics which are kept, partly 

 in the castle, and partly in the apartments at the outer portal, of the 

 famous Guy, Earl of Warwick, who lived in Saxon times, and whose 

 history and exploits heretofore always seemed as fabulous to me as 

 those of Blue-Beard himself. Still, here is his sword, an enormous 

 weapon six feet long, which it requires both hands to lift, his breast- 

 plate weighing fifty-two pounds, and his helmet seven pounds. The 

 size of these (and their genuineness is beyond dispute,) shows that 

 he must have been a man whose gigantic stature almost warrants the 

 belief in the miracles of valor which he performed in battle as an 

 enormous iron " porridge pot" of singular clumsy antique form, which 



