480 • LETTERS PRO^ ENGLAND. 



grounds, and' saw in the orangery or green-liousg, tte 

 Warwick vase — the giant among yases. It is a ) 

 of marine, weighing 8 tons, of ))eaj;tiful proportions, of whixifeirg- 

 duced coj)ifis are now familiar to ijs' all over the world. ItW|p 

 brought from the temple of Vesta, wd is larger than I |iad< been 1^ 

 to believe, Ipldijig nearly two ho^he84iS', It is also rather more 

 globular in form, and more (Islic^'te in detail thjan one woul,^ gup- 

 pose from the copies. 



In the, pleasure grounds my -admiration was riveted by ^ 

 '• cedar walk" — a fine avenue of (»d^rs of Lebanon — that nobl^t. gf 

 gyergreens-T-^spme sixty feet high, $ tree which in its stsvtely sym- 

 metry and great longevity, seemed a worthy, companion (rf this 

 princely castle, ]But even the cedar of Lebanon is too shormved, 

 for tbfi two pJdfist trees which stand almost close i to th^SQuth^j} 

 ifv^Hs of the castle, and which 9Je computed to be about ^ve ^u;)r, 

 dred ye^rs pld — ^gigantic and venerable in appearance — have la^ly 

 lost sev^-al' of their finest branches, and are evitjently Jast gping to 

 ,4e<^y. It was striking to me to see, on the other hand, how mua]^ 

 the hoary aspefct; of the outer walls of the , castle were heighteijg^ 

 by the various beautiful yiaes and climbers intermingled with ha^^ 

 bells, d.aisies jmd the Jike, w;hioh had sprung up of themselves on 

 the crevices of the rnighty walls th£|.t overhang the Avon, and, si(pr 

 taliped by the moisture of ,its pergnnial y^tatere, were allowed to grow 

 pid flower without molestation, though every thing else that Iip^n| 

 |he dec^y of thg building is jealously guarded against. 



If any thing more were.Tvanting to heighten the romantic in|er^ 

 of this place, it wpiild.ibe found in the relics which are kept, p^^j? 

 in tl^e castle, and partly in the apartments ^t the outer portal, of the 

 famous Guy, Jlarl of W,^\jdck, who lived in Saxon times, and W^f^e 

 history and exploits heretofore always seemed as febulous to me a^ 

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

 weapon six feet long, which it requires both hands to Ijft, his breasl- 

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

 size of t|j'ese (and their, genuineness is beypud dispute,) shows that 

 he must Lave bee^i a man whose gigantic sjtaj^ure almps^ warrant,s the 

 belief in the miracles of valor which he per|formed in battlg-^a^ an 

 enornious iron " porjidge pot " of singular clumsy antique form, which 



