Besides What Has Been Already Mentioned, There Are Worthy Of Notice
Here Two Bathing-Rooms, Ceiled And Wainscoted With Looking-Glass;
The Chamber In Which Henry VI.
Was born; Queen Elizabeth's
bedchamber, where is a table of red marble with white streaks; a
gallery everywhere ornamented with emblems and figures; a chamber in
which are the royal beds of Henry VII.
And his Queen, of Edward VI.,
of Henry VIII., and of Anne Boleyn, all of them eleven feet square,
and covered with quilts shining with gold and silver; Queen
Elizabeth's bed, with curious coverings of embroidery, but not quite
so long or large as the others; a piece of tapestry, in which is
represented Clovis, King of France, with an angel presenting to him
the FLEURS-DE-LIS to be borne in his arms; for before his time the
Kings of France bore three toads in their shield, instead of which
they afterwards placed three FLEURS-DE-LIS on a blue field; this
antique tapestry is said to have been taken from a King of France,
while the English were masters there. We were shown here, among
other things, the horn of a unicorn, of above eight spans and a half
in length, valued at above 10,000 pounds; the bird of paradise,
three spans long, three fingers broad, having a blue bill of the
length of half an inch, the upper part of its head yellow, the
nether part of a . . . colour; {16} a little lower from either side
of its throat stick out some reddish feathers, as well as from its
back and the rest of its body; its wings, of a yellow colour, are
twice as long as the bird itself; from its back grow out lengthways
two fibres or nerves, bigger at their ends, but like a pretty strong
thread, of a leaden colour, inclining to black, with which, as it
has not feet, it is said to fasten itself to trees when it wants to
rest; a cushion most curiously wrought by Queen Elizabeth's own
hands.
In the precincts of Windsor, on the other side the Thames, both
whose banks are joined by a bridge of wood, is Eton, a well-built
College, and famous school for polite letters, founded by Henry VI.;
where, besides a master, eight fellows and chanters, sixty boys are
maintained gratis. They are taught grammar, and remain in the
school till, upon trial made of their genius and progress in study,
they are sent to the University of Cambridge.
As we were returning to our inn, we happened to meet some country
people CELEBRATING THEIR HARVEST HOME; their last load of corn they
crown with flowers, having besides an image richly dressed, by
which, perhaps, they would signify Ceres; this they keep moving
about, while men and women, men and maid servants, riding through
the streets in the cart, shout as loud as they can till they arrive
at the barn. The farmers here do not bind up their corn in sheaves,
as they do with us, but directly as they have reaped or mowed it,
put it into carts, and convey it into their barns.
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