his Woolsack down the avenue, under our gallery to the door that leads to the House of Commons; and anon he would return with a golden Carpet Bag hanging from his arm; and as he returned to his table he would exclaim, "Message from the House of Commons!" and thrust his arm into the Bag, take out a paper and announce the subject matter of it. This he did many times whilst we were in the Chamber. I suppose the Bag that contained the Messages from the Lower House, was golden, to signify that as the House hold the purse-strings, all the supplies for government must come from that source.

Whilst we sat noticing the rich displays all over this magnificently finished room, I noticed for a long time two live Turks, in full costume, with caps, turbans and shawls, and a tall, active, polite lad about ten years of age, all standing or walking behind the bar, and within the enclosure that contained the Throne. Interrogating the Commoner at our side for an explanation of such persons in that sacred place, he remarked, that those Turkish gentlemen were Pachas from Egypt, and the lad who accompanied them was the Prince of Wales, the Queen's eldest boy. It is the prerogative of royalty alone to witness the proceedings of the Peers from that point, and therefore he had introduced the Turks to gratify their curiosity. We reflected that, in a few years, probably, that boy will be King Alfred II. of England. It is said, but I know not how true it is, that Victoria is so averse to the responsibilities of the Queen, that she designs as soon as her Heir becomes of age, to abdicate the Throne, and give the reins into his hands. If so, this will be the first instance of voluntary abdication in English history.

There appeared to be but few old men amongst the Peers most of them are men in middle life. Nor, by what I saw and heard, did I see any evidences of greatness amongst them. The British House of Lords is not equal to the American Senate. The Peers have no pay for their services" they work for nothing and find themselves." This, I believe, is also true of the members of the House of Commons.

LETTER XIX.

VISIT TO WINDSOR CASTLE.

Ride to Windsor-Beauty of the Country and Fragrance of the FieldsHedges-Reapers, Male and Female-Corn Ricks, or Grain BarnsCottages-Town of Windsor-Location of the Castle-Appearance of its Walls-Entrance-Delay Improved-St. George's Chapel-Knight's Stalls-Queen's Closet-Paintings by West-Altar Tombs-Inscribed Prayer for Henry VII. and his Dean-Royal Tomb House-Princess Charlotte's Cenotaph-The Round Tower-State Prisoners-View from the top-The Gold Rooms-Back to London-Aspiration-The Royal Mews-Queen's Ponies-State Apartments-Queen's Audience Chamber -Presence Chamber-Guard Chamber-Banqueting Hall-The Throne -Ball Room-Waterloo Gallery-Grand Staircase-Other RoomsEton College-The Parks-Long Walk-King George's Statue-Herds of Deer-Prince Albert's Fields-His Interest in Agriculture-Apostrophe to Windsor Forest.

WINDSOR CASTLE, AUG. 7, 1851.

I BEGIN this Letter, as you will perceive by its date, in the dwelling-place of Majesty, the Queen's House, which has been the birth place of Princes and the residence of Monarchs for eight hundred years. I say I begin it here, but shall not finish it, probably, till my return to London this evening. I seize a half-hour of constrained rest— waiting my turn to be introduced to the State Apartments of the Royal Castle; and, with a golden pen that I just now purchased under the shadows of the Round Tower, commence the first use of it by writing whilst yet the subject is fresh upon my mind and in my very eye. I am like John the Revelator-in one humble respect;wherever I am, at home or abroad, in a Log Cabin or

a Monarch's Palace, I hear a voice saying unto me"Write!" And I must "not be disobedient to the heavenly vision.”

Our party came up hither, twenty-two miles, from the City of the World, early this morning, to spend the entire day in and around Windsor Castle. By the favor of Mr. Lawrence, we were honored with a special introduction, which secures to us some privileges which cannot be commanded by common visitors, who have to purchase tickets of admission. The daily average of such visitors is one thousand. The Queen allows all the Castle to be thus visited, except her private apartments, every day but Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

The ride from London to Windsor in a clear morning sun, and an air made fragrant by fields of honeysuckle all the way, is very delightful; and, amidst such scenery, is absolutely enchanting. I never saw anything so beautiful as an English landscape in the harvest season and on such a dewy morn. No wonder England has given birth to some of the best pastoral poets of the world. The eye drinks in pleasure from every point, and turns reluctantly from one view only to take a new and still more wonderful one in another direction. If there is any part of the habitable globe where art and wealth have made earthly things, a representation of a heavenly paradise, it is upon the banks of the Thames, from the great Metropolis to the abode of the Imperial Sovereign. It is worth a whole voyage from America to Europe, to behold and enjoy. Yonder, are the stately edifices of Lords and Gentry, half concealed by intervening parks, and approached by "winding ways, through forest, field and lawn." The surrounding grounds, which, in every case, are ample, sometimes

are cultivated in a

amounting to a thousand acres, style of perfection hardly yet known in our own country; and the beautifully trimmed hedges the only fences here seen-bending under the weight of crimson red berries, or blooming with flowers that hang like a bordering of lace from vines trained along their ambrosial sides -meet the eye every where, dividing the grounds into gardens and lawns and fields and avenues of all dimensions.

The reapers are in the midst of the harvest season taking down the precious grain in every direction. Men, and as many women, ply the sickle with dexterity and good cheer. The smiling faces and the merry songs show the joys of an English "harvest home." I never saw such extensive fields of wheat, nor such healthy and abundant crops. But no barns of wood or stone are to be seen. The grain, after being gathered into bundles and standing a few days, is made into ricks, by skilful hands with ropes, and even a ridge pole and leaves, of the same golden material, and look, for all the world, like solid barns of grain and "nothing else." They are in every field, and often near the road-side, and give the whole country a thickly-settled appearance of what, with us, would be a new kind of edifices. The extensive meadows, which have once been mown, and on which the fragrant hay-ricks stand, have put forth a second growth of honeysuckle clover which is now in full blossom, and makes the ample fields appear covered with the richest living carpets. The English cottages, too, are numerous - often clustered into villas with rural life in its beauties show

ing that, after all, there may be more happiness at the rustic's hearth than in the nobleman's parlor.