ENGLAND'S ROYAL EDIFICES.
By W. H. B. Miller
OLD England is proud of her royal castles and palaces, her cloistered cathedrals, and ancestral homes. True, the fingers of time have wasted many an ancient pile; but even as we honor the bowing heads of our loved ones, man instinctively reveres these crumbling ruins of past magnificence, and sees added beauty in their decay. In this issue we have shown, grouped with England's king and queen, the royal residences, and grand old Westminster, where the coronation is to be celebrated. Away back, shortly after the time of William the Conqueror, Windsor Castle stood in the midst of the great Windsor forest, 120 miles in circumference, where Saxon and Norman kings hunted the deer, wolf, and wild boar. Here King John came when the celebrated Magna Charta was signed. Here Edward III. was born, and here David Bruce and James Stuart, kings of Scotland, were imprisoned. Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer were at Windsor Castle on their last melancholy journey to martyrdom at Oxford. It is said to be the stateliest palace in Europe. No other sovereign lives in a building which has been so long inhabited. Deep down in the foundations of the towers, Norman archways and masonry carry us back to the time of the Conqueror. In the castle park there stand to-day stately oak trees reputed to be as old as the Norman Conquest. The castle is full of priceless treasures. The picture galleries are rich with numerous masterpieces of Michael Angelo and Raphael and thousands of the choicest works of art. Old illuminated masterpieces of great beauty, and rare books and antiquities abound everywhere. The royal apartments—especially the throne room—are magnificently furnished. Old Westminster is reputed to be more ancient than London itself, and its abbey is associated with King Alfred—1,000 years ago. From the time when Harold, full of hopes of success against the Norman invaders, here assumed the crown, to the day when Victoria the Good came to offer solemn thanksgiving for her reign of over half a century, the abbey has been the scene of the highest ceremonials, splendor, royal pomp, and magnificence. In this respect no other place can equal it in interest. Seventeen kings are here entombed, from Edward the Confessor to George II. One writer has said that the Confessor's Chapel is “paved with princes and a royal race.” Here history becomes a reality. It is the center of England and of the British empire. Interment within its walls is the last and greatest honor the nation can bestow. Here stands the ancient Coronation Chair, bearing the Stone of Scone. Tradition says that this is Jacob's pillar, which was conveyed from Palestine to Egypt, thence to Spain, Tara's Hill in Ireland, and to Scotland, to become the crowning seat of all of Scotland's and England's kings and queens. The abbey is built in the form of a Latin cross, and is 513 feet long, 200 feet wide at transepts, and 102 feet high. Buckingham palace is the royal city residence. It is a comparatively modern structure, dating only from the 18th century. It is beautifully located in St. James Park. The picture gallery, 180 feet long, is exceptionally fine, and the throne room, where the queen's receptions are held, is celebrated for its rare beauty. It is here that most of the royal social functions are celebrated. The good old Queen loved Balmoral Castle, away off in the Scottish highlands, more than her city palaces. Here her happiest days were spent, and numerous are the records, treasured and oft repeated by her humble Scottish subjects, of her kindly acts and consistent Christian life. May England's sovereign ever pattern after her noble example by looking beyond the transient pomp and magnificence of earthly empire, to the crown of righteousness which shall never pass away. W. H. B. MILLER.