University of Virginia Library

A ROYAL POET.

On a soft sunny morning, in the genial
month of May, I made an excursion to
Windsor Castle. It is a place full of
storied and poetical associations. The
very external aspect of the proud old
pile is enough to inspire high thought.
It rears its irregular walls and massive
towers, like a mural crown, round the
brow of a lofty ridge, waves its royal
banner in the clouds, and looks down,
with a lordly air, upon the surrounding
world.

On this morning the weather was of
that voluptuous vernal kind, which calls
forth all the latent romance of a man's
temperament, filling his mind with music,
and disposing him to quote poetry and
dream of beauty. In wandering through
the magnificent saloons and long echoing
galleries of the castle, I passed with indifference
by whole rows of portraits of
warriors and