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Passages Complemented: The Sunken Garden and The Chinese Temple

Before proceeding further, a word must be said about the parks. The home park, which lies on the east and north sides of the castle, is about four miles in circumference, and was enlarged and enclosed with a brick wall by William the Third. On the east, and nearly on the site of the present sunk garden, a bowling-green was laid out by Charles the Second. Below, on the north, were Queen Anne's gardens, since whose time the declivity of the hill has been planted with forest trees. At the east angle of the north terrace are the beautiful slopes, with a path skirting the north side of the home park and leading through charming plantations in the direction of the royal farm and dairy, the ranger's lodge, and the kennel for the queen's harriers. This park contains many noble trees; and the grove of elms in the south-east, near the spot where the scathed oak assigned to Herne stands, is traditionally asserted to have been a favourite walk of Queen Elizabeth [the First]. It still retains her name. [Book the Third, "The History of the Castle," Chapter IV, "Comprising the History of the Castle from the Reign of Charles the Second to that of George the Third — with a Few Particulars Concerning the Parks and the Forest," p. 162]

Not the least of the attractions of the park is Virginia Water, with its bright and beautiful expanse, its cincture of green banks, soft and smooth as velvet, its screen of noble woods, its Chinese fishing-temple, its frigates, its ruins, its cascade, cave, and Druidical temple, its obelisk and bridges, with numberless beauties besides, which it would be superfluous to describe here. This artificial mere covers pretty nearly the same surface of ground as that occupied by the great lake of olden times. [Book the Third, "The History of the Castle," Chapter IV, "Comprising the History of the Castle from the Reign of Charles the Second to that of George the Third — with a Few Particulars Concerning the Parks and the Forest," p. 164]

Commentary

According to J. Don Vann (1985), in the serial publication, what is now Book Three appeared after Book the Fourth and immediately before Book the Fifth. Thus, although the headpiece for the fourth book seems to direct the reader well back into Book the Third, the descriptions of the sunken garden and Chinese temple would have anticipated this illustration of the changes that the Stuarts, Charles the Second and William the Third, effected in the grounds of the Castle, according to the prevailing taste for Chinoiserie (late seventeenth-century Orientalism) and the French style of ornate, disciplined landscaping exemplified by the work of André Le Nôtre (1613-1700) at Versailles from 1661, the style that preceded the more natural style of landscape architect Capability Brown (1715-1783) in the eighteenth century.

Other Views and Related Material on Windsor Castle

• Windsor Castle from the Long Walk, Victorian additions and alterations by Sir Jeffry Wyattville
• Early twentieth-century view of the castle from the river
• The Frogmore Mausoleum, adjacent to the Long Walk
• Statue of Queen Victoria at the foot of Castle Hill, Windsor

References

Ainsworth, William Harrison. Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance. Illustrated by George Cruikshank and Tony Johannot. With designs on wood by W. Alfred Delamotte. London: Routledge, 1880. Based on the Henry Colburn edition of 1844.

Patten, Robert L. Chapter 30, "The 'Hoc' Goes Down." George Cruikshank's Life, Times, and Art, vol. 2: 1835-1878. Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers U. P., 1991; London: The Lutterworth Press, 1996. Pp. 153-186.

Vann, J. Don. "Windsor Castle in Ainsworth's Magazine, June 1842-June 1843." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. P. 23.

Worth, George J. William Harrison Ainsworth. New York: Twayne, 1972.

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Last modified 31 December 2017