George the Fourth's Gateway, from the Entrance to the Great Park at Windsor Castle, based on a sketch made by Sandhurst Military Academy drawing-master W. Alfred Delamotte for the eleventh instalment of W. Harrison Ainsworth's Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance for the June 1843 number in Ainsworth's Magazine. Headpiece for Book V, "Mabel Lyndwood," Chapter VII, "How the Train was fired, and what followed the Explosion," p. 274: 7 cm high by 9.9 cm wide. Running head: "What Mabel Found in the Wood." [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Passage Illustrated
About ten o'clock in the night under consideration, Surrey and Richmond, accompanied by the Duke of Shoreditch, and half a dozen other archers,set out from the castle, and took their way along the great park, in thedirection of the lake.
They had not ridden far, when they were overtaken by two horsemen who, as far as they could be discerned in that doubtful light, appeared stalwart personages, and well mounted, though plainly attired. The new-comers very unceremoniously joined them.
"There are ill reports of the park, my masters," said the foremost of these persons to Surrey, "and we would willingly ride with you across it."
"But our way may not be yours, friend,"replied Surrey, who did not altogether relish this proposal. "We are not going farther than the lake." [Book the Fifth, "Mabel Lyndwood," Chapter VII, "How the Train was fired; — and what followed the Explosion," p. 274]
Commentary: Surrey, Richmond, and Shoreditch ride out, looking for Herne
The 1842 illustration is an obvious anachronism as this Wyatville reconstruction was then a recent addition to the Castle. The opening paragraph of the chapter, immediately beneath the illustration, at least mentions the Great Park, where the young nobles set out, looking for Herne the Hunter. The perspective of the wood-engraving, however, is from the present and the Great Park looking towards the Castle (in the summer of 1842), whereas the text remains in the past, when the Castle had no such neoclassical architectural elements.
Cruikshank's Complementary Action from Book V, Chapter VII
Above: George Cruikshank's masterful realisation of the scene in which Herne frustrates his pursuers and his former confederates, whose plan to blow him up fails: Herne flying into the burning woods with Mabel. [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Other Views by Delamotte of The Great Park, Windsor Castle
Left: The first perspective of the park, View of the Castle, from the Great Park (Book I, Ch. VIII). Centre: Another 1842 sketch of the same area, Scathed Oak-tree in the Home Park (Book IV, Ch. VI). Right: Delamotte's map in aerial perspective, Windsor Great Park, 1529 (Book III, Ch. IV). [Click on images to enlarge them.]
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.
Worth, George J. William Harrison Ainsworth. New York: Twayne, 1972.
Last modified 1 January 2018