All the other historic rooms have vanished. Nothing is left of the Painted Chamber, where Edward the Confessor died, the long room whose painted walls depicted the story of the Confessor's life upon one side, while the other was devoted to the Wars of the Maccabees. These paintings were unknown until 1800, when the tapestry that covered them was removed, and thus revealed the meaning of the room's designation. Gone, too, is the old House of Lords, used by the peers until the Commonwealth, where the famous tapestry representing the defeat of the Spanish Armada was hung. In the vaults underneath, originally the Confessor's kitchen, Guy Fawkes and his fellow-conspirators stored the barrels of gunpowder with which to blow up the Parliament. After the Restoration the Lords removed to the White Hall of the palace, taking the Armada tapestry with them, which, together with so much of fascination and historic interest, perished in the all-embracing fire of 1834. CHAPTER II WINDSOR CASTLE Standing upon a steep chalk cliff that rises abruptly from the River Thames, Windsor Castle towers above the low-lying river meadows, and, looking beyond the town that clusters round it, gazes proudly over twelve adjacent counties. For more than eight centuries a castle has stood upon this cliff-top, the defensive qualities of such a perfect natural stronghold having appealed to all the royal rulers of England. In Saxon times the mound was defended by some kind of wooden palisade, which William the Conqueror replaced with stone, nothing of which now remains. Henry II., the first of the Plantagenet Kings, built his palace there, erecting it upon what is known to-day as the Upper Ward, the castle being divided into three distinct sections or tiers. The Upper Ward, situated upon a higher level of the plateau, is separated from the Lower Ward by the Round Tower, which stands upon a mound in the centre. Perhaps the most exciting times that the castle ever witnessed took place in the reign of John; certainly one of the most important events in the history of the English people is connected with its grey walls. John had filled the castle with mercenary troops, with which to defend himself against his insurgent barons. Protected by these foreigners, who fought with extreme bravery, the castle sustained two sieges, the only active warfare in which it took any serious part. Owing doubtless to its almost impregnable situation before the days of artillery, it remained calm and secure, however disturbed other parts of the kingdom might be. One summer day in the year 1215 King John, overawed by the great gathering of armed barons within sight of his castle, left his stronghold on the hill, and full of rage rode down to the meadow of Runnymede, near Staines. There he was forced to sign the Great Charter of English Freedom, an action which reduced him to such a pitch of impotent fury that when he reached the castle again, he rolled on the ground, gnawing sticks and straws.