The castles and abbeys of England; Vol. 2 of 2: from the national records, early chronicles, and other standard authorsBeattie, William
History
The castles and abbeys of England; Vol. 2 of 2: from the national records, early chronicles, and other standard authors
Beattie, William
Abbeys -- England; Castles -- England
<g>The park</g>, by which the mansion is encircled, is of great extent--more
than nine miles in circumference; and although the natural scenery is
comparatively tame, the walks and drives are exceedingly picturesque;
and, to the practised eye of strangers, present many points of view
which will linger on the memory long after other and more romantic
scenes are forgotten.
“Here waving woods--a mass of living green--
With varied shade diversify the scene;
Flowers of all hues perfume the haunted dell,
Where streams descend, and bubbling fountains dwell;
Where busts of heroes glimmer through the trees,
And Nature’s music floats upon the breeze--
Such, as in olden time, was heard to wake
The slumbering echoes of the Larian lake;
Or soothed, with dulcet tones, the opal sea,
That clasps thy beauteous shore--Parthenopè!
Yet brighter rises--fairer sets the sun
Upon _thy_ classic shades--fair <g>Badminton</g>.”
With these particulars, which bring down the family history to
comparatively modern times, we close this portion of the subject, and
return to the scene of our illustrations--
<g>Raglan Castle.</g>--By those unacquainted with the subject, it has been
often regretted that, when prosperity had again visited the family of
Worcester, no effort was ever made to restore this castle to something
of its original splendour. But the obstacles that opposed such a
patriotic design were innumerable; and although the apartments at vast
expense might have been rendered habitable, yet the parks, and the
timber--the growth of centuries--having all been cut down and swept away
in the Revolution, and nothing left but a comparatively bleak and
uncultivated waste, the grand ornament of the manor was not to be
replaced by the hand of art. Turrets might again multiply along the
battlements, and splendid courts be rescued from the cumbrous ruins that
had long hid and disfigured them; but trees must be raised by a slower
process, and he who should replant the wasted demesne must do so, not
for himself, but for the benefit of future generations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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