GUY’S TOWER (to which we have alluded, and which forms our initial letter on page 206) contains several rooms appropriated to various purposes. Its summit is reached by a flight of 133 steps—a most fatiguing ascent, but amply repaid by the magnificent panoramic view obtained from the battlements. Hence “are seen the spires of the Coventry churches, the Castle of Kenilworth, Guy’s Cliff, and Blacklow Hill; Grove Park, the seat of Lord Dormer; Shuckburgh and the Shropshire Hills; the Saxon Tower on the Broadway Hills; the fashionable spa of Leamington, which appears almost lying underneath the feet, and the wide-extended park; while village churches, lifting up their venerable heads from amidst embowering trees, fill up a picture pleasing, grand, and interesting. In the various rooms will be noticed carvings and inscriptions which possess interest. From the BEAR COURT a portcullised doorway in the north wall opens to the moat, across which is a bridge leading to the pleasure-grounds and CONSERVATORY. In this is placed one of the wonders of the “Stately Home”—the celebrated _Warwick Vase_, rescued from the bottom of a lake at Adrian’s Villa, near Tivoli, by Sir William Hamilton, from whom it was obtained by the late Earl of Warwick. [Illustration: _The Inner Court, from the Keep._] It has been copied a hundred times, and its form and character are known to every reader. It stands on a pedestal formed for its reception, on which is this inscription:— HOC PRISTINÆ ARTIS ROMANÆ Q. MAGNIFICENTIÆ MONUMENTUM RUDERIBUS VILLÆ TIBURTINÆ HADRIANO AUG. IN DELICIIS HABITÆ EFFOSSUM RESTITUTI CURAVIT EQUES GULIELMUS HAMILTON A GEORGIO III., MAG. BRIT. REX AD SICIL REGEM FERDINANDUM IV. LEGATUS ET IN PATRIAM TRANSMISSUM PATRIO BONARUM ARTIUM GENIO DICAVIT AN. AC. N. CIC. DCCLXXIV. From the conservatory, after crossing the lawn, the banks of the river are gained, and after passing the PAVILION, the visitor reaches a spot from which the immense height of the castle on its rocky base is best seen. Returning to the HILL TOWER, the magnificent cedars of Lebanon and chestnuts will strike the eye; but the visitor will pass on to the top of the mount on which, in Saxon times, the stronghold of Ethelfleda was erected, and he will then find much for his mind to dwell upon. [Illustration: _Guy’s and the Clock Tower, from the Keep._]