thus possessed of Kenilworth-Castle, Henry granted it in 1267 to Edmund his younger son, afterwards made Earl of Leicester and Lancaster; whose successors held it till the Earl of Lancaster's rebellion in the reign of Edward II. in which being unsuccessful, he was taken, executed, and his estates. confiscated to the crown. Edward III. however, restored the castle and other demesnes to Henry brother of the last possessor, from whom it came to John of Gaunt, by marrying a daughter of the Earl of Leicester and Lancaster. After adding to and adorning the castle, this powerful noble left it on his death to Henry of Bolingbroke, afterwards Henry IV. which again vested it in the crown.

Having descended regularly through the succeeding monarchs to Elizabeth, she granted it to her favourite Robert Dudley, afterwards created Earl of Leicester. Great additions were also made by this nobleman to Kenilworth-Castle, who likewise had an opportunity of testifying his sense of the value of this rich gift her Majesty had bestowed upon him, by giving her a most sumptuous entertainment on the very spot, that lasted seventeen days. The nature of the elegant amusements of that time may be learned from the following slight sketch of the pageantry and mummery exhibited on the occasion:

"Here, in July 1575, having compleated all things for her reception, Lord Leicester entertained Queen Elizabeth for the space of seventeen days, with excessive cost, and a variety of delightful shews, as may be seen at large in a special discourse thereof then printed, and entitled The Princely Pleasures of Kenilworth-Castle. At her first entrance, there was a floating island upon the pool, bright blazing with torches; upon which, clad in silks, were the Lady of the Lake, and two nymphs waiting on her; who made a speech to the Queen in metre, of the antiquity and owners of the castle; which was closed with cornets and loud music. Within the base-court there was a very goodly bridge set up, of twenty feet wide and seventy feet long, over which theQueen did pass. On each side thereof were posts erected, with presents upon them unto her by the gods, viz. A cage of wild fowl, by Silvanus; sundry rare fruits, by Pomona; of corn, by Ceres; of wine, by Bacchus; of sea-fish, by Neptune; of all the habiliments of war, by Mars; and of musical instruments, by Apollo. And for the several days of her stay, various rare sports and shews were there exercised, viz. in the chace, a savage man with satyrs; bear-baitings, fire-works, Italian tumblers, a country bridal, with running at

*

the quintin, and morris-dancing. And that there might be nothing wanting that these parts could afford, hither came the Coventry men, and acted the ancient play, long since used in that city, called Hock's-Tuesday, setting forth the destruction of the Danes in King Etheldred's time; with which the Queen was so well pleased, that she gave them a brace of bucks, and five marks in money, to bear the charges of a feast. Besides all this, he had upon the pool a Triton, riding on a Mermaid eighteen feet long; as also an Arion on a Dolphin, with rare music. And to honour this entertain

* Running at the quintin was a ludicrous kind of tilting, performed in the following manner:-A post, as high as a man on horseback, was set upright in the ground; with an iron pivot on the top, on which turned a long horizontal beam, unequally divided. To the upright post was fixed the figure of a man; the horizontal beam representing his arms; the shortest end had a target nearly covering the whole body, with a hole, in the shape of a heart, or a ring, cut in the middle of it; and the longest was armed with a wooden sword, or a bag of sand. Peasants, mounted on cart-horses, run full tilt at this figure, and endeavoured to strike the heart with a pole made like a lance; if they succeeded, they were applauded; but if they struck the shield instead of the heart, the short arm of the lever retiring brought round the wooden sword or the sand-bag with such velocity, as generally to unhorse the awkward assailant. This amusement, somewhat diversified, was not long ago practised in Flanders, at their wakes and festivals. The revolving arms were placed vertically; the lower shewing the ring, whilst the upper one supported a vessel full of water, which emptying itself on the head of the unskilful tilter, punished his want of dexterity with a severe ducking.- -Beauties of British Antiquity.

ment the more, there were then knighted here, Sir Thomas Cecil, son and heir to the Lord Treasurer; Sir Henry Cobham, brother to Lord Cobham; Sir Francis Stanhope, and Sir Thomas Tresham. The cost and expence of this entertainment may be. guessed at, by the quantity of beer then drank, which amounted to three hundred and twenty hogsheads of the ordinary sort, as I have been credibly informed. Shortly after which, viz. the year next ensuing, Lord Leicester obtained, by grant of the Queen, a weekly market here, upon the Wednesday, and a fair yearly on Midsummer-day.

This was the proudest æra of the history of Kenilworth-Castle, which coming, after the Earl of Leicester's death, to his infamously-treated son Sir Robert Dudley, by Lady Sheffield, was wrested from him by a Star-Chamber decree, and confiscated to James I. On this occasion a survey was taken of the premises, preserved in Dug dale, worth transcription, as it affords a pretty clear idea of the residence of a great nobleman of the sixteenth century.

"The Castle of Kenilworth, situate on a rock. 1st. The circuit thereof, within the walls, containeth seven acres; upon which (the walls) the walks are so spacious and fair, that two or three persons together, may walk upon most places thereof.2d. The castle, with the four gate-houses, all built

of free-stone, hewn and cut; the walls in many places ten and fifteen feet in thickness; some more, some less, the least, four feet.-3d. The castle, and four gate-houses, all covered with lead, whereby it is subject to no other decay but the glass, through the extremity of the weather.—4th. The rooms of great state within the same; and such as are able to receive his Majesty, the Queen, and Prince, at one time; built with as much uniformity and conveniency as any houses of later times: and with such stately cellars, all carried upon pillars, and architecture of free stone, carved and wrought, as the like are not within this kingdom; and also all other houses for offices answerable.-5th. There lieth about the same, in chases and parks, twelve hundred pounds per annum; nine hundred whereof are grounds for pleasure, the rest in meadow and pasture thereunto adjoining, tenants and freeholders.-6th. There joineth upon this ground, a parklike ground, called the King's Wood, with fifteen several coppices lying altogether, containing seven hundred and eighty-nine acres within the same; which, in the Earl of Leicester's time, were stored with red deer, since which the deer have strayed, but the ground is in no sort blemished, having great store of timber and other trees of much value upon the same. 7th. There runneth through the