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WINDSOR,

WAS supposed by Camden to derive its name from Windleshora, a Saxon term, expressive of winding banks, and in this place applied with peculiar propriety to the meandering course of the Thames. The earliest authentic information concerning its history is contained in a charter of Edward the Confessor's, by which it was granted, with various other lands, to the monastery of St. Peter, Westminster. This valuable gift continued but a short time in the possession of the abbey. A district favoured by nature with so many charms, and so peculiarly adapted to the sports of the field, could not be expected to escape the attention of a monarch whose darling passion was the chase. William the Conqueror was no sooner established on the throne, than he observed the beauties of this situation, and quickly prevailed on the abbot to exchange it for certain lands and manors in Essex. Thus it was again vested in the Crown, where, with the exception of the time of the Commonwealth, it has ever since remained.

The magnificent residence of the British sovereigns is most delightfully situated on the summit of a lofty hill, whose base is laved by the pellucid waters of the Thames. The prospects to the east, west, and north, are extensive and beautiful, being enlivened by the windings of the river, and variegated with elegant mansions, luxuriant meadows, and gentle eminences, covered with the rich foliage of innumerable woods. On the south, the view is bounded by the wild and picturesque scenery of the Forest, intermingled with a great variety of verdant accompaniments.

Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain;
Here earth and water seem to strive again;

Not chaos like, together crush'd and bruised,
But, as the world, harmoniously confused;
Where order in variety we see,

And where, tho' all things differ, all agree.

B

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.

ACT III. SCENE V.

Fal.

:

WINDSOR from the THAMES.

FALSTAFF and FORD.

Being thus crammed in the basket, a couple of Ford's knaves, his hinds, were called forth by their mistress, to carry me in the name of foul clothes to Datchet-lane: they took me on their shoulders; met the jealous knave their master in the door; who asked them once or twice what they had in their basket: I quaked for fear lest the lunatic knave would have searched it; but fate, ordaining he should be a cuckold, held his hand. Well on went he for a search, and away went I for foul clothes. But mark the sequel, Master Brook: I suffered the pangs of three several deaths: first, an intolerable fright, to be detected with a jealous rotten bell-wether: next, to be compassed, like a good bilbo, in the circumference of a peck, hilt to point, heel to head: and then, to be stopped in, like a strong distillation, with stinking clothes that fretted in their own grease: think of that,―a man of my kidney,-think of that; that am as subject to heat, as butter; a man of continual dissolution and thaw; it was a miracle to 'scape suffocation. And in the height of this bath, when I was more than half stewed in grease, like a Dutch dish, to be thrown into the Thames, and cooled, glowing hot, in that surge, like a horseshoe; think of that,-hissing hot,-think of that, Master Brook.

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