27 NOVEMBER 1909, Page 3

A meeting of the National Trust for Places of Historie

Interest or Natural Beauty was held on Tuesday. It endorsed the Council's appeal for funds to purchase some land offered for building near Windsor Castle in order to preserve the view from the river. A sum of 23,000 is required, and the subscription-list has already been headed with a donation of £500 from the King. It was this very view that Burke had in his mind when he wrote the magnifi- cent passage in the " Letter to a Noble Lord,"—the passage in which he compares Windsor Castle to the Constitution: " The proud keep of Windsor, rising in the majesty of pro- portion, and girt with the double belt of its kindred and coeval towers." A strong appeal was also made for the money required to stop the quarrying in the Cheddar Gorge. Here the need is as urgent as at Windsor, for if the money is not raised within the next four months the negotiations for purchase will fall through. We have no hesitation ift declaring that the National Trust is doing public work which is equal to any done in the kingdom. It is work wholly beneficent and without any drawbacks.