Windsor. Painted by George M. Henton. Described by Sir Richard
R. Holmes. (A. and C. Black. 7s. 6d. net.)—This is a good specimen of Messrs. Black's "Beautiful Books." The subject is a great one, and it has been worthily treated. Sir Richard Holmes knows all that there is to be known about the Royal Castle. He does not, indeed, always say it. We have, for instance, the pathetic account, quoted from Froissart, of the death of Queen Philippa. There is nothing but what is good to be said of the Queen of Edward III.; but the words "eight years later the King joined the Queen" are decidedly euphemistic. In view of how those eight years actually were spent, it would have been better to have said nothing. In a Royal history—and this the history of Windsor emphatically is—it is necessary to be discreet ; but silence is the best discretion. Sir Richard Holmes tells us that in the days of George IV. it was actually proposed to pull down the whole castle, and erect in its place a pantheon in the classical manner "in a less barbarous style than the Gothic." Wyatt saved Windsor from this atrocity, and, though England has not much reason to be thankful to him, this, at least, may be counted to him for righteousness. Mr. Henton's pictures are very attractive, exquisitely finished, and worthy in every way of their theme. Take "St. George's Chapel : Evensong" as an example. It is only a minor detail, but we have, instead of the blot of white with which some artists would have been content, actual choir- boys and singers. Every face might be a portrait.
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