Diary of Charles Francis Adams, 1861
th
1861-09-09
A very fine day. We improved it by making a visit to see Windsor. We took the train at the Waterloo Station at a quarter after nine before ten, and found ourselves at the Station at Windsor at half past eleven. here we were met by a person who had been apprized by Mr Wilson of our coming, and he escorted us to the castle. We went through the show roms which are handsome but not very striking. Some fine portraits by Van Dyke, and some good landscapes by Zuccarelli. Some gobelins in fine order and very beautiful. The ceilings painted by Vernio tolerably. No sculpture. Some very fine wood carving by Grinling Gibbons. Thence to the gardens, the kitchen and the terrace from which is an extensive prospect of a rather flat country, diversified by rich cultivation and studded with habitations. Then to see the plate room, which holds a great mass of gold plate, some of it very beautiful, and all massy and imposing. Thence to the News to see the houses and equipments. We then went to the White Street Inn and took luncheon. At half past two we started for a drive, first along the road lined with trees said to extend three miles in a line from the castle as far as the equestrian statue of George the 3d, which is very good. Then to the royal Lodge and to Virginia Water, a sheet made artificially at the will of George the 4th, at an enormous expense. It is certainly pretty. We then drove round through the grounds at