had served as a private soldier, though raised from the ranks before the title devolved to him. A second miniature of Elizabeth, larger than the former.

Elizabeth Countess of Berkeley, one of the coheiresses of John Massingberd, of Lincolnshire, and wife of George Earl of Berkeley; painted by Cooper in 1644.

Henry Lord Berkeley, An. Dom. 1601; painted when he was twenty-one years of age.

A third miniature of Elizabeth; exhibiting in the richness of her dress that vanity which made her at once ridiculous and contemptible. Her red perriwig is here very visible.

George Lord Berkeley of Carye, Anno Domini 1619. He married Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of Sir Michael Stanhope, by whom he was father to George first Lord Berkeley. He died 1658.

Lady Elizabeth Berkeley, his wife.

Lady Theophila, wife of Sir Robert Coke, daughter of Thomas Lord Berkeley and Lady Elizabeth Cary.—Queen Mary.

Sir William Berkeley, son of Thomas fifth Lord Berkeley, of Stratton, with the words pignora amicitiæ. He died in 1677, and was buried at Twickenham.

Thomas fifth Lord Berkeley, of Stratton.
Countess of Berkeley.

Cardinal Ragbine, enamelled on a gold plate.

Thomas Hobbes of Malmsbury, as he is usually styled, from his birth-place Westport, within the liberties of that borough. He was a voluminous writer of infinitely better style than any of his contemporaries in the reign of Charles II.; but it must also be acknowledged, that he was one in whose ethics and politics we can neither discover an inclination to mend the morals, nor extend the liberties, of mankind. He was in such repute with Charles II. to whom he had been mathematical tutor, that his picture, by, Cooper, was carefully preserved in his closet at Whitehall; and so highly esteemed in France, that (according to his, friend the traveller La Sorbiere) the virtuosi came as it were in pilgrimage to contemplate his likeness, which he carried over with him from this country. Having been early patronised by the Devonshire family, he died at their seat at Hardwick, 1679, aged 92.

Henry Lord Berkeley, 1601.

Earl Goodwin.

This name is affixed to a mi

niature purporting to be the husband of Lady

Elizabeth Berkeley, 1662.

The little state-bedchamber exhibits a most curious specimen of antique furniture, a massive wooden bedstead, standing under a recess, and purporting to have been made in the year 1330. Grotesque figures, and heavy ornaments, carved in wood, cover the whole of the back; the front posts are cut into open-work, and prove that our ancestors, five hundred years ago, had more execution than taste in their works of art. A solitary witch piece, in Old Franks' wildest manner, is the only picture in this room.

The great state-bedchamber contains a similar piece of furniture within the last room, though not of equal antiquity, since it was constructed for the accommodation of James I. who made frequent visits to Berkeley-Castle. The oldest cabinet in England, formed of oak, and another, valuable on account of its antiquity, and made of tortoise-shell, are preserved in this room,

Darius's tent has two pictures by Frederick Zucchero, who arrived in England 1574, and worked here for some years; they represent Sir Maurice Berkeley, of Bruton, and his wife.

Leaving the body of the building, we pass over the top of the keep to a small retired dark room, standing detached and solitary, and entered by a low strong door; where deeds of

blood might be perpetrated without disturbance or discovery. This was the accursed scene of the last agonies of the unfortunate Edward II. where he expiated, by a horrible death, the errors of a weak, rather than a vicious, reign; leaving a solemn wárning to succeeding monarchs of the danger of favouritism. The appropriate hangings of the room and its furniture, crimson cloth embroidered with black, naturally lead the mind to a recollection of the execrable cruelty of the Bishop of Hereford, who invented and directed the method by which Edward was destroyed; an impres sion that is heightened by the sight of an instrument like a file, kept in the apartment, and said to be the engine with which the deed was committed, alluded to by Gray in the best of his compositions, his " Bard."

"Mark the year, and mark the night,
"When Severn shall re-echo with affright,

"The shrieks of death through Berkeley's roof that ring, "Shrieks of an agonizing king."

Where, by the bye, the passage is spoiled, by the use (in the last line) of the present participle for the preterite passive.

Adjoining to the castle stands the church, and appears to have been built about the

commencement of the fourteenth century. The tower is placed at one corner of the churchyard, distinct from the edifice of which it usually forms a member, and constructed within the last fifty years. Many old monuments of the Berkeley family are preserved within the church; the most curious is an ancient table tomb, surrounded by an iron railing, on which are stretched the full-length alabaster figures of a knight and his lady; the former in armour, the latter in the dress of the day. These are the effigies of Sir Thomas, second Lord Berkeley, who died 1361, and Margaret daughter of the Earl of March, his first wife. The splendour and princely magnificence in which this baron lived at Berkeley, was not exceeded by any nobleman of his time. Three hundred people, consisting of knights, esquires, and pages, filled his hall every day; and seventy-four manors, the demesne of which he kept in his own hands, supplied his table with the substantial hospitality of the times. To this lord the unfortunate Edward II. was delivered by the Queen's party Nov. 16, 1326; but his enemies fearing that the noble owner of Berkeley-castle would treat the royal prisoner with two much kindness, commanded Thomas to surrender his man