The collection included a good portrait of Prince Rupert,[Footnote: See
page 303.] who gave the army of the Parliament such a lively time in the
Civil War, and who is said, in spite of his recklessness, to have been
one of the best cavalry officers in Europe. Queen Elizabeth stayed three
days there in 1573, and described her visit as "both merrie and
pleasante." During this visit she presented Sir Philip Sidney, the
author of _Arcadia_, with a "locke of her owne hair," which many years
afterwards was found in a copy of that book in the library, and attached
to it a very indifferent verse in the Queen's handwriting. Charles I,
it was said, visited Wilton every summer, and portraits of himself,
Henrietta Maria and their children, and some of their Court beauties,
were also in the Vandyck gallery.
Wilton Park attracted our attention above all, as the rivers Wylye and
Nadder combined to enhance its beauty, and to feed the ornamental lake
in front of the Hall. There were some fine cedar trees in the park, and
as we had often seen trees of this kind in other grounds through which
we had passed, we concluded they dated from the time of the Crusades,
and that the crusaders had brought small plants back with them, of which
these trees were the result.
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