WORCESTER.
October 14th.---In the morning of Tuesday, after breakfast in the
coffee-room, J----- and I walked about to see the remarkables of
Worcester. It is not a particularly interesting city, compared with
other old English cities; the general material of the houses being red
brick, and almost all modernized externally, whatever may be the age of
their original framework. We saw a large brick jail in castellated
style, with battlements,--a very barren and dreary-looking edifice;
likewise, in the more central part of the town, a Guildhall with a
handsome front, ornamented with a statue of Queen Anne above the
entrance, and statues of Charles I. and Charles II. on either side of the
door, with the motto, "Floreat semper civitas fidelis." Worcester seems
to pride itself upon its loyalty. We entered the building, and in the
large interior hall saw some old armor hanging on the wall at one end,--
corselets, helmets, greaves, and a pair of breeches of chain mail. An
inscription told us that these suits of armor had been left by Charles I.
after the battle of Worcester, and presented to the city at a much later
date by a gentleman of the neighborhood. On the stone floor of the hall,
under the armor, were two brass cannon, one of which had been taken from
the French in a naval battle within the present century; the other was a
beautiful piece, bearing, I think, the date of 1632, and manufactured in
Brussels for the Count de Burgh, as a Latin inscription testified.
Pages:
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397