A Ramble in Warwickshire. III. KENILWORTH. THE drive from Warwick to what was once the Palace of Princely Pleasure is most delightful on a fine summer day. On the way is Guy's Cliffe, the charming spot to which the "celebrated hero," revealed by heaven in the guise of a "palmer poore" to Athelstan as the conqueror of Colbrand, is said to have retired after his victory; and where Rous the Antiquary was once a chantry priest. Kenilworth, or Kenulph's worth, is a long, straggling, thoroughly old-fashioned town, so quiet, it seems almost impossible to believe that the sights so graphically described in Sir Walter Scott's novel were once witnessed here. Perhaps the cause of the Blue Ribbon Army has not been advocated in the place, for the number of public-houses seems legion; but probably in this town of visitors they are used, like the inns of Norway, more as houses of refreshment than as drinking saloons. Nearly at the end of the town we pass through a small stream of water, then a sudden turn in the road brings the first view of "the venerable pile," which still "Uprears in dignity its head, As tho' it scorned to be what it appears, But its appearance is quite different from what fancy has pictured, for it is built of red sandstone, and there is not the "grey" hue peculiar to ancient ruins. The old-fashioned inn just opposite the castle, at which we alight, answers in some way to the description given by Mr. Harrison of such houses in the time of Shakspere; for it is "well furnished with naperie, and the goodman of the house dooth not chalenge a lordlie authoritie over his ghests." At evening time we visit the castle, entering through a small garden. The great gatehouse, built by the Earl of Leicester when he turned the back of the mansion into the front, is still standing, but it was converted into a dwelling-house by Colonel Haukesworth, one of Oliver Cromwell's officers. We wander at our own sweet will over the ruins-into some apartments which appear to have once been gloomy dungeons, but are now open to the full light of heaven; climbing the remaining steps of the "Strong Tower," built in the time of John of Gaunt, to which Sir Walter Scott has given the name of Mervey's Tower, and made the temporary lodging-house of poor Amy Robsart, whose story, Dr. Beattie says, has probably brought to Kenilworth more knights and dames than ever came to its tilts and tournaments; and looking in vain for some remnant of the stately bridge which Leycester erected in order that Queen Elizabeth might enter his castle by a "hitherto untrodden path," and upon which he placed the offerings of " the gods" to "her majestie." The Great Hall is perhaps the most perfect of all the buildings. Some of its beautiful windows still remain, though bereft of their glass; and inside it is a party playing tennis-as if the spirit of games and festivities lingered still in the very air of the place. With how many scenes of our English History is Kenilworth con A RAMBLE IN WARWICKSHIRE. 325 nected! and to it might well be applied the words Canon Farrar writes of Egypt of old-"It was a place of refuge for those who were discontented, distressed, and persecuted." In the reign of Henry the Second it is said that persons for security to themselves and their goods obtained leave to reside in the castle, that they might be preserved from robbery and mischief. Before his secret visit to Rome the great Simon de Montfort conducted to his castle of Kenilworth for security the wife who for love of him had broken her vow of perpetual widowhood; and in this castle Simon his son received divers of those that fled from the "battail" of Evesham. Here unhappy Edward the Second was brought a prisoner, and heard the message from the Parliament which declared him incapable of government. To Kenilworth Eleanor Cobham is traced after her penitential processions, and heard of no more; and hither poor Henry of Windsor himself fled for refuge when the commons of Essex rose against him the second time. Kenilworth has also been the gayest of the gay. Grand was the meeting, in the time of the first Edward, of the Knights of the Round 326 A RAMBLE IN WARWICKSHIRE. Table, when the ladies danced in silken mantles; and although as early as 780 a silken belt was sent to Britain by Charlemagne of France as a present to Offa, king of Mercia, it is said that silk was worn for the first time in England, at Kenilworth, upon this occasion. Henry the Fifth kept Lent in this castle in 1414, and the Dauphin of France sent him a present of "Paris balles," for him to play withall." It was the scene, too, of the wedding-in the presence of Henry the Sixth and Queen Margaret-of the Duke of Bruges and the King's niece. Kenilworth unquestionably reached the summit of its glory when Great Elizabeth paid her third visit to its noble owner, and he so extravagantly entertained her with those wonderful fireworks which burned under the water; with feats of agility; beautiful and strange kinds of flowers; rare birds in a cage adorned with diamonds and emeralds; and delightful music, which, coming over the calm waters in the evening time, kept the great multitude in silence, and so affected Robert Laneham (who has left us a full account of this time), that for a good while after he had "mooch adoo to fynde him out whear he was." Although old Father Time could not be prevailed upon to wait in his course, no account of his flight was taken; the hands of the two large blue and gold dials on Cæsar's Tower standing still the whole time, and for a sign to the country people that come they early or late, they might always be sure of Dudley's hospitality, they pointed always to two o'clock-the dinner hour. "The whole time," says Laneham, passed with such amitee, that between the three and four thousand persons who met every day was there no quarrel or ill word." Yet the promoter of all these festivities learned how unhappy is the man who hangs on royal favours. The proud queen who had partaken of his hospitality forgot not to remind him afterwards that she had raised him from the dust; and, says Sir J. Mackintosh, although he was high in her favour at the time of his death, her regard for him ended then; and she caused his goods to be sold to reimburse her for sums in which he had died indebted to her. We are told that Charles the First rested one night in the castle, coming from Birmingham to Edgehill Fight; and soon after comes the story of its destruction by Cromwell's soldiers. We look on the picture of the past a gay and splendid palace; and on the picture of the present a ruin, a beauteous one truly-still a ruin. The glory is departed; but though there is less splendour, the walls enclose fewer aching hearts than in the ancient days. "Farewell, Kenilworth! what now To the searching eye conveys teaches that passing away is written on all things earthly; but we leave thy ruined towers with the joyful thought that we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ;" and a Friend at court who changeth not, but is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." LETITIA SMITH. The Practical Character of Christian Doctrine. It is one of the common taunts of Infidelity-one of its side-thruststhat Christianity is mere theory. False as this charge is, Christian teaching has sometimes given ground for it. It has left the impression that the doctrines of Christianity are mainly theoretical, and that its practical teaching is rather accidental than essential. The practical character of Christian doctrine has not been adequately realized. The moral teaching of Christianity has not been duly traced down to its root in the truths it reveals. It has not been sufficiently perceived that our practical Christian teaching has not arisen from any moral pressure outside Christianity, nor from any reflex action within it-from practice being better than theory-but simply from a truer understanding of Christianity itself. As men have come to understand Christianity better, they have felt that, as the editor of The Fortnightly reminds us, even doctrine has its practical side." "Even doctrine." Does not this very expression show the hold which the mere theoretical notion of Christian teaching has on the popular mind, and the need there is for rectifying it? In all teaching-not in religion only-theory is naturally, from its prominence and priority, apt to usurp attention. But in religion this tendency is most predominant and fatal. Hence, the common notion of Christian doctrine that at once rises in the mind at the mention of a "doctrinal" difference, book, or sermon, is exclusively one of theory or ritual. And very often this notion would be actually correct. Many "forms of doctrine" that have been, and some that still are, firmly held by Christians, have no deep relation to life and character. They are literally "forms of doctrine"-bodies, or rather carcases-without souls. But this theoretical idea of Christian doctrine applies only to human conceptions of it. New Testament teaching-and it cannot be without benefit to mark this-is not only in its issues, but in its essence, practical; it equally combines obligation and fact. Two features in New Testament teaching specially illustrate its practical character-(1) its remarkable interweaving of religious truth. with practical obligation; (2) its imperative demand for practical godliness as essential to Christian character. 1. The interweaving of truth with obligation-one of the "wondrous things in God's law"-is exemplified in Scripture both in its use of the term doctrine, and in its exposition of it. As a term doctrine never stands for mere theory or speculation, but always represents facts or truths; historical or moral realities, not mere ideas. Thus the "doctrine" at which Christ's hearers were "astonished," was no systematized creed, but the simple, grand utterances of the "Sermon on the Mount." Similarly "the doctrine of Christ," taught by apostles, evidently represented the facts and truths of our Lord's life and death, simply and practically conceived, not explanations or theories of themin effect, "the teaching of Christ:" what He himself taught by His mission and ministry. The apostles speak of "the doctrine of Christ," but never of "the doctrine of atonement," or "regeneration," or "Trinity"-terms which belong to its theoretical conception only. The negative use of the term has a corresponding practical force, as in 328 THE PRACTICAL CHARACTER OF Christ's comparison of the "doctrine" of the Pharisees and Sadducees to "leaven;" in John's warning against sympathy with a false teacher, on the ground of participation in his "evil works;" and in the moral ideas implied in "doctrines of devils," "the doctrine of Balaam," and "the doctrine [deeds] of the Nicolaitans." The scriptural exposition of Christian doctrine still further exhibits its practical character. Our Lord's elucidation, even of the sublimest and profoundest truths, is pervaded throughout with a deep sense of human needs and duties, which it is the whole aim of His teaching to meet. There is not a single word to satisfy curiosity, to excite vain speculation, or to secure mere assent. Christ positively resents-if we may so speak-the attempt to draw Him into discussion. In the instances of the tribute money, the question whether few be saved, the fate of the slaughtered Galileans, and the scribe debating about the commandments, our Lord promptly turns the desire for mere opinion into an occasion for a grand moral and spiritual lesson. Apostolic exposition of Christian doctrine exhibits its practical character, in some respects in even a still stronger light. References to the leading doctrines of Atonement and Regeneration abound with practical implications. "The cross" is "the power of God unto salvation; it may be made of none effect; "the enemies of the cross are those whose "walk" is full of cause for lamentation. "Learning Christ," being taught by Him, as "truth is in Jesus," is "putting off the old man and putting on the new man,” which "is created in righteousness and true holiness." The Gospel turns men "from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." And Paul congratulates the Christians at Rome, not for their correct views, but because they had "obeyed from the heart" that form of doctrine delivered to them; while he reminds the Corinthians that they are "bought with a price," as a reason for special consecration. Apostolic exposition of the less essential doctrines of Christianity, as we term them-the Resurrection of the dead, the Second Advent, Future Punishment, and Final Judgment-exhibits the same practical temper in the invariable use of these facts (as Apostles conceived them) as starting points for practical admonition. They are only concerned for the ideas so far as these affect spiritual life. On these points, it is true, they indulge more freely in speculation. But it is noteworthy, as emphasising the practical character of Christian doctrine, that it is precisely the theories of Apostles, whether of Christ and His kingdom, before or after His death, that are the least powerful elements in it, and either have long been, or are now coming to be, treated as mistaken.* They do not enter into that compact fabric of historical fact and spiritual truth, so firmly woven together in Christianity that neither can be severed without rending it. It is this warp of fact and woof of duty, not any local or traditional colour, that constitutes the imperishable texture of Christian doctrine, which defies alike time and criticism, and The writer has specially in view two points. 1. The belief in the Messiah as a temporal deliverer, (Matt. xx. 21, xvi. 22; Acts i. 6.) 2. The anticipation after His death of His return immediately or in the near future (James v. 8; Rev. xxii. 12, 20; 1 Cor. vii. 29; Phil. iv. 5; 1 Pet. iv. 7; 2 Thess. ii. 8, which means, apparently, that Christ's return, though not immediate, would nevertheless be soon) in both which points time has proved the Apostles to have been mistaken. Many able critics add a third point-the literal representations of the Second Advent and Final Judgment, which they do not think supported by our Lord's own statements; these being, in their opinion, more spiritual, and therefore more in harmony with the genius of Christianity and the teachings of experience. |