nfinement for state
prisoners, was now allotted to the maids of honour. It was intended by
Charles to erect a monument in honour of his martyred father on the site
of the tomb-house, which he proposed to remove, and 70,000 pounds were
voted by Parliament for this purpose. The design, however, was abandoned
under the plea that the body could not be found, though it was perfectly
well known where it lay. The real motive, probably, was that Charles had
already spent the money.

In 1680 an equestrian statue of Charles the Second, executed by Strada,
at the expense of Tobias Rustat, formerly housekeeper at Hampton Court,
was placed in the centre of the upper ward. It now stands at the lower
end of the same court. The sculptures on the pedestal were designed by
Grinling Gibbons; and Horace Walpole pleasantly declared that the statue
had no other merit than to attract attention to them.

In old times a road, forming a narrow irregular avenue, ran through the
woods from the foot of the castle to Snow Hill but this road having been
neglected during a long series of years, the branches of the trees
and underwood had so much encroached upon it as to render it wholly
impassable. A grand avenue, two hundred and forty feet wide, was planned
by Charles in its place, and the magnificent approach called the Long
Walk laid out and planted.

The only material incident connected with the castle during the reign of
James the Second has been already related.

Windsor was not so much favoured as Hampton Court by William the Third,
though he contemplated alterations within it during the latter part of
his life which it may be matter of rejoicing were never accomplished.

Queen Anne's operations were chiefly directed towards the parks,
in improving which nearly 40,000 pounds were expended. In 1707 the
extensive avenue running almost parallel with the Long Walk, and called
the "Queen's Walk," was planted by her; and three years afterwards
a carriage road was formed through the Long Walk. A garden was also
planned on the north side of the castle. In this reign Sir James
Thornhill commenced painting Charles the Second's staircase with designs
from Ovid's Metamorphoses, but did not complete his task till after the
accession of George the First. This staircase was removed in 1800, to
make way for the present Gothic entrance erected by the elder Wyatt.

The first two monarchs of the house of Hanover rarely used Windsor as a
residence, preferrin