the county town of Warwickshire, is built on a tract of rocky land, rising sharply from the river Avon. It is 20 miles from Birmingham, 10 from Coventry, and about 92 from London by road, and 107 by railway. The town is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors, has a recorder and court of quarter sessions, is a county court subdistrict, and is the place of nomination of the candidates for South Warwickshire. The assizes and county quarter-sessions are also held here, in the county hall, a handsome and spacious building, to which is attached a commodious house for the judges. The population of Warwick in 1811 was 6497, which in 1851 had increased to 10,973.

The ecclesiastical buildings of Warwick include four churches, and Roman Catholic, Independent, Wesleyan, Baptist, and Unitarian chapels. The principal church, St Mary's, was founded before the Conquest. The original building was replaced by a Norman structure in 1123, which, in its turn, was supplanted by a new building in 1394, erected by the Beauchamps, then earls of Warwick. In 1694 this edifice was partly destroyed (in a fire which burnt more than 250 houses), and the repairs were executed in a most barbarous mixture of Gothic and Italian. Happily the Beauchamp Chapel (one of the most perfect specimens of the architecture of its period) was preserved. This chapel contains several remarkable tombs of the Beauchamp family; and in the chapter-house (the church was once collegiate) is to be seen the monument of Fulke Greville, "the friend of Sir Philip Sidney." The chapel and the chancel of the church have lately been restored. The houses of the dean and canons of the church now form a free grammar school, called the College School. Leicester's Hospital, formerly the guild hall of Warwick, was erected by Dudley, earl of Leicester, into an hospital for "twelve impotent men." The number of brethren is now twenty-two, who have apartments and L80 a-year each; and there is a master with L400 a year. The hospital is a quaint half-timbered building, with a hall (now used as a storeroom), in which James I. was entertained in 1617 by Sir Fulke Greville. Attached to the hospital is a handsome chapel, built over one of the gates of the town. Warwick numbers likewise amongst its institutions an excellent museum of antiquities and natural history, a library, various educational societies, a savings bank, and theatre. The town is well paved and lighted; and, for the most part, the principal streets are handsomely built.

The principal object of interest to strangers is the castle, one of the noblest baronial residences in the kingdom. Popular tradition assigns its foundation to Roman, or at least to Saxon times; and though these stories are manifestly fables, it would be difficult to convince the neighbouring peasantry that Guy, the famous but fabulous Saxon champion, was not concerned in the building of the castle. His porridge pot (a huge iron vessel), part of his armour, and one of the ribs of the celebrated dun cow killed by him, are shown to the curious in the porter's lodge. It would appear that Henry de Newburgh, a follower of William the Conqueror, was the real founder of Warwick Castle, which was extended and strengthened by his son and grandson. In 1265, the castle, excepting the towers, was destroyed, but repaired by the first earl of the Beauchamp family, in the reign of Edward III. In the reign of Edward IV., the castle passed into the hands of Richard Neville (the king-maker), and by the marriage of his daughter Isabel with George of Clarence, it came into possession of the crown. Edward VI. gave it to John Dudley, whom he created Earl of Warwick; it again reverted to the crown on his attainder, but was restored by Queen Elizabeth to Dudley's son, who dying without issue, the castle was granted by James I. to Fulke Greville, in whose family it has ever since remained. The successive possessors have spent enormous sums in beautifying it, and storing it with untold treasures of art, so that in process of time it has come to stand almost without a rival amongst buildings of its class. The state apartments of the castle form a suite 333 feet long; the great hall is 62 feet by 37, and the towers are very lofty, that called Caesar's Tower (the oldest portion of the edifice) rising to the height of 147 feet, and Guy's Tower (built 1394) being 128 feet high. The cellars, cut out of the solid rock, exhibit some remarkable specimens of groining; and the approach to the castle is by a long carriage-drive, also hewn out of the rock. The grounds of the castle are very extensive, and exquisitely beautiful; and in one of the greenhouses stands the famous Warwick vase.

In the neighbourhood of Warwick are many places of great historical interest and natural beauty. Amongst these are Guy's Cliff, the fabled hermit's cell of the great Warwickshire hero; and Blacklow Hill, the place where the barons executed Edward II.'s favourite, Piers Gaveston. Stratford and Kenilworth lie within easy distances, and Leamington is so close to Warwick, that the two places are nearly united.