Show j home of the kidneys j 1 it ludlow castle in for centuries the seat of famous english family now a ruin special correspondence there are some people who can charm us as easily across the cen aurles ae they could across the tea table one of these is sir sid ney whose sweet attractive undo of grace has lost little of its since days when his friends found continua ll comfort in his face there are perhaps more memories stored in ludlow the home of the std in than in any other of that long row of castles that guird ed the welsh border in very birly days history claimed it for her own and romance took liberties with it every ruined room has its ghost even it it has no floor and one must not expect everything in one room kings have besieged it princes have lived in it women have loved in it from the time when roger de lad raised ita norman keep to the day hat george I 1 made it uninhabitable many ages and many hands aade left their mark upon it the round chapel n as built by joce de dinan in steph en s time the state rooms date from the fourteenth century the lovely doorway in the deeo was added in in henry VIII s days the fireplaces are elizabethan sir henry sidney had a very high ideal of his duty to wards this castle of the lords aiesi dent and left it better than he found it he seems to have been untiring in bis buildings and re pairings his wa Is of lyme and ot stone his fay re lardge stone bridge his painting of the chapel his wainscoting and floor ing and his fayre tennys corte the stables were built by his son in law and successor lord pembroke whose wife was the famous sidney s sister pembroke s mother for whom the arcadia was written by her brother philip the ghosts of ludlow philip cannot have been much at ludlow I 1 think his short life was full of incident full of change shrewsbury oxford travels tor picas ure and politics and the queen s somewhat exacting appreciation of his company left him little time for go ing a mothering and he loved to be at wilton too his sister s place yet there must have been times when part of main build ng he joined his parents in their stately life among the grey towers and the ghosts of ludlow adding one more lo mantic memory to its romances and enjoying its magnificence in his grave way simple hearted as he was he took a calm pleasure in pomps and was not altogether averse to vanities at elizabeth s cart he entered thor hughly into th spirit of the thing ex changing gifts and compliments with the queens besty like any other young blade as though he had never been famed foi his stai edness at the age of eleven he gave her a cambric smock edged with gold lace a waistcoat of white and a jewel of gold garnished with dia monds she gave him not only gifts of gold plate but even the red gold of her hair more precious doubtless than the other famous inns not only the castle but the whole of ludlow town is filled with memories of the council of which sir henry was president for so long that fa inn the feathers said to have been the house of one of the lords justices has a very proper sense of its own charms of timber and the ancient gateway ing and the matter of furniture brave ly lives up to its paneled rooms and ceilings better than any horse d feuvre Is the darl oak of the coffee room the paneled walls the old sideboards the carved and inlaid fire place with the initials of jacobus rex the coats of arms of some of the presidents are to be seen on the walls of another inn the bull having been quietly taken home by the enter owner of that hostelry when ba the king s order the lead was stripped from the castle root it la plain wab the obvious argument that king george sets no store by this property of his I 1 will therefore even help myself other records of the council are to be found in the church a fine church in itself with a fletcher s or arch er s chancel and some carved choir stalls whose designs repay an ant eye A demor al several members of the council are buried in the chancel of this four century church beneath lordly tomb as is fi ting among these dig gentlemen and their wives is a pathetic memorial of the kidneys an altar tomb of simple de s agn sweet ambrozia sidney left the pageantries of ludlow for her grave under this stone when she was only twenty heare leethe the bodye of ambro z a sydney boughter dough ter of the right honorable syr henrye syd ney and of the lady mary his wyet boughter dough ter of the famous duke of who dyed in ludlow castle ye of Feb ruane 1574 fair like her mother she may well have been sweet she certainly was for we hear that when sir henry died twelve years later he prayed that his heart might be taken to ludlow and buried in the grave of his deare daughter |