it. As they proceeded, the gaps were propped up with timber, and when the personal risk became too imminent to continue the work, they set fire to the timber, and the instant the charred props gave way, down came a solid mass of the

Tower of Gwent, half filling the moat, where it now lies; a specimen of as firmly compacted a structure as ever was framed by the hand of man. The mortar, indeed, seems harder and more durable than the materials which it cements together. Of its massive construction the annexed woodcut, showing the staircase in the centre of the wall, and the engravings opposite, give a very clear and distinct notion.

Much treasure, it was conjectured, had been thrown into the moat during the siege, while under the apprehension of being given up to plunder; so the people were set to work with axes, shovels, and pickaxes, to drain off the water, and collect the treasure. But nothing valuable being discovered in the moat, they were next set to cut the stanks of the fish-ponds, where they had store of very large carp and other fish. From these reservoirs, during many generations, the family had drawn an abundant supply for the table; and in times when the fasts of the Church were rigorously observed,

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fish-ponds were indispensable to every large establishment. The artificial oak roof of the great hall, already noticed in the introductory sketch, could not be removed with advantage; it was therefore allowed to remain full twenty years after the siege. But the sheet-lead with which it was covered was found to be a very "convertible material," and was therefore rolled up, sent to market, and the product paid over to the Parliamentary Exchequer.

Above thirty baults of all sorts of rooms and cellars, and three arched bridges, are yet standing; but the most curious arch of the chapel, and rooms above, with many others, are totally destroyed. Many coins of Queen Elizabeth have been found, but none deserving of preservation from the crucible of the silversmith, to whom they were speedily consigned by the finders.

These dreary "souterrains," in the present day, are, of course, haunted by goblins, or other beings with lungs not likely to be affected by the damp and mephitic gases, which they are said to exhale. Never was place better adapted for unearthly visitants; and wherever blood has been spilt or treasure concealed, the spirits of vengeance or avarice seize upon the spot as their own exclusive territory. As it appeared to us, however, the genii loci were spirits of a very different stamp-beings with whom the painter, the philosopher, and the poet, would choose to make their abode. Not so the cicerone who showed these mysterious caverns to Bloomfield. "Look down there," said she, pointing to the great cellar; "something very awful; candles wont burn there! Some people says it's because the damp chokes 'em. devil himself; and not much fancying to be seen at his work, he blows 'em out. Well, sir, you may smile as you please; but one puff of brimstone's enough for me. Let's step into the Fountain Court. All the wine's gone; so a cellar with only bad spirits in it, is hardly worth notice."

For my part, I think it's the

Passing from the cellar to the dairy, we may observe that during the siege, and for many generations previously, the fine meadows on the banks of the Olwy, in the adjoining parish of Llandenny, were appropriated as the dairyfarm of the Castle.

The Marquess's Library was considered one of the best selected, and most extensive in Europe; and we cannot doubt that the Gallery of Paintings bore equal and corresponding testimony to the liberality and taste of the noble

owner.

The loss sustained by the family in the immediate destruction of the castle and woods, according to the printed statement, was computed at one hundred thousand pounds; besides enormous sums furnished to his Majesty for the raising and equipment of two armies, and the maintenance of a numerous gar

* Dr. Henry Edwards, author of "History of the Siege of Jerusalem."—Archeol. Journ., vol. i.

p. 112.

rison, of which the daily expenses alone must have required a princely revenue. With this evidence of the Marquess's resources, it is not surprising that he should be described by Clarendon as "the most moneyed man of the kingdom." The siege was followed by the sequestration and sale of the whole estate, which, by the parliamentary audit of 1646, amounted to twenty thou sand pounds per annum, and remained in the hands of Cromwell till the Restoration, a period of fourteen years. All the old timber in the parks adjacent was cut down and sold; the lead was stript from the roof of the great hall, and sold for six thousand pounds; and a quantity of the timber was carried to Bristol, and there used in rebuilding the wooden houses upon the old bridge, which had recently been destroyed by fire. But the loss of the library was in every sense a national loss, for in this, among many rare invaluable manuscripts, were the archives of Gwent, with the earliest records of Welsh literature. "One of these manuscripts," says the late Mr. Thomas,* was an interesting work by Geraint Bardd Glass y Cadair, an illustrious Welshman, who flourished about the ninth century. He was the first who composed a Welsh grammar, a work that was revised by Einion and Edeyrn, which form and arrangement are now extant; but the original MS. was in the Raglan library at its capitulation.'

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In his palmy days, long before he was created Marquess, the good Earl lived in princely state in this Castle. Surrounded by faithful friends, numerous retainers, and a household that, by its daily expenditure, bespoke almost unlimited resources, he enjoyed in age all the happiness to which men look forward as the reward and solace of a virtuous youth; for, though long practised in the offices of Court, he could still relish the sweets of domestic retirement, the humanizing influence of science, and the conversation of pious and learned men. He was a friend of literature, a pattern of religious consistency, an example of loyalty which no reverses could shake; and when at last plunged into the deepest adversity, stript of his property, bent down with years, and suffering from bodily pain, he maintained a degree of mental serenity that softened the remembrance of his wrongs, showed the true foundation of his faith, and enabled him to view every dispensation of good or evil as coming from God, and intended, by weaning his thoughts from this world, to give him nearer and clearer views of heaven. Reduced in four short years from the height of prosperity into the very abyss of adversity—his home desolate, the prospects of his family blasted, his friends hopeless or in prison, himself an inmate of the Tower-it is impossible to withhold our sympathy from a man who, in no circumstances, forgot the true nobility of his nature, and the obligations of his

* " Thomas's Tinterne, p. 158.

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FROM RAGLAN CASTLE TO THE TOWER.

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creed; but in every trial could exclaim, in the words of his own niottoMutare vel timere sperno.

"Go, empty joyes,

With all your noyse,

And leave me here alone,

In sweet sad silence to bemoane

Your vaine and fleet delight;

Whose danger none can see aright,

Whilst your false splendour dims his sight.

Go, and insnare,

With your false ware,

Some other easie wight,

And cheat him with your flattering light;

Rain on his head a shower

Of honours, favour, wealth, and power-
Then snatch it from him in an hour."*

On his melancholy departure from these ancestral halls, which he was never more to behold, the venerable Marquess-accompanied by certain members of his family and a few tried friends, among whom was the devoted Bayly—was conducted to London, and placed under the custody of the Black Rod. Expecting to be treated as a declared enemy of Parliament, notwithstanding the terms of capitulation, his lordship was agreeably surprised to find the severity, with which such cases were usually visited, was relaxed in his favour. "Lord bless us," said he to Dr. Bayly, who never left him, "what a fearful thing was this Black Rod when I heard of it first! It did so run in my mind, that it made an infliction out of mine own imagination. But when I spoke with the man himself, I found him a very civil gentleman; and I saw no black rod! So, methinks, if we would not let these troubles and apprehensions of ours be made worse by our own fears, no rods would be black." And although

"The pride of life has vanished,

And here I stand alone,
Degraded, stript, and banished

From all that was mine own;

Yet in dreams, when friends surround me

With the loyal and the true,

The youthful links that bound me,

Seem all riveted anew.

When I hear their loyal voices,

I half forget my wrongs,

And again my heart rejoices

In our good old loyal songs.
Pent up in these dark regions,
The only gems I boast,
Are my honour and allegiance—

All else of earth is lost."†

From lines ascribed to Lord Strafford.—Sir Henry Ellis's "Original Letters,” vol. iii.
"Tout est perdu, hors l'honneur."

But we shall leave the worthy Marquess for a time, to observe what is passing in that dearly beloved, but now desolate mansion, the gates of which were now closed him for ever.

upon

The woodcut here introduced represents one of the richly ornamented, but now dilapidated, windows of the front range of the Castle.

Of the settling of some portion of the Marquess of Worcester's estates upon Cromwell, we take the following particulars from a popular writer of our own times :-"The Commons," he observes, "now dealing with delinquents, do not forget to reward good servants-to' conciliate the grandees,' as splenetic Walker calls it. For about two years (writing after the conclusion of the war) there has been talk and debate about settling £2,500 a year on Lieutenant-General Cromwell; but difficulties have arisen. First, they tried Basinghouse lands, the Marquis of Winchester's, whom Cromwell had demolished; but the Marquis's affairs were in disorder. It was generally found that the Marquis had only a life-rent there-only Abbotson and Itchin in that quarter could be realized. Order thereupon to settle lands of papists and delinquents to the requisite amount wheresoever convenient. To settle especially what lands the Marquis of Worcester had in that county of Southampton; which was done, though still with insufficient result. Then came the army quarrels, and an end of such business. But now, in the Commons' Journals, March 7th, this is what we read :-'An ordinance for passing unto Oliver Cromwell, Esquire, LieutenantGeneral, certain lands and manors in the counties of Gloucester, Monmouth, and Glamorgan, late the Earl of Worcester's, was this day read third time; and, upon the question, passed and ordered to be sent unto the Lords for their