isting in the reign of King Arthur, and the Saxon king is only mentioned as repairing and improving the structure. The Lady of the Lake, in her address to Queen Elizabeth, says:

"I am the lady of this pleasant lake,

Who, since the time of great King Arthur's reign,

That here, with royal court, abode did make,

Have led a low'ring life in restless pain.

Till now that this your third arrival here

Doth cause me come abroad, and boldly thus appear."

Whatever date be assigned to its origin, the castle was certainly demolished in the wars between King Edmund and Canute the Dane. The present structure was not commenced until about a century later.

After the conquest the demesne of Kenilworth remained with the crown until the time of Henry I., who gave it to a Norman named Geoffrey de Clinton. Dugdale credits the accounts which describe him "to have been of very mean parentage, and merely raised from the dust by the favor of the said King Henry, from whose hands he received large possessions and no small honor, being made both lord chamberlain and treasurer to the said king, and afterward justice of England: which great advancements do argue that he was a man of extraordinary parts. It seems he took much delight in this place, in respect of the spacious woods, and that large and pleasant lake (through which divers petty streams do pass) lying among them; for it was he that first built that great and strong castle here, which was the glory of all these parts, and for many respects, may be ranked in a third place, at the least, with the most stately castles in England."

Even in this its first state, Kenilworth castle appears to have been of large space and great strength. This is shown by the extent, breadth, and depth of the outer moat, and by the ancient keep, called Cæsar's tower, which, from its form and the extraordinary thickness of its walls, appears to have been of the first foundation. It was called Cæsar's tower, as Laneham conjectures, "rather as I have good cause to think, for that it is square and high, formed after the manner of Cæsar's forts, than that ever he built it." A principal and often very ancient tower in many castles is

called "Cæsar's."

Such a structure as Kenilworth castle became a desirable acquisition to the crown. It did not, therefore, long remain in the possession of the founder's descendants; but as the Clintons continued to possess the royal favor, and to live in prosperity and

wealth, after they no longer held the castle, it is probable that it was relinquished to the king for some valuable consideration.

When Cardinal Ottoboni (afterward pope under the name of Adrian V.) was sent to England by the pope, as legate, to endeavor to compose the differences between Henry and the barons, the king gave orders for Kenilworth castle to be given up to Walter Gray, archbishop of York, for the legate's use. It does not appear, however, that he occupied it, but appointed Richard de Gray to keep it for him.

Not long after this, the king appointed the famous Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, to be governor of the castle, and afterward granted it for life to him and his wife Eleanor, who was the king's sister. This earl is stated to have "wonder. fully fortified the castle, and stored it with many kinds of warlike engines, till that time never seen nor heard of in England." The earl afterward took a prominent part in the memorable revolt of the barons, the details of which, although of great importance in history, had little connexion with Kenilworth. When, however, the barons were defeated at Evesham, in August, 1265, the earl and his eldest son were among the slain, and it became the scene of very important operations. The earl's eldest surviving son, Simon de Montfort, continued in the castle, into which he received those that fled from the battle, and the friends and followers of persons killed. Their daily increasing numbers, and their exasperation of mind in consequence of "the death of their kindred and familiars," gave great strength and confidence to Simon, who "sent abroad his bailiffs and officers like a king-his soldiers spoiling, burning, plundering, and destroying, the houses, lands, and lordships of his adversaries, driving away their cattle, and imprisoning many, forcing them to what fines he pleased for their liberty."

This state of things continued until about midsummer, 1266, when the king, having become seriously alarmed for the consequences, determined to lay siege to the castle, and to that end marched with an army to Warwick, where he remained until he was joined by reinforcements from different parts of the country. Simon de Montfort, feeling that he should not be able to hold out long unless he could collect a force sufficient to raise the siege, left Kenilworth with the intention, it would seem, of going to France, though he does not appear to have gone further than the Isle of Ely. He encouraged Henry de Hastings, whom he left governor in his absence, to make a stout defence, and assured him of timely relief. Meantime, Prince Edward surrounded the castle; and while he determined, if need were, to starve the garrison into a surrender, he took care that there should be abundance in his own camp. Among the items of provision, we find that the sheriff of Norfolk was commanded to cause thirty-six tuns of wine to be brought thither from Lynn.

The king, wishing to prevent the effusion of blood, sent to offer very favorable terms to the besieged; "but," says Dugdale, "they did not only slight the king's offers, but maimed the messenger, and with much resolution defended themselves against all the assaults that were made, having engines that cast forth stones of great bigness, and making bold and frequent sallies, did very much mischief: neither could the sentence of Ottobon, the pope's legate, who was there in the camp, nor the king's power, any whit daunt them."

The king, being "much moved" at this reception of his conciliatory measure, determined to storm the castle. But about three weeks were necessary to enable the sheriff to collect the masons and other laborers who, with their hatchets, pickaxes, and tools, would be required in this service; and in the meantime the garrison began to suffer greatly, not only from want of provisions, but in consequence of a pestilential disease which raged among them, and of which many died. When the king heard of this he renewed his overtures, with assurances of kind treatment if they would surrender. In answer to this, they proposed that all acts of hostility should cease for the present, and that they should meantime be allowed to send to Simon de Montfort, to know whether he would relieve them by a fixed day or not; and if he did not, they engaged to deliver up the castle. The king consented. But before the messengers despatched to Simon could return, the flux and other grievous diseases increased so much among the inmates of the castle, that those who had hitherto escaped were unwilling to hazard the infection, and having little hope that Montfort would be able to assist them, surrendered the castle to the king, on condition that the governor and all the inmates "should have four days' time to carry out all their goods, and go freely away with horse, arms, and all accoutrements, throughout any part of the kingdom." Thus ended this memorable siege, which lasted full

six months, and the whole history of which indicates the great strength of the place, which after all was overcome by disease and famine rather than by the forces of the king.

Very soon after the king had gained possession of the castle he bestowed it upon his youngest son Edmund, earl of Lancaster, who was also on this occasion created earl of Leicester. At this time (7th Edward I.) Kenilworth castle was made the scene of a splendid and costly festival, the chief promoter of which was Roger Mortimer, earl of March, who was also the principal challenger in the tilt-yard. This personage appears to have been one of the most fashionable gallants of the time, and his own son Geoffrey named him "The King of Folly." The meeting was called the "Round Table," from the banquetings being held, according to a then ancient custom, at a round table, that the harmony of the festival might not be disturbed by questions about precedence. A hundred knights and an equal number of ladies were present. The knights, many of whom came from foreign parts to be present on the occasion, amused themselves with tilting and other exercises of chivalry, and the ladies with dancing. It is recorded in the accounts of this festival, apparently as an extraordinary circumstance, that the ladies were clad in silken mantles. The Lady of the Lake, in her address to Queen Elizabeth, which we have already quoted, thus alludes to the transactions which we have recorded:

H

The Earl Sir Mountford's force gave me no heart,

Sir Edmund Crouchback's state, the prince's son,

Could not cause me out of my lake to part;

Nor Roger Mortimer's ruff, who first begun

(As Arthur's heir) to keep the Table Round,

Could not comfort my heart, or cause me come on ground."

Henry VIII. incurred considerable expense in repairing and altering the castle. Among other works, he caused the banqueting-house, erected by Henry V., to be taken down, and part of it to be rebuilt in the base-court of the castle, near the Swan

tower.

After this, nothing particular occurs in the history of the castle until the time of Queen Elizabeth, who, in the fifth year of her reign, bestowed it upon Robert Lord Dudley, her favorite, whom she soon after created baron of Denbigh, and earl of Leicester. From him the castle of Kenilworth and the surrounding domain received most extensive additions and alterations, which are said to have cost him no less than 60,000/-a prodigious sum to be so applied at that period. His principal works consisted in the erection of the grand" Gatehouse" on the north side; for, after having filled up a part of the moat on that side he made the principal entrance from the north, instead of the south, as it had been before: he also erected a large mass of square rooms, at the southeast angle of the upper court, called "Leicester's buildings," and built from the ground two handsome towers at the head of the pool. The one called the "Flood Gate," or "Gallery Tower," stood at the end of the tiltyard, and contained a spacious and noble room, whence the ladies might conveniently see the exercises of tilting and other sports. The other was called "Mortimer's Tower," either, as Dugdale thinks, after one that stood there, and in which Lord Mortimer lodged at the Round Table festival, or else because Sir John Mortimer was confined there when a prisoner in the reign of Henry VI. Leicester also greatly enlarged the chase. Although his works are of the most recent date, they have the most ancient and ruined appearance, having been built of a brown friable stone, not well calculated to stand the weather.

Sir Walter Scott has given a short description of the appearance which the castle presented in this its most perfect state. This account appears to have been drawn from a comparison of the description given by Laneham, with the details in the survey made in the reign of James I., and with the actual remains of the castle. We may very suitably introduce it here:

"The outer wall of this splendid and gigantic structure enclosed seven acres, a part of which was occupied by extensive stables, and by a pleasure garden, with its trim arbors and parterres, and the rest forming the large base-court or outer yard of the noble castle. The lordly structure itself, which rose near the centre of this spacious enclosure, was composed of a huge pile of magnificent castellated buildings, apparently of different ages, surrounding an inner court, and bearing in the names attached to each portion of the magnificent mass, and in the armorial bearings which were there blazoned, the emblems of mighty chiefs who had long passed

away, and whose history, could ambition have bent ear to it, might have read a lesson to the haughty favorite who had acquired and was now augmenting this fair domain. A large and massive keep, which formed the citadal of the castle, was of uncertain though great antiquity. It hore the name of Cæsar, probably from its resemblance to that in the tower of London, so called. The external wall of this royal castle was, on the south and west sides, adorned and defended by a lake, partly artificial, across which Leicester had constructed a stately bridge, that Elizabeth might enter the castle by a path hitherto untrodden, instead of the usual entrance to the northward, over which he had erected a gatehouse or barbican, which still exists, and is equal in extent and superior in architecture to the baronial castle of many a northern chief. Beyond the lake lay an extensive chase, full of red deer, fallow deer, roes, and every species of game, and abounding with lofty trees, from among which the extended front and massive towers of the castle were seen to rise in majesty and beauty."

The Keep.

There are few edifices now remaining in England that lay claim to so venerable an antiquity as Carisbrook castle. This celebrated pile stands about a mile to the southwest of Newport, the principal town of the Isle of Wight, and consequently almost in the centre of the island. It is erected upon an eminence, from which it overlooks the town of Carisbrook, now an insignificant village, but which, before Newport rose into importance, enjoyed the dignity of metropolis of the Isle of Wight, under the