SECT. XXXIV.

FROM this fcene of magnificence in fplen

dor, we visited another of magnificence in ruin. This was Carifbroke-castle, an object perhaps the best worth feeing of any in the island. Instead of paffing on therefore to the Needle-cliffs, which remained yet unfeen, we returned to Newport, which lies within a short walk of the castle.

Carisbroke-castle stands on elevated ground, nearly in the centre of the island. It is a fortrefs of great antiquity. Its towers and battlements have been the care of several princes through a long feries of years; and we easily mark the style of different ages, not only from the dates, and arms, which are placed in various parts of the castle, but also in the mode of building. Its latest works have the air of modern fortification. They are constructed of earth, faced with ftone, and are carried round the castle as an outwork; forming a circumference of about a mile and a half. What is properly called the caftle, ftands on fomewhat

lefs

less than two acres of land. It is difficult on the spot to comprehend the various parts of this complicated fortrefs; to defcribe it would be impoffible. Some of the more remarkable parts are commonly fhewn. We were carried to see Montjoy's tower; the walls of which are eighteen feet thick. We were conducted also to the top of the Keep; from whence we discovered the fea in the three directions of north, fouth, and eaft. On the weft, a hill intercepted it. We were fhewn also a well as curious for its depth, as the Keep is for its height; and were defired to listen to the echoes and lengthened found, which even a pin makes when thrown into it. There lived lately an appendage to this well, which deferved notice alfo. It was an ass, which had drawn water patiently from it, through the space of forty years.

Carifbroke-castle was once the refidence of the princes of the country; and afterwards of appointed governors, when the island became annexed to the crown. As the inhabitants hadnot that ready accefs to juftice, which other parts of the kingdom had, they fometimes smarted under the defpotic power of their governors. Remonftrances were often made to

the

the crown; but it seems to have been a maxim of ftate, especially during the reign of the Tudors, to ftrengthen, rather than abridge the power of governors in the remoter provinces ; and though it was not always a maxim of juftice, it was probably a maxim of good policy. On the borders of Scotland we have many instances of this delegated tyranny.

But though the governors of the island were fometimes apt to over-rule law themselves; they were careful not to let the inhabitants feel vexations of any law, but their own. For this reason they would never fuffer an attorney to settle in the island. In the Oglander family are preserved fome memoirs of the country, written by Sir John Oglander, one of their ancestors, in which we are told, that in the reign of Elizabeth, when Sir George Cary was governor of the island, an attorney came sneaking into it, with a view to fettle. Sir George hearing of him had him apprehended; and ordering bells to be fastened about his legs, and a lighted firebrand tied to his back, he turned him loose to the populace, who hunted him out of the island *.

* See Sir R. Worsley's Account of the Isle of Wight.

Adjoining