^{page 371 note [a]} On Litt. 83.

^{page 377 note [b]} To us, in this more refined age, it may naturally seem very astonishing, how so great a number of men could find lodging in such a building: but a little anecdote which I will venture to relate, on good authority, of the family of Lord Lovat, (who was one of the last. Chieftains that preserved the rude manners, and barbarous authority, of the early feudal ages), may perhaps enable us to form some idea of their manner of dwelling. This powerful laird resided in an house which would be esteemed but an indifferent one for a very private, plain country gentleman, in England; as it had, (I think), properly, only four rooms on a floor, and those not large. Here, however, he kept a sort of court, and several public tables; and had a very numerous body of retainers always attending. His own constant residence, and the place where he received company, even at dinner, was in the very room where he lodged; and his lady's sole apartment was her bed-room; and the only provision for the lodging of the servants, and retainers, was a quantity of straw, which they spread, every night, on the floors of the lower rooms, where the whole inferior part of the family, consisting of a very great number of persons, took up their abode.

^{page 384 note [c]} That catapults, and balistas, and such kind of warlike engines, which had several different names, were in use in the time of our first Norman kings, both in England and abroad, appears from a variety of passages in history; a few of which I shall cite: Lord Lyttelton, in his Life of Henry the Second (vol. iii. p. 466), says, “Saladin assaulted Ascalon, on the side of the Continent, with thirteen “catapults, the great artillery of those times, which threw heavy stones against the “walls;” and this was about the year 1187, above an hundred years after the building of Rochester castle. Camden informs us, “That the strength of “the machines used for throwing stones was incredibly great; and that with “those called mangonels they used to throw mill-stones.” He adds, “ That, “when king John besieged Bedford castle, there were on the east side one petrary “and two mangonels daily applying against the tower; and on the west, “two mangonels battering the old tower; as also upon the south; and another ‘upon the north part, which beat two breaches in the walls.” When Kenilworth castle was besieged by Henry III. the garrison had engines which cast stones of an extraordinary bigness. And bishop Gibson, in his edition of Camden, says, “That near the castle they still find balls of stone sixteen inches in diameter, “supposed to have been thrown in slings, in the time of the Barons wars.” Holinshed (p. 839), tells us, “That Edward I. at the siege of Strively [Stirling] “Castle, caused certain engines of wood to be raised up against the castle, which “shot off stones of two or three hundred weight.”

These kind of engines, however, though continued in use so long as till the introduction of cannon, were of a very early invention, and were even used very frequently by the Romans. And what the effect of them was, we may conceive from two very remarkable accounts given of them, by Josephus and Tacitus. Josephus, in his account of the siege of Jerusalem, says, “That those engines that threw stones were larger “than the rest; and that by means of these the Romans not only repelled the excursions “of the Jews, but drove away those that were upon the walls; and the “stones that were cast were of the weight of a talent (that is above an hundred “weight), and were carried two furlongs and further.” (See Jewish war, b. v. c. vi.). And Tacitus, in describing a battle fought near Cremona, between the army of Vitellius and the army of Vespasian, under Antonius Primus, says, “The soldiers of Vitellius planted their missive engines on the ridge of the Post “humian Way, that thence, with more room, and over clear fields, they might “discharge their deadly contents: and one of amazing bulk, of the sort called “balistæ, belonging to the fifteenth legion, overthrew the enemies ranks, by pouring “upon them great massy stones.” (Tacitus, l. iii.)

^{page 393 note *} There is, however, a tradition of there having been formerly a well within the Keep itself; and such an one is mentioned in some old accounts of the castle, referred to by Mr. Grose; and indeed hardly any of these remarkable Keeps, or Towers, were without them. It appears from the notes collected in Mr. Grose's curious work (to which we are indebted for the preservation of many valuable records, as well as for rescuing so many remains of antient buildings, now falling to decay, from utter oblivion), that there were such kind of wells in many castles. There was a fine one in Colchester castle, even within the memory of persons now living; which has been utterly destroyed, and of which, at present, not the least traces are left. And there was also, as tradition says, a well three hundred feet deep, in the Keep of Carisbrook castle, in the Isle of Wight, of which no appearance whatever now remains. In like manner we are told there was a well in the Keep of the castle at Winchester, though both it, and the castle itself, are now destroyed; and mention is made of this well in Holinshed. There was also, according to the account given in King's Vale Royal of Cheshire, a well of a most prodigious depth in the chief tower of Beeston castle. And (as Mr. Grose informs us), in December 1770, in sinking the floor of the cellar, in Bamborough castle, in Northumberland (which was built very much upon the same plan with Dover castle, and about the same time), a carious draw-well was accidentally found, the depth of which was 145 feet, all cut through the solid rock, which had long been forgotten, and remained concealed in one of the apartments. In the old tower also at Newcastle, which was built in the time of William the Conqueror, is a well of very considerable depth, and of very curious contrivance.

^{page 395 note *} This tower was built about the time of Henry II. as appears from some passages in Dugdale's Monasticon.

^{page 397 note *} That the Saxons ornamented many of their buildings very richly, is manifest from the Church at Barfreston in Kent; from the well-known Tower at St. Edmunds Bury; and from two church towers at Dover and Sandwich, which are both richly adorned with pilasters, and small round arches, as this castle is.

^{page 398 note *} This front of the castle is not precisely facing the east; but rather inclines little towards the south. Its length is 92 feet 10 inches; and the length of the north front, as also of the south front, is 98 feet.

^{page 399 note *} As to a little square door, at a considerable height upon the steps, on one side, it seems manifestly a modern breach, very rudely made.

^{page 404 note *} The ancient chapel, mentioned in old records as being in this castle, have been, most probably, on a level with the principal floor, and state apartments; and could not have been originally here, where there was neither light nor a convenient approach.

^{page 410 note *} In a very curious manuscript, which I was once favoured with a sight of, containing an account of the late earl of Strathmore's travels through Spain, mention is made of a like singularity: for in the Aqueduct near Segovia, which was undoubtedly built in the time of Trajan, there are also some pointed arches.

^{page 412 note *} Holinshed, v. iii. p. 188. b.