"He was a great favourer of learning and good literature", and left his castle of Raglan in a state of splendid embellishment.

From a "list of the household, and manner of living, at Raglan", in the time of the third earl (father of the marquis), it may be inferred that the establishment was on a footing second only to that of the queen herself. It was certainly on a scale superior to the minor courts of Germany in our own day; and, when filled with courtiers and armed retainers, the castle of Raglan was well fitted for a royal palace and the reception of princes.

His son and successor, Henry Somerset, fourth earl of Worcester, married Anne, daughter of John lord Russell, heir apparent to the earl of Bedford; and for his loyalty in 1642, was created marquis of Worcester. As the national troubles increased, the marquis fortified his castle of Raglan, and there he entertained his sovereign with unbounded magnificence: such, indeed, were his voluntary sacrifices to the royal cause, that the daily expenditure would have soon ruined any other nobleman of his day. The king himself, fearing that the garrison stores might be suddenly exhausted by his numerous suite, offered to invest the marquis with authority to exact supplies in the country round; but Worcester magnanimously replied, "I humbly thank your majesty, but my castle would not long stand if it leant upon the country. I had rather myself be brought to a morsel of bread, than see one loaf wrung from the poor to entertain your majesty.

We will now take a brief survey of the castle, beginning at the grand entrance, through which we have just passed. (See pl. 28). Here, three pentagonal towers, crested with battlements, and having on their chequered outline marked indications of the besiegers' cannon, present a magnificent picture. These, less defaced than other portions of the castle, are invested with a luxuriant mantle of ivy, as if nature herself kindly interposed to shield the venerable edifice from further violence and decay. In the gateway are grooves for two portcullises. The two pentagonal towers, right and left, were appropriated as quarters for the inferior officers

1 Sandford.

2 For the kind use of this and the two succeeding engravings the Council are indebted to the kindness of the learned author of this paper, and his publishers, Messrs. Virtue and Co. [Ed.]

of the castle; and immediately behind were barrack rooms for the garrison. Adjoining these, was a third or closet tower; and on the left were the officers' apartments, demolished in the siege. Between the first two towers, the grand portal, a work of great strength and fine gothic proportions, opens into the second court. Halting beneath the archway, we cannot but admire the design and execution, in which grace, strength, and beauty are eminently combined; while the deep grooves, worn smooth by the working of a double portcullis, show how readily this hospitable gateway could be transformed, on occasion, into an impassable barrier.

The paved or pitched Court (see plate 29), the area of which was the muster ground within the walls, is now as verdant as a bowling green. The buildings on the north side were destroyed during the siege; and through the east wall a breach was effected that hastened the capitulation. These towering battlements, as we observe, are festooned with ivy; every crevice sends forth its trees, shrubs, and parasites, that luxuriate in the old mortar. Under the same canopy of leaves, birds of song and birds of ill omen breed and congregate in good fellowship. At the extremity of the court, westward, we obtain an imposing view of the architecture of the south side, which, with all its scars and dilapidations, is eminently picturesque. It is hung with the richest tapestry that nature can weave-an embroidered vestment of evergreen--through which appears in grand proportions the window of the great hall. The point from which this view may be enjoyed to greatest advantage is marked by a seat under an ash-tree, well known to every visitor, and long remembered as a green spot in his memory of Raglan.

The great kitchen, a most important adjunct to the barons' hall, occupies the whole area of another strong pentagonal tower. From the kitchen a passage leads across the pitched court to the buttery, and thence again to the common dining hall or parlour. This apartment (49 feet by 21) communicates by three contiguous openings or doors with the great hall, which lies between the pitched court and the chapel, and occupies nearly the whole space between the dining hall and the officers' tower at the

entrance.