.

A Lantern Tower the learned call it, and indeed the semblance of an
open lantern doth rise, supported by pinnacles, in the centre of the
Tower; but to most men it resembles less a lantern than an Imperial
crown swung high in air, under a canopy of dazzling blue. It is a
golden crown in the daytime, as it shines on high above the hum of the
city streets in the clear mid-day light. It becomes a fiery crown when
the sun sets, for then the golden fleurs-de-lys on each of the eight
golden vanes atop of the pinnacles gleam and glow like sparks of
flame, climbing higher and ever higher into the steep and burnished
air. But it is a jewelled crown that shines by night over the
slumbering town beneath; for then the turrets and pinnacles are gemmed
with glittering stars.

That Tower, to those who have been born under it, is one of the
dearest things upon this earth. Judge then of the dismay that was
caused to every man, woman, and child, when Newcastle was being
besieged by the Scottish army during the Civil Wars, at the message
that came from the general of the beleaguering army, that were the
town not surrendered to him without delay, he would train his guns on
the Tower of St. Nicholas itself, and lay that first in ruins. Happily
Sir John Marley, the English Commander, who was likewise Mayor of the
Town, was more than a match for the canny Scot. And this was the
answer that the gallant Sir John sent back from the beleaguered town:
that General Leslie might train his guns on the Tower and welcome, if
such were his pleasure, but if he did so, before he brought down one
single stone of it, he would be obliged to take the lives of his own
Scottish prisoners, whom the guns would find as their first target
there.

Sir John was as good as his word. The Scottish prisoners were strung
out in companies along the Tower ledges, and kept there day after day,
till the Scottish Army had retreated, baffled for that time, and St.
Nicholas was saved. Therefore, thanks to Sir John Marley and his
nimble wit, the pinnacled Crown still soars up aloft into the sky,
keeping guard over the city of Newcastle to-day, as it hath done
throughout the centuries.

* * * * *

Little did the Friends, who came to Newcastle a few years after the
Scotsmen had departed, regard the beauty of St. Nicholas or its Tower.
They came also desiring to besiege the town, though with only
spiritual weapons. The Church to them was but a