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 gate-house, 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. We can not but add that of this lordly
palace, where princes feasted and heroes fought, now in the bloody earnest
of storm and siege, and now in the games of chivalry, where beauty dealt
the prize which valor won, all is now desolate. The bed of the lake is but
a rushy swamp and the massive ruins of the castle only serve to show what
their splendor once was, and to impress on the musing visitor the
transitory value of human possessions, and the happiness of those who
enjoy a humble lot in virtuous contentment.

ALNWICK [Footnote: From "Visits to Remarkable Places."]

BY WILLIAM HOWITT

A visit to Alnwick is like going back into the old feudal times. The town
still retains the moderate dimensions and the quiet air of one that has
grown up under the protection of the castle, and of the great family of
the castle. Other towns, that arose under the same circumstances, have
caught the impulse of modern commerce and manufacture, and have grown into
huge, bustling, and noisy cities, in which the old fortified walls and the
old castle have either vanished, or have been swallowed up, and stand, as
if in superannuated wonder, amid a race and a wilderness of buildings,
with which they have nothing in common. When, however, you enter Alnwick,
you still feel that you are entering a feudal place. It is as the abode of
the Percys has presented itself to your imagination. It is still, quaint,
gray, and old-worldish....

In fact, the whole situation is fine, without being highly romantic, and
worthy of its superb old fabric. In the castle itself, without and within,
I never saw one on English ground that more delighted me; because it more
completely came up to the beau ideal of the feudal baronial mansion, and
especially of that of the Percys, the great chief