e
elements, is a striking ruin, the precipitous rock on which it stands
being a natural fortress. The Northmen when they first invaded Britain
made its site their stronghold, but the present castle was not built
until the reign of King Stephen, when its builder, William le Gros, Earl
of Albemarle, was so powerful in this part of Yorkshire that it was said
he was "in Stephen's days the more real king." But Henry II. compelled
the proud earl to submit to his authority, though "with much searching
of heart and choler," and Scarborough afterwards became one of the royal
castles, Edward I. in his earlier years keeping court there. It was
there that Edward II. was besieged and his favorite Gaveston starved
into surrender, and then beheaded on Blacklow Hill in violation of the
terms of his capitulation. Scarborough was repeatedly attacked by the
Scotch, but it subsequently enjoyed an interval of peace until the
Reformation. In Wyatt's rebellion his friends secured possession of the
castle by stratagem. A number of his men, disguised as peasants, on
market-day strolled one by one into the castle, and then at a given
signal overpowered the sentinels and admitted the rest of their band.
The castle, however, was soon recaptured from the rebels, and Thomas
Stafford, the leader in this enterprise, was beheaded. From this event
is derived the proverb of a "Scarborough warning"--a word and a blow,
but the blow first. In Elizabeth's reign Scarborough was little else but
a fishing-village, and so unfortunate that it appealed to the queen for
aid. In the Civil War the castle was held by the Royalists, and was
besieged for six months. While the guns could not reduce it, starvation
did, and the Parliamentary army took possession. Three years later the
governor declared for the king, and the castle again stood a five
months' siege, finally surrendering. Since then it has fallen into
decay, but it was a prison-house for George Fox the Quaker, who was
treated with severity there. A little way down the hill are the ruins of
the ancient church of St. Mary, which has been restored.

[Illustration: SCARBOROUGH SPA AND ESPLANADE.]

[Illustration: SCARBOROUGH FROM THE SEA.]

The cliffs on the bay to the south of Castle Hill have been converted
into a beautifully-terraced garden and promenade. Here, amid flowers and
summer houses and terraced walks, is the fashionable resort, the
footpaths winding up and down the face of the cliffs or broadening i