n. Enough of the old building remained
to allow it still to be called a castle. A round tower or keep, with
two of the ancient walls surmounted by battlements, stood as they had
done for centuries, when the castle had often defied a hostile force;
but the larger portion had been pulled down and replaced by a plain
structure, more commodious, perhaps, but as ugly as could well be
designed. Round it ran a moat, over which was a drawbridge,--no longer
capable of being drawn up,--while a flight of stone steps led to the
entrance door, ungraced by a porch. The large hall, the walls of which
were merely whitewashed, with a roof of plain oak, had from its size an
imposing appearance. The walls of the hall were decked with firearms,--
muskets, pistols, arquebuses, blunderbusses,--pikes, and halberts,
symmetrically arranged in stars or other devices; stags' horns,
outstretched eagles' wings, extended skins of kites, owls, and
king-fishers, together with foxes' brushes, powder-flasks, shot-pouches,
fishing-rods, nets, and dogs' collars; while in the corners stood four
figures, clothed in complete suits of armour, with lances in their
hands, or arquebuses on their arms.

Over the front door were the skin and wings of an enormous eagle,
holding a dagger in its mouth,--the device of our family. A similar
device in red brick-work was to be seen on the wall above the entrance
on the outside. Paint had been sparsely used,--paper not at all,--many
of the rooms being merely whitewashed, though the more important were
wainscotted with brown oak, and others with plain deal on which the
scions of our race had for several generations exercised their artistic
skill, either with knives, hot irons, or chalk. The breakfast and
dining-rooms, which opened from the great hall, were wainscotted, their
chief embellishments being some old pictures in black frames, and a
number of hunting, shooting, and racing prints, with red tape round them
to serve the purpose of frames; while the library so-called was worthy
of being the habitation of an ascetic monk, though two of the walls were
covered with book-shelves which contained but few books, and they served
chiefly to enable countless spiders to form their traps for unwary
flies, while a table covered with green cloth and three wooden chairs
formed its only furniture.

The bedrooms were numerous enough to accommodate the whole of our large
family, and an almost unlimited number of guests, who, o