ensive are the ruins which have survived. I have a perfect
recollection how it peeped out upon me--through the light leaf of the
poplar, and the pink blossom of the apple. It lies close to the road, on
the left. An old round tower, apparently of the time of William the
Conqueror, very soon attracts your attention. The stones are large, and the
interstices are also very considerable. It was here, says a yet current
report, that William assembled the Barons of Normandy, and the invasion of
England was determined upon. Such a spot therefore strikes an English
beholder with no ordinary emotions. I alighted; sent the cabriolet to the
inn, and wished both postilion and horses to get their dinners without
delay. For myself, I had resolved to reserve my appetite till I reached
_Bolbec_; and there was food enough before me of a different description,
to exercise my intellectual digestion for at least the next hour. Knocking
at the massive portals, I readily obtained admittance.

The area, entirely a grass-plat, was occupied by several cows. In front,
were evidently the ruins of a large chapel or church--perhaps of the XIVth
century. The outer face of the walls went deeply and perpendicularly down
to the bottom of a dry fosse; and the right angle portion of the building
was covered with garden ground, where the owner showed us some peas which
he boasted he should have at his table within five days. I own I thought he
was very likely to carry his boast into execution; for finer vegetables, or
a finer bed of earth, I had scarcely ever beheld. How things, my dear
friend, are changed from their original character and destination! "But the
old round tower," say you!--To "the old round tower" then let us go. The
stair-case is narrow, dark, and decayed. I reached the first floor, or
circular room, and noticed the construction of the window seats--all of
rough, solid, and massive stone. I ascended to the second floor; which, if
I remember rightly, was strewn with a portion of the third floor--that had
fallen in from sheer decay. Great must have been the crash--as the
fragments were huge, and widely scattered. On gaining a firm footing upon
the outer wall; through a loop-hole window, I gazed around with equal
wonder and delight. The wall of this castle could not be less than ten feet
in thickness. A young woman, the shepherdess of the spot, attended as
guide.

"What is that irregular rude mound, or wall of earth, in the centre of
which ch