battlemented wall; along
these, two rows of lime trees grew, stately and beautiful in the midst
of all the ruin about them. They spread their waving foliage around, and
threw a mellow, solemn shadow along the walk. Except these, not a tree,
nor even a shrub, was to be seen--the vast woods of nature's own
planting had disappeared--the casualties of war--the chances of times of
trouble, or the more ruinous course of poverty, had laid them low, and
the barren mountain now stood revealed, where once were waving forests
and shady groves, the home of summer birds, the lair of the wild deer.

Cows and farm-horses were stabled in what once had been the outworks of
the castle. Implements of husbandry lay carelessly on all sides, neglect
and decay marked every thing, the garden-wall was broken down in many
places, and cattle strayed at will among the torn fruit-trees and
dilapidated terraces, while, as if to add to the dreary aspect of the
scene, the ground for a considerable distance around had been tilled,
but never subsequently restored to grass land, and now along its ridged
surface noisome weeds and thistles grew rankly, tainting the air with
their odour, and sending up heavy exhalations from the moist and spongy
earth. If, without, all looked sad and sorrow-struck, the appearances
within, were not much better. A large flagged-hall, opened upon two long
ill-lighted corridors, from which a number of small sitting-rooms led
off. Many of these were perfectly devoid of furniture; in the others,
what remained seemed to owe its preservation to its want of value rather
than any other quality. Cracked looking-glasses--broken chairs, rudely
mended by some country hand--ragged and patched carpets, were the only
things to be found, with here and there some dirt-disfigured piece of
framed canvas, which, whether tapestry or painting, no eye could now
discover. These apartments bore little or no trace of habitation;
indeed, for many years they were rarely entered by any one. A large
square room in one of the towers, of some forty feet in dimensions, was
the ordinary resort of the family, serving the purposes of drawing and
dining-room. This was somewhat better in appearance: whatever articles
of furniture had any pretension to comfort or convenience were here
assembled; and here, were met, old-fashioned sofas, deep arm-chairs,
quaint misshapen tables like millipedes, and fat old footstools, the
pious work of long-forgotten grandmothers. A