for
the fathom-thick walls yet remain; the carvings over the
windows and gates stand forth in light and shade, and the
moat round about, which is only separated from the Vettern
by the narrow carriage road, takes the reflection of the
immense building as a mirrored image.

"We now stand before it in daylight. Not a pane of glass is
to be found in it; planks and old doors are nailed fast to
the window frames; the balls alone still stand on the two
towers, broad, heavy, and resembling colossal toadstools.
The iron spire of the one still towers aloft in the air; the
other spire is bent: like the hands on a sundial it shows
the time--the time that is gone. The other two balls are
half fallen down; lambs frisk about between the beams, and
the space below is used as a cow-stall.

"The arms over the gateway have neither spot nor blemish:
they seem as if carved yesterday; the walls are firm, and
the stairs look like new. In the palace yard, far above the
gateway, the great folding door was opened, whence once the
minstrels stepped out and played a welcome greeting from the
balcony, but even this is broken down: we go through the
spacious kitchen, from whose white walls, a sketch of
Vadstene palace, ships, and flowering trees, in red chalk,
still attract the eye.

"Here where they cooked and roasted, is now a large empty
space; even the chimney is gone; and from the ceiling where
thick, heavy beams of timber have been placed close to one
another, there hangs the dust-covered cobweb, as if the
whole were a mass of dark gray dropping stones.

"We walk from hall to hall, and the wooden shutters are
opened to admit daylight. All is vast, lofty, spacious, and
adorned with antique chimney-pieces, and from every window
there is a charming prospect over the clear, deep Vettern.
In one of the chambers in the ground floor sat the insane
Duke Magnus (whose stone image we lately saw conspicuous in
the church), horrified at having signed his own brother's
death-warrant; dreamingly in love with the portrait of
Scotland's Queen, Mary Stuart; paying court to her and
expecting to see the ship, with her, glide over the sea
towards Vadstene. And she came--he thought she came--in the
form of a mermaid, raising herself aloft on the water: she