To bear with her from Rokeby's bowers To Barnard-Castle's lofty towers, Secret and safe, the banded chests, In which the wealth of Mortham rests. This hasty purpose fix'd, they part, Each with a grieved and anxious heart. END OF CANTO FOURTH. NOTES TO CANTO FIRST. Note I. On Barnard's towers and Tees's stream, &c.-P. 9. Barnard Castle, saith old Leland, "standeth stately upon Tees." It is founded upon a very high bank, and its ruins impend over the river, including within the area a circuit of six acres and upwards. This once magnificent fortress derives its name from its founder Barnard Baliol, the ancestor of the short and unfortunate dynasty of that name, which succeeded to the Scottish throne under the patronage of Edward I. and Edward III. Baliol's tower, afterwards mentioned in the poem, is a round tower of great size, situated at the western extremity of the building. It bears marks of great antiquity, and was remarkable for the curious construction of its vaulted roof, which has been lately greatly injured by the operations of some persons to whom the tower has been leased for the purpose of making patent shot! The prospect from the top of Baliol's tower commands a rich and magnificent view of the wooded valley of the Tees. |