little; yet sufficient to show that its style of workmanship is similar to what characterized buildings dedicated to Piety, about the reign of Henry VII. The dimensions of that Another, of an elegant 4 in. adorns the southern

-that is, florid Gothic. window are 14 ft. by 7. lancet form, 8 ft. by 4 ft.

wall, nearly at the west end. Probably a correspondent one graced the south-east end, and a larger one, more ornamented, rose between them. The eastern window, over the altar, was doubtless, the most superb, both in size and structure,

its

-as

appearance, from the terraces beyond the sleeping waters of the subjacent Moat, must have been the most imposing.- -The Family-Passage to the Chapel was evidently on the same level with the Great Hall and chief apartments: on looking towards which, may be discerned some fine double chain-carving, over the now blank windows.

Underneath this once-beautiful space, dedicated to Piety, and within whose walls devotional fervors ascended to the Great Father of Spirits, is

A CRYPT OR VAULT,

having an appearance, and bearing a Name, calculated to impress the beholder with horror. That such name is inaccurate, will briefly be shown. For, whatever was erroneous in the Religion of past times, we may presume such a scriptural text as this, must have whispered to its professors somewhat of a holy and benignant meaning-" Glory to God in the highest-and on earth Peace!

good-will towards men!"Can we therefore suppose human nature ever to have been so insensate as to fancy itself rendering "Glory to God" in the Sanctuary just noticed, while immediately beneath, the iron was entering into the Soul of incarcerated Sufferers ?-Could mortals ever have been so degraded by Ignorance, and so seared with Cruelty, as to imagine that the Groans of a Captive under their feet would give wings to Devotion, and speed the chant of praise to the ear of MERCY? Impossible! Yet creative imagination has thus wildly wrought, respecting the dark Vault we are now surveying.Nor has fancy taken possession of it as "a local habitation" only; but has also given it "a Name"the Dungeon.- -In forbearing thus to designate it in the present work, some reason ought to be assigned for the writer's incredulity; and that reason is this: The Dungeon, in such edifices as Dudley Castle, was never in a situation resembling that here spoken of; but was always nearer the Keep or chief Fortress.That this Crypt was never used as a Prison is not averred: for, to such uses have Palaces been applied, and even Churches prostituted. But that, for such a purpose the present Crypt was originally constructed, is altogether improbable. At the time, however, the author witholds his credence from one conjecture, it is right he should adduce others which have been mentioned, and leave the reader to form his own conclusions.-The first of these additional conjectures is, That the original use, to which this spacious Vault was applied, was

a receptacle for what has a tendency "to make glad the heart of man,"-not to sadden it. In fact, that it was the grand Store-place for those abundant supplies of good cheer, which a Garrison and Household, on so large a scale, indispensibly required.—During times of Peace, this was probably its purpose. "In troublous times,"-especially during a siege, when an additional number of soldiers were necessarily drawn within the walls, it might have been used as the dormitory for not a few, who, stretched on their beds of straw, heeded little else, save the vast magazine of liquor by which they were surrounded, demanding, no doubt, the vigilance of commissariat authority to be kept from spoliation.

The second conjecture is-That as Cemeteries, or Family Vaults, were, in edifices like this Castle, not unfrequently formed beneath the Chapel,— and, as no burial place has yet been discovered within the precincts of the Castle, it is not improbable that, at a greater depth than its present floor, this was the use to which the dreary space might have been applied. By digging beneath the present floor, this latter supposition may be confirmed or refuted.-The dimensions of the Vault are 45 ft. 10 in. by 22 ft. 2 in.

Leaving the field of conjecture, and passing, for the present, the Portcullis-entrance into the Area, with an adjoining Building (20 ft. by 15) of uniform appearance, and comparative modern date, called the Stables, a curved path will conduct the visitor to

THE KEEP.

Yet, while ascending that path, an ancient Fragment to the left, having two cruciform apertures, will be noticed: nor will the mouldering baseframe, by which the Keep-Terrace is rimmed, escape the antiquary's observation. That gained, he will pause a few moments, not merely to recover breath, but to survey with solemn emotion what Tradition deems the oldest Ruin in England. Who shall contradict her, or refute her legendary Tale? That such is the fact is not averred by the writer of these pages;b ut by chroniclers who have, before him, trodden this historic ground. Let Camden speak for them all. "In the very confines with Worcestershire, Dudley Castle towereth up upon a hill built and named so of one Dudo or Dodo, an English Saxon, about the yeere of our Salvation 700. In King William the Conqueror's daies, as we find in his Domesday Booke, William Fitz Ausculph* possessed it. Afterwards it fell to Noblemen surnamed Somery; and, by an heire generall of them, to Sir Richard Sutton Knight, descended from the Suttons of Nottinghamshire: whose Posterity (commonly called from that time Lords of Dudley, but summoned to Parliament first by King Henry the 6th) grew up to a right honourable Family."

Without staying to dissolve the charm which, according to this and other writers, Time has

*This name should be spelt Ansculph; as will be shown, by an original Document, in the more compendious History of Dudley.

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thrown over the edifice, by investing it with the sanctity of ages, the present author will humbly endeavour to pourtray it as it is.—After surveying the ponderous mass in its ample dimensions, rising like a Giant high into the air," the spectator will proceed to scrutinize its parts,—its boldly-swelling Towers,-its spacious Curtain, pierced with slant loop-holes,-its repulsive Entrance under a Port-cullis, between Saxon parallel arches, and ribs of durable red Stone. A stair-case to the left, leads to the battlemented summit; and two others, curving within the towers, communicate with the aperture towards the north, constructed for the safety of the besieged, and for the annoyance of besiegers. These Towers, originally, were four in number, each being 23 feet in diameter to the exterior surface,-i. e. 12 feet within; the walls being 11 feet thick, consisting of lime-stone, so hard, as to be nearly imperishable by weather, and almost indestructible by Time,-yielding only to the thunders of human violence, Artillery, which is able to deface or hurl down the strongest and proudest works of man.

The Interior of the Keep (49 ft. 11 in. by 27 ft. 5 in.) was the Fastness, or Strong-Hold in moments of desperate warfare. This communicated with the other two Towers, whose bases only remain.

Should the atmosphere be tolerably free from smoke or vapour, the stair-case, by all means, ought to be ascended, to the left of the entrance; a Key to which is kept at a neighbouring Lodge.