ations in various, directions,
and of great out-works. Chateau Gaillard was in fact a citadel,
supported by numerous smaller fortresses, all of them communicating with
the strong central hold, and disposed so as to secure every defensible
post in the neighborhood. The wall of the outer ballium, which was built
of a compact white and grey stone, is in most places standing, though in
ruins. The original facing only remains in those parts which are too
elevated to admit of its being removed with ease.--Beneath the castle,
the cliff is excavated into a series of subterraneous caverns, not
intended for mere passages or vaults, as at Arques and in most other
places, but forming spacious crypts, supported by pillars roughly hewn
out of the living rock, and still retaining every mark of the workman's
chisel.

It will afford some satisfaction to the antiquary to find, that the
present appearance of the castle corresponds in every important
particular with the description given by Willelmus Brito, who beheld it
within a few years after its erection, and in all its pride. Every
feature which he enumerates yet exists, unaltered and unobliterated:--

"Huic natura loco satis insuperabile per se
Munimeu dederat, tamen insuperabiliorem
Arte quidem multa Richardus fecerat illum.
Duplicibus muris extrema clausit, et altas
Circuitum docuit per totum surgere turres,
A se distantes spatiis altrinsecus aequis;
Eruderans utrumque latus, ne scandere quisquam
Ad muros possit, vel ab ima repere valle.
Hinc ex transverso medium per planitiei
Erigitur murus, multoque labore cavari
Cogitur ipse silex, fossaque patere profunda,
Faucibus et latis aperiri vallis ad instar;
Sic ut quam subito fiat munitio duplex
Quae fuit una modo muro geminata sequestro.
Ut si forte pati partem contingeret istam
Altera municipes, queat, et se tuta tueri.
Inde rotundavit rupem, quae celsior omni
Planitie summum se tollit in aera sursum;
Et muris sepsit, extremas desuper oras
Castigansque jugi scrupulosa cacumina, totum
Complanat medium, multaeque capacia turbae
Plurima cum domibus habitacula fabricat intus.
Umboni parcens soli, quo condidit arcem.
Hic situs iste decor, munitio talis honorem
Gaillardae rupis per totum praedicat orbem."

The keep cannot be ascended without difficulty. We ventured to scale
it; and we were fully repaid f