h-east corner of this originally walled area William the
Conqueror built Lincoln Castle, with its gate facing the cathedral. The
ruins are well preserved, and parts of the site are now occupied by the
jail and court-house. Within this old castle King Stephen besieged the
empress Maud, but though he captured it she escaped. Her partisans
recaptured the place, and Stephen in the second siege was made a
prisoner. It suffered many sieges in the troubled times afterwards. In
the Civil War the townspeople supported the king, but being attacked
they retreated to the castle and cathedral, which were stormed and taken
by the Parliamentary army. Afterwards the castle was dismantled. One of
the interesting remains in Lincoln is the "Jew's House," the home in the
Hebrew quarter of a Jewess who was hanged for clipping coin in the reign
of Edward I. But the noble cathedral is the crowning glory of this
interesting old city, the massive structure, with its three surmounting
towers standing on high, being visible for many miles across the country
around.

NOTTINGHAM.

[Illustration: NOTTINGHAM CASTLE.]

We will now cross over the border from Lincoln into Nottinghamshire,
and, seeking the valley of the Trent, find upon the steep brow of a
cliff by the river the ancient castle of Nottingham, which is now
surrounded by the busy machinery of the hosiery-weavers. When it was
founded no one accurately knows, but it is believed to antedate the
Roman occupation of the island. As long ago as the tenth century there
was a bridge across the Trent at Snodengahame--meaning the "dwelling
among the rocks"--as it was then called, and afterwards the town
suffered from the Danes. It is also suffered during the troubled reign
of King Stephen. The castle was built by one of the Peverils soon after
the Norman Conquest, and was frequently the abode of kings. It was here
that Roger Mortimer was seized prior to being tried and hanged in
London. King David of Scotland and Owen Glendower of Wales were held
prisoners in Nottingham Castle, and from it Richard III. advanced to
meet his fate on Bosworth Field, while Charles I. set up his standard
and gathered his army at Nottingham at the opening of the Civil Wars,
the blowing down of the standard by a gale on Castle Hill being taken as
ominous of the unfortunate termination of the conflict. The old castle,
which has fallen into ruins, subsequently passed into possession of the
Duke of Newcastle, who cleared a