river by flowing for some distance
among the hills parallel to the coast. It was but recently that good
roads were constructed across this lonely moor, and on its northern
edge, where the craggy headland of Greenaleigh is thrust out into the
sea, is the harbor of Minehead, with a little fishing-village skirting
its shores. A short distance inland, and seated at the bases of the
steep Brendon Hills, which rise in sharp wooded slopes above its houses,
is the little market-town of Dunster. On an outlying hill, projecting
from the mass, the original lord of Dunster built his castle, perching
it upon a rocky crag that Nature herself designed for a fortress. The
Saxons called it their "Hill-tower." Its picturesque mass of buildings
is of various dates, but much more modern than their early day, most of
the present structure having been built in Queen Elizabeth's reign. The
castle was held for King Charles in the Civil War, and besieged by the
Parliamentary troops, whose commander sent this bloodthirsty message to
its governor: "If you will deliver up the castle, you shall have fair
quarter: if not, expect no mercy: your mother shall be in front to
receive the first fury of your cannon." The governor promptly and
bravely replied, "If you do what you threaten, you do the most barbarous
and villainous act that was ever done. My mother I honor, but the cause
I fight for and the masters I serve are God and the king.--Mother, do
you forgive me, and give me your blessing, and let the rebels answer for
spilling that blood of yours, which I would save with the loss of mine
own if I had enough for both my master and yourself." The mother also
without hesitation answered him: "Son, I forgive thee, and pray God to
bless thee, for this brave resolution. If I live I shall love thee the
better for it: God's will be done!" Whether the atrocious threat would
have been put into execution was never decided, for a strong Royalist
force soon appeared, routing the besiegers, capturing a thousand of
them, and releasing the lady. But the castle was soon afterwards taken
for the Parliament by Colonel Blake, subsequently the admiral. It was
then demolished, and now the summit of the flat-topped hill, where
formerly was the keep, is devoted to the peaceful amusement of a
bowling-green, from which there are exquisite views of the Brendon Hills
and far away over the Bristol Channel to the distant coast of Wales. It
was at Dunster Castle that William Prynne