it; whilst an
octagon one, of proportions somewhat inferior, terminated the northern
angle. The front, again, on the north, extending from the last mentioned
tower, was connected with a fine Gothic chapel, remarkable for the
beauty of its stained windows, supervening buttresses, and a belfry at
its western extremity. On the north front, which was the entrance, rose
a porch leading into a vestibule, and from thence into the magnificent
hall. From this sprung a noble stone staircase, with two inferior
flights that led to a corridor, which communicated with a gorgeous suit
of bedchambers. The grand hall communicated on the western side with
those rooms that were appropriated to the servants, and those on the
opposite, with the state apartments, which were of magnificent size
and proportions, having all the wood-work of Irish oak, exquisitely
polished. The gardens were in equal taste, and admirably kept. The
pleasure grounds were ornamented with some of the rarest exotics. On
each side of the avenue, as you approached the castle, stood a range
of noble elms, beeches, and oaks intermingled; and, as you reached the
grand entrance, you caught a view of the demesne and deer-park, which
were, and are, among the finest in the kingdom. There was also visible,
from the steps of the hall and front window, the bends of a sweet, and
winding river near the centre of the demesne, spanned by three or four
light and elegant arches, that connected the latter and the deer-park
with each other. Nothing, however, was so striking in the whole
landscape as the gigantic size and venerable appearance of the wood,
which covered a large portion of the demesne, and the patriarchal
majesty of those immense trees, which stood separated from the mass
of forest, singly or in groups, in different parts of it. The evening
summer's deep light, something between gold and purple, as it poured its
mellow radiance upon the green openings between these noble trees, or
the evening smoke, as it arose at the same hour from the chimneys of the
keepers' houses among their branches, were sights worth a whole gallery
of modern art.

As the baronet approached the castle, he thought again of the woman
and her prophecies, and yielded to their influence, in so far as they
assured him that his daughter was destined to become the proud mistress
of all the magnificence by which he was surrounded. The sun had now
shone forth, and as its clear light fell upon the house, its b