is task he gave it up,
leaving enough of the old fortress to give a good idea of what it was
like.

The grim old ruin has many dark traditions of the times when "man's
inhumanity to man" was the rule rather than the exception. Even the
mild, nonresistant Quaker could not escape the bitterest persecution and
in one of the dungeons of Colchester Castle young George Fox was immured
and suffered death from neglect and starvation. This especially
attracted our attention, since the story had been pathetically told by
the speaker at the Sunday afternoon meeting which we attended at Jordans
and which I refer to in the following chapter. While there is a certain
feeling of melancholy that possesses one when he wanders through these
mouldering ruins, yet he often can not help thinking that they deserved
their fate.

Colchester suffered terribly in Parliamentary wars and only surrendered
to Cromwell after sustaining a seventy-six day siege, many traces of
which may still be seen. There are two or three ancient churches dating
from Saxon times which exhibit some remarkable specimens of Saxon
architecture. Parts of Colchester appeared quite modern and up-to-date,
the streets being beautifully kept, and there were many handsome
residences. Altogether, there is a strange combination of the very old
and the modern in Colchester.

We left this highway at Chelmsford to visit the Greenstead Church near
Chipping-Ongar, about twenty-two miles from London. This is one of the
most curious churches in all England. It is a diminutive building, half
hidden amidst the profusion of foliage, and would hardly attract
attention unless one had learned of its unique construction and
remarkable history. It is said to be the only church in England which is
built with wooden walls, these being made from the trunks of large oak
trees split down the center and roughly sharpened at each end. They are
raised from the ground by a low brick foundation, and inside the spaces
between the trunks are covered with pieces of wood. The rough timber
frame of the roof is fastened with wooden pins. The interior of the
building is quite dark, there being no windows in the wooden walls, and
the light comes in from a dormer window in the roof. This church was
built in the year 1010 to mark the resting place of St. Edmund the
Martyr, whose remains were being carried from Bury to London. The town
of Ongar, near by, once had an extensive castle, of which little
remains, an