ld not give it up. In due time the whole of
the trunk of the enormous tree was consumed, and its branches cast
into the fire. The roots were rent from the ground, and a wide and deep
trench digged around the spot. The course of the hole was traced for
some distance, but it was never of any size, and was suddenly lost by
the falling in of the earth.

At length, after five hours' close watching, Henry's patience was
exhausted, and he ordered the pit to be filled up, and every crevice and
fissure in the ground about to be carefully stopped.

"If we cannot unkennel the fox," he said, "we will at least earth him
up.

"For all your care, gossip Henry," muttered Will Sommers, as he rode
after his royal master to the castle, "the fox will work his way out."

THUS ENDS THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLE OF WINDSOR CASTLE

BOOK III. THE HISTORY OF THE CASTLE

I.

Comprising the First Two Epochs in the History of Windsor
Castle.

Amid the gloom hovering over the early history of Windsor Castle appear
the mighty phantoms of the renowned King Arthur and his knights, for
whom it is said Merlin reared a magic fortress upon its heights, in a
great hall whereof, decorated with trophies of war and of the chase, was
placed the famous Round Table. But if the antique tale is now worn out,
and no longer part of our faith, it is pleasant at least to record it,
and surrendering ourselves for a while to the sway of fancy, to conjure
up the old enchanted castle on the hill, to people its courts with
warlike and lovely forms, its forests with fays and giants.

Windsor, or Wyndleshore, so called from the winding banks of the river
flowing past it, was the abode of the ancient Saxon monarchs; and a
legend is related by William of Malmesbury of a woodman named Wulwin,
who being stricken with blindness, and having visited eighty-seven
churches and vainly implored their tutelary saints for relief, was at
last restored to sight by the touch of Edward the Confessor, who further
enhanced the boon by making him keeper of his palace at Windsor. But
though this story may be doubted, it is certain that the pious king
above mentioned granted Windsor to the abbot and monks of Saint Peter at
Westminster, "for the hope of eternal reward, the remission of his sins,
the sins of his father, mother, and all his ancestors, and to the praise
of Almighty God, as a perpetual endowment and inheritance."

But the royal donation did no