on the
second. The side apartments have been lighted by several small pointed
windows, but those in the middle have been very dark and gloomy.

"The great door of the castle opens into one of these intermediate
apartments. On the left-hand side of the entrance has been a spiral
staircase, leading to the rooms above and to the top of the castle,
which has had a flat roof, surrounded by a parapet and several
turrets. The walls of this tower are very strong and firm; a deep
buttress is placed at each corner, and one against the middle of each
side wall. A small square tower has stood at the southern corner, but
the greater part of it has been thrown down by the sea. The foundation
of one side wall is also undermined the whole of its length, and as it
in some places overhangs the precipice formed by the waste of the sea,
and as the castle is not situated upon a rock, but upon hard loamy
soil, this side must inevitably fall in a few years.

"Many huge fragments of the wasted walls are scattered upon the shore,
under the cliff from whence they have fallen; and notwithstanding the
concussion they have received in falling from a great height, and the
frequent surges of the sea, they are as firm as ever, and in many
places exhibit the shape of the edifice.

"The corners and doorcases of the guard-towers, the buttresses,
window-frames, and several parts of the main tower, are constructed
with red freestone; but all the other parts of the walls which in
general are about six or seven feet in thickness, are formed of round
stones collected from the adjacent shores. The inside of the walls has
been constructed with small stones, and plenty of fluid mortar to fill
the interstices.

"To this mode of construction, to the excellent binding quality of the
stones, and to the slow drying of the grout-work in the inside, may be
attributed the great tenacity of the walls of this fabric, more than
to any uncommon or unknown method of composing the mortar.

"The roofs of the numerous guard-houses in the surrounding walls of
this castle have apparently been flat. Upon these, and along the
walls, which in most castles were topped by a parapet and a kind of
embrasure called crennels, the defenders of the castle were stationed
during a siege, and from thence discharged arrows, darts, stones, and
every kind of annoyance they could procure, upon their enemies.

"There were often subterraneous passages leading from the lowest part
of the main