tion of Lathom House, we believe,
exists. The author has, however, had the temerity to present a
restoration of this renowned edifice, as it appeared before the siege,
and before "the sequestrators under Cromwell, weary of the slow disposal
of the building materials by sale, invited the peasants of the hundred
of West Derby to take away the stones and timbers without any charge."

The very numerous documents to which he has had recourse were aided by
measurements, and a visit to the spot, where he found that a tolerable
accurate idea might be formed of the situation and extent of the walls
and towers, together with the main entrance, and the "great Eagle
Tower."

The accompanying view is taken from a hill above the valley or trench,
where, it is said, the main army of the besiegers was encamped. It is
called in the neighbourhood "Cromwell's Trench," and the engraving may
serve to convey some idea of that magnificent and princely dwelling,
which, as the old ballad expresses it, would hold "two kinges, their
traines and all." Henry the Seventh, two years after his visit to
Lathom, restored his palace at Richmond, the same authority tells us,
"like Lathom Hall in fashion." The gate-house in the engraving is drawn
from the description of a carving of the Stanley legend in Manchester
Collegiate Church, executed in the time of James Stanley, Bishop of Ely.
From this it appears to have had two octagonal turrets on each side of
an obtusely-pointed or circular archway with battlements, machicolated
and pierced for cannon.

The Eagle Tower alone remained when part of the estate was transferred
to John Lord Ashburnham, on his marriage, in 1714, with Henrietta,
daughter of William, ninth earl of Derby. Lord Ashburnham sold it to a
Furness, and he to Sir Thomas Bootle. Not a vestige now exists, and even
the records of the family are destroyed. "Golforden," says Mr Heywood,
in his interesting _Notes to a Journal of the Siege of Lathom,_ "along
whose banks knights and ladies have a thousand times made resort,
hearkening to stories as varied as those of Boccaccio;--the maudlin
well, where the pilgrim and the lazar devoutly cooled their parched
lips;--the mewing-house,--the training round,--every appendage to
antique baronial state,--all now are changed, and a modern mansion and a
new possessor fill the place."

This memorable siege, and the heroic defence by Lady Derby, though among
the most prominent topics in the history of the c