202 THE WILD-FLOWERS OF SELBORNE 



memory of those who died in captivity may be seen. 

 In the neighbourhood of Portsmouth at least twenty 

 thousand French prisoners were confined, some at 

 Forton, near Gosport, and some, from eight to ten 

 thousand, in Portchester Castle ; while a number of 

 old hulks, originally warships captured from the 

 enemy, and made to accommodate some five or six 

 hundred prisoners each, were moored in Portchester 

 creek, between the castle walls and the mouth of the 

 harbour. 



It is of the French prisoners at Portchester that we 

 propose mainly to speak in the present paper. The 

 outlines of the ancient castle, as seen from the train 

 between Fareham and Cosham, are well known to 

 travellers on the London and South- Western Railway. 

 The mighty Norman keep, rising one hundred feet 

 from the water's edge at high tide, is an imposing 

 feature in the prospect. But the extent and grandeur 

 of the ruins can only be estimated by a nearer inspec- 

 tion. The outside walls, varying from twenty to forty 

 feet in height, are beyond question of Roman con- 

 struction, and enclose an area of about nine acres. 

 In the north-west corner of this enclosure stands the 

 lofty keep, around which cluster the remains of Nor- 

 man, Plantagenet, and Tudor buildings. In the days 

 of its glory the royal castle of Portchester was a place 

 of considerable importance. Here kings and queens 

 held their court with much feasting, and tilting tour- 

 naments took place in the great square, and hawking 

 parties rode forth beneath the Norman gateway. 

 Here, for a time, dwelt a community of monks whose 

 duty it was to say mass daily for the soul of the Red 

 King in the priory church, which is still standing 

 within its walls. Here, too, in the damp dungeons of 



