Xocation of JBuilDinos 117 



rests on the two black towers of which the oldest, 

 called Guy's Tower, rears its head aloft in solitary- 

 threatening majesty high above all the surrounding 

 foliage as if cast in one mass of solid iron ; the other, 

 built by Beauchamp, is half hidden by a pine and 

 a chestnut, the noble growth of centuries. Broad- 

 leaved ivy vines climb along the walls, here twining 

 around the tower, there shooting up to its very 

 summit. On your left lies the inhabited part of the 

 castle, and the chapel, ornamented with many lofty 

 windows of various size and form, while the opposite 

 side of the vast quadrangle, almost entirely without 

 windows, presents only a mighty mass of embattled 

 stone, broken by a few larches of colossal height and 

 huge arbutuses which have grown to a surprising 

 size in the shelter they have so long enjoyed. But 

 the sublimest spectacle yet awaits you, when you 

 raise your eyes straight before you. This fourth 

 side, which has sunk into a low, bushy basin forming 

 the court, and with which the buildings also descend 

 for a considerable space, rises again in the form of a 

 steep conical hill, along the sides of which climb the 

 rugged walls of the castle. This hill and the keep 

 which surrounds it are thickly overgrown at the top 

 with underwood, which only creeps round the foot of 

 the towers and walls. Behind, however, rise gigan- 

 tic, venerable trees, towering above all the rock-like 

 structure. Their bare stems seem to float in upper 

 air; while at the very summit of the building rises a 

 daring bridge, set, as it were, on either side within 



