Lancaster Castle. 225 



when the first castle was built. Indeed it is of little 

 consequence now, for it was almost entirely razed by 

 the Scots in the fourteenth centurj^. 



The present noble structure, or rather the older part 

 of it, is the work of John O'Gaunt, that son of a king 

 who was almost a king himself, and who became the 

 father of kings. To him is due the magnificent Gateway 

 Tower, flanked by two octagonal turrets sixty-six feet 

 high, surrounded by watch-towers. Around the towers 

 and across the curtain, perforated by the gate, which 

 connects them, are overhanging battlements with ver- 

 tical openings for pouring down molten metal or hot 

 water on the heads of assailants. In a niche in front 

 is a full-length statue of John O'Gaunt in the costume 

 of his day, placed there in 1822. The sole remaining 

 turret of the Lungess Tower, eighty-eight feet high, is 

 called John O'Gaunt's Chair. It commands a view of 

 great extent, comprising the hills of Cumberland and 

 Westmoreland and nearly the whole extent of the 

 valley of the Lune, with the Irish Sea in the distance. 



Some moralists, who believe that men and times are 

 degenerate, may lament that this grand old castle — the 

 ancient residence of nobles — should now be the abode 

 of criminals ; but, while equally desirous that its archi- 

 tectural wonders may be preserved, I am not inclined 

 to admit that the thieves and cutthroats who now have 

 their homes within its walls through the puissance of 

 the law are any worse morally than were many of the 

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