52 Peveril Castle. 



Ascending -the grassy height above the village on 

 the western side, we .reach the ruins of Peveril Castle, 

 made familiar to the imagination by Sir Walter Scott. 

 By some archaeologists it is believed to have been a for- 

 tress and place of royal residence in the time of the 

 Heptarchy. It is more likely to have been built, as 

 tradition affirms, by William Peverel, son of the Con- 

 queror. At the time of the Domesday Survey, A.D. 

 1081-1086, it is certain that the castle was held by 

 William Peverel, and for three generations it continued 

 in the possession of his family. At a later period it was 

 occupied by the famous John o' Gaunt, second son of 

 Edward III. Little now remains of the old fortress be- 

 yond the keep, and even this has been much defaced, 

 through the removal of the well-smoothed outer stones 

 for use in the erection of Castleton church. No new 

 story, alas ! Of the temples of ancient SaTs, a city that 

 for 200 years was the seat of government in Egypt, not 

 a vestige now remains. The great portico, with pillars 

 .shaped like trunks of palm-trees the obelisks, the 

 sphinxes, the sacred enclosure in which Isis was wor- 

 shipped all have disappeared, and the relics, such as 

 remain, must be sought in the edifices of Alexandria 

 So, toe, -the exquisitely-wrought columns of ancient 

 Rome, broken, dislocated, and scattered over Italy, now 

 form portions of buildings devoted to Christian worship. 

 So in a hundred other places : the men of Castleton 

 did no more than had vexed art and antiquity for 



