Peveril Castle. 5 3 



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over 2000 years before their time. It is worthy of re- 

 membrance that, up to the time of Pope Benedict XIV., 

 or A.D. 1750, the Coliseum itself was in course of wilful 

 dilapidation, and that to-day, instead of that- mighty and 

 wonderful monument of imperial power, that 



"... noble wreck, in ruinous perfection," 



we should have had scarcely more than' a skeleton, save 

 for the blood of the Christian martyrs, which had crim- 

 soned its deadly arena, and which obtained the conse- 

 cration of the building. 



The view from the base of the castle-walls is emi- 

 nently picturesque, extending over the whole of Hope 

 Dale, while at our feet lies the well-kept village. Moving 

 to the left, we may look down into that same tremendous 

 chasm which previously we trod as the vestibule to the 

 cavern; while going to the back, an illusion that till 

 then has been complete, is suddenly and startlingly dis- 

 pelled. At a little distance, the castle seems built on the 

 slope of the hill in reality, it stands upon the edge of a 

 hidden cleft in the rock, having a great natural ' fosse, 

 and from behind is only accessible by a bridge;- The 

 walls and dry ground hereabouts supply the botanist 

 with many interesting plants, as Thalic'trum mi'nus, and 

 the scurvy-grass, a singular habitat truly for a plant of 

 the sea-shore, but furnishing another illustration of the 

 lofty independence of Nature, wherein what men weakly 

 deem anomalies and inconsistencies, are quite as abun- 



