146 A BOOK 0$ ENGLISH GARDENS 



A very good idea of the appearance of the Castle, 

 or Block-house, in 1552, can be gained from docu- 

 ments of that date. The square of the tower was 

 44 feet, and the height 176 feet, the walls being 

 6J feet thick and built of freestone, forming 

 altogether a pretty solid piece of work very 

 different to what is done in these jerry-building 

 days. Later, in Elizabeth's reign, the mayor and 

 burgesses of Poole petitioned the Privy Council to 

 help them in repairing the Castle, it having become 

 a source of danger. Elizabeth graciously granted a 

 " delivery of cannon and ammunition," but shrewdly 

 insisted upon the mayor and the town supplying, as 

 of old, " the six men to watch and ward." After 

 this grant the Castle was styled "the Queen's 

 Majesty's Castell of Brounecksey." By far the 

 most interesting possessor of Brownsea in those 

 days was Sir Christopher Hatton. Owing little to 

 his birth (being the third son of a gentleman in 

 Northamptonshire), perhaps less to his brains, and 

 all to his graceful appearance, Sir Christopher was 

 indeed born under a lucky star. Sir Richard 

 Naunton writes of him as "a gentleman that 

 besides the graces of his person and dancing, had 

 also the endowment of a strong and subtile 

 capabilitie, and that could soone learne the 

 Discipline and Garbe, both of the times and Court, 

 and the truth is, he had a large proportion of gifts 

 and endowments, but too much of the season of 



