DE MARISCO. 11 



In the year 1238, William de Marisco conspired 

 with, a knight of the palace to murder King Henry 

 III. The act of assassination was entrusted to the 

 courtier, who gained access to the royal chamber by 

 climbing up to the window. It chanced, however, 

 that the king lay elsewhere that night, and the con- 

 spirator, thus baffled, sought his victim in other 

 chambers. Ignorant whither to .go, he at length 

 bursts into an apartment with his dagger drawn in 

 his hand, where sits a lady of the court reading. An 

 alarm is instantly raised, the servants crowd in, and 

 the villain is taken. He, poor wretch, expiated his 

 intended crime by being drawn asunder at Coventry 

 by four horses ; while his coadjutor, Marisco, fled to 

 his island of Lundy, strengthened his castle, fortified 

 the accessible parts of the cliffs, and became a pirate. 

 For some years he did much damage, ravaging the 

 neighbouring coast, and intercepting ships ; but at 

 length, being surprised by the king's forces, he, too, 

 suffered death. 



The walls of the castle and the ancient keep remain 

 in integrity, and have been turned, by the addition of 

 new walls, into labourers' cottages, the chimneys of 

 which peep out from the ruins, so as greatly to mar 

 their picturesque effect. 



A woman was standing at one of the doors, and 

 children were playing round: we shuddered to see 

 the little things run and jump on the edges of the 

 precipice, and babies carry babies a little younger than 

 themselves into places where a single false step would 



