282 A Walk from 



never will be slaves," with more spirit, or, perhaps, 

 with more understanding. Their plucky, English 

 natures became terribly stirred up in the exciting 

 time of the Reform Bill, and they burned down the 

 magnificent palace-castle of the old Duke of Newcastle, 

 crowning the mountainous rock which terminates on 

 the west the elevated ridge on which the town is built. 

 When the Bill was carried, and the People had cooled 

 down to their normal condition of mind, they were 

 obliged to pay for this evening's illumination of their 

 wrath pretty dearly. The Duke mulcted the town and 

 county to the tune of 21,000, or full $100,000. The 

 castle was no Chepstow structure, rough and rude for 

 war, but more like the ornate and castellated palace 

 at Heidelberg, and .it was almost as high above the 

 Trent as the latter is above the Neckar. The view the 

 site commands is truly magnificent, embracing the 

 Trent Valley, and an extensive vista beyond it. It 

 was really the great lion of the town, and the People, 

 having paid the 21,000 for dismounting it, because 

 it roared in the wrong direction on the Reform Bill, 

 expected, of course, that His Grace the Duke would set 

 it up again on the old pedestal, with its mane and tail 

 and general aspect much improved. But they counted 

 without their host. " Is ifl not lawful to do what I 

 will with my own," was the substance of his reply ; 



