U36 CORFE CASTLE 



as it is for being the presumed birth-place of one whose 

 name figures prominently in the biography of the last 

 Prince of Wales.^ 



But the object that chiefly attracts the stranger in 

 these parts, to which I paid more than one visit, is the 

 romantic and extensive ruins of Corfe Castle, so cele- 

 brated in different epochs of oar history. Built on a 

 knoll between two stupendous hills, it formed a strong 

 fortress before the invention of gunpowder, commanding 

 the passage from the coast to the interior, and, from the 

 great extent of the ruins, must have been able to contain 

 a numerous o-arrison, and to afford refuae to the inhabit- 

 ants of the neighbouring towns and villages, when flying 

 from the ravages of the piratical Danes. 



It was some time the residence of our Saxon kings, 

 and the scene of many a barbarous deed. It was here 

 the unhappy Edward met with his untimely fate from the 

 hands of his cruel step-mother, Elfrida ; and the arch of 

 the o-ate is still standin"-, on the sides of Avliich lovers 

 now inscribe their names. The miscreant John, too, 

 here perpetrated one of his most cruel and diabolical 

 massacres.^ 



In later days, during the progress of the civil war, it 

 was a fortress of considerable importance, and was held 

 for the King by Lady Bankes, who has rendered her 

 name illustrious bv the prolono-ed and successful defence 

 she made aiiainst the besieirers under Sir William Erie ; 

 but on a second siege it was delivered up to the Parlia- 



1 Mrs. Fitzherbert. 



~ Twentv-two Poictevin nobles were starved to death in one of the 

 dungeons. 



