298 CAS7'ERS AND CHESTRS. 



suspect) that in the English Chronicle, which only once 

 mentions the town ; and Carleol that of .the ordinary 

 mediaeval historians. The surnames Carlyle and Carlile 

 still preserve the better orthography. 



To complete the subject, it will be well to say a few 

 words about those towns which were once Ceasters, but 

 which have never become Casters or Chesters. Numerous 

 as are the places now so called, a number more may be 

 reckoned in the illimitable chapter of the might-have- 

 beens; and it is interesting to speculate on the forms 

 which they would have taken, ' si qua fata aspera 

 rupissent.' Among these still-born Chesters, Newcastle- 

 upon-Tyne may fairly rank first. It stands on the 

 Roman site, called, from its bridge across the Tyne, Pons 

 Aelii, and known later on, from its position on the great 

 wall, as Ad Murum. Under the early English, after 

 their conversion to Christianity, the monks became the 

 accepted inheritors of Roman ruins; and the small 

 monastery which was established here procured it the 

 English name of Muneca-ceaster, or, as we should now 

 say, Monk-chester, though no doubt the local modernisa- 

 tion would have taken the form of Muncaster. William 

 of Normandy utterly destroyed the town during his 

 great harrying of Northumberland ; and when his son, 

 Robert Curthose, built a fortress on the site, the place 

 came to be called Newcastle a word whose very form 

 shows its comparatively modern origin. Cast'ra and 

 Ceasters were now out of date, and castles had taken 

 their place. Still, we stick even here to the old root : for 

 of course castle is only the diminutive castellum a scion 

 of the same Roman stock, which, like so many other 



