Site of the Ancient Castle. 



219 



excavations. Some sixty years ago, a part of the Castle Hill was 

 opened, with the hope, it is said, of discovering treasures supposed 

 to have been deposited there. In 1814, Mr. Salter, in digging up 

 the ground for the foundation of the factory now occupied by Mr. 

 Gouldsmith, came upon a portion of the castle walls. In both cases 

 it was found that the cement, which had been used as mortar, had 

 become, in the course of centuries, harder than the stone itself, and 

 that the labour and consequent expense of removing the materials, 

 was more than it was judged prudent to incur. 



The whole site of the castle is now covered with factories, or 

 dwelling-houses. Where mailed barons and their retainers once 

 proudly walked, within the seclusion of their impregnable fortress, 

 now thousands of busy artizans ply their daily tasks. And who 

 shall regret the change ? So natural is our love of " ancient things/'' 

 so lovingly do we cling to the traditions of by -gone generations, 

 that we can hardly be strangers to a passing wish that those days 

 of chivalry should recur, and that we might see the castle in its 

 palmy greatness. And yet who shall doubt that the real happiness 

 and prosperity of our country, is, under the blessing of God, far 

 more promoted by the energetic development of its resources at 

 home and the peaceful extension of its commerce abroad ? 



One lesson indeed we may learn alike from " castle " or ' ' factory/' 

 The former is a thing of the past ; vast and impregnable as it was, 

 it has altogether disappeared. How true an emblem of the vanity 

 of all human greatness ! In the latter, is ever heard the ceaseless 

 " click " of the " weaver's shuttle," and what more faithful monitor 

 can there be that life is far too short, too uncertain, to allow us 

 safely to engross our cares in the pursuit of earthly riches ! 



But though Trowbridge had its Castle, you must not imagine that 

 in these early days it was anything but a small and unimportant 

 place. Before the erection of the castle there was simply a village 

 here — the town grew up round the castle. This seem evident enough 

 since the principal street forms a curve, for which there cannot be a 

 more likely solution than that in its original construction it followed 

 the line of the walls round the castle. That it was but an insig- 

 nificant town, even fifty years after the time of which I have been 



