[93]
of mountains, and numerous elegant mansions and extensive parks. The ruin also, seen from afar, is august; but on our approach, we find that (like many other things which are more interesting in perspective than when immediately under our eyes) it loses a great part of its grandeur, and drops all its claim to the picturesque. The hill, denuded of timber, affords nothing to contrast with or soften down the bare walls, unadorned with ivy, and rendered still more harsh by the association of modern mansions which unite with the foot of the hill, and interrupt any illusion which the fancy might be otherwise inclined to present in the contemplation of ancient castellated ruins. Not that the fabric was always thus exposed and naked; noble woods once surrounded it, from whence the towers and battlements, "bosomed high in tufted trees," peeped out, and only disclosed enough of the building to excite the imagination by partial concealment, and interest the taste by picturesque association. It is said to have been founded by Dodo the Saxon chieftain, about the commencement of the eighth century; though certainly no member of the present fortress is older than the Anglo-Norman times. It stands upon an acre of ground, and consists of many dilapidated buildings of different ages, and various archi-
