Hooded and stoled in stainless white,

Enter'd the roofless hall at night,

Climb'd the dark stairs, a moment stood

By the wall facing yonder wood,

And then, as if 'twere vain to wait,

Came down, and vanish'd at the gate.

That instant-for I slumber'd still

I felt a strange and icy thrill,

And woke cold blew the midnight blast, And a pale mist before me pass'd.

NOTE I.

RESTORMEL Castle in the Parish of Lanlivery, Cornwall, stands on an eminence about a mile to the North of the ancient town of Lostwithiel, on the Western bank of the stream which Carew calls 'the fishfull river of Foy.' Mr. Davies Gilbert, in his Parochial History, describes this ruin as the glory of its parish,' and as 'one of the finest objects in the whole country;' and in this opinion strangers, who see it while passing on the railway between Bodmin-Road Station and Lostwithiel, will not hesitate to concur.

6

Those parts of the Parochial History of Hals which relate to Lanlivery and Lostwithiel are lost; but in Carew's Survey of Cornwall, (from which I have taken an extract as a preface to my verses,) in Borlase's Antiquities of Cornwall, in the works of Polwhele, Lysons, Davies Gilbert, and S. C. Gilbert, and in the recent publication by Mr Lake of Truro, much is told of Restormel and its past history. We may hope, perhaps, for fuller and more precise details either from Sir John Maclean, who is now engaged on portions of the Parochial and Family History of Cornwall; or from the relative of

the learned author of the Antiquities,' Mr. W. Copeland Borlase, who, in his 'Nonia Cornubiæ,' has not only done much to elucidate the history of his native County, but, in his descriptions and illustrations of its Primitive Sepulchral Monuments, has made a valuable contribution to archæology.

During a recent exploration by members of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, (and it is a fact that the County has a Society which deservedly bears that appellation,) under the presidency of Dr. Jago, accompanied by Sir John Maclean, Dr. C. Barham, aud other gentlemen, with not a few lady antiquaries, much fresh information was obtained respecting Restormel, which will be published in the forthcoming Report of the Institution. On that occasion Mr. Freeth of Duporth produced an authentic copy of the conveyance of the Castle and other properties by Isolda, the heiress of the Cardinans or Cardinhams, and widow of Tracey, to Richard Earl of Cornwall, (brother to Hen. III.,) who also bore the grander, but somewhat misty title of King of the Romans. Hardly less interesting was the written evidence supplied by Mr. Deeble Boger of Wolsden, which proved that the Castle had been twice visited by the first Duke of Cornwall, the Black Prince. It was then in fair condition and well appointed; but some parts of the buildings were soon afterwards allowed to fall into decay, as appears by a subsequent survey. While it was held by the Black Prince, John De Kendall (the ancestor of Mr. Nicholas Kendall, late member for East Cornwall) was Keeper of the Castle and Park.

Of Restormel Dr. Borlase says,

The Keep is a very

The

magnificent one; the outer wall or rampart is an exact circle of 102 feet diameter within, and 10 feet wide at the top, including the thickness of the parapet, which is 2 feet 6. From the present floor of the ground-rooms to the top of the rampart is 27 feet 6, and the top of the parapet is 7 feet higher, garreted quite round. There are three staircases leading to the top of the rampart, one on each side of the gateway ascending from the court within, and one betwixt the inner and outermost gate. rooms are 19 feet wide, the windows mostly in the innermost wall; but there are some very large openings in the outmost wall or rampart, now walled up, shaped like Gothick church-windows, sharp-arched, which were formerly very handsome and pleasant windows, and made to enjoy the prospect, their recesses reaching to the planching of the rooms: these large openings are all on the chamber floor, where the rooms of state seem to have been, and from the floor of these chambers you pass on a level to the chapel. This chapel is but 25 feet 6 by 17 feet 6, but, that it might be the more commodious, there seems to have been an anti-chapel. This chapel is a newer work than the Castle itself, and I may add that the gateway, and the large windows in the rampart wall, are also more modern than the Keep, for they were not made for war, but for pleasure and grandeur; and yet, as modern as these things compared with the rest may appear, they must be at least as ancient as Edmund, son of Richard King of the Romans, (temp. Ed. I.)' Richard King of the Romans kept his court here, and in all probability made these additions (temp. Hen. III.) The offices belonging to this Castle lay below in the